By: Marta Vanzo
Photos by: Gian Luca Vanzetta
Lagorai Skyline: a line between sky and rock
Often forgotten and overlooked in favor of the nearby Dolomites, the Lagorai, a mountain range in eastern Trentino, is a wild place and not for everyone, and perhaps that is why it is so special. A place where you can be with yourself without being disturbed, where trenches and memories of distant wars alternate with crystal-clear lakes that make images of the painful wartime past disappear to make room for enchanted fairy-tale dreams.
There are an infinite number of lines and ridges, you just need to know how to look for them and a good eye can spot them immediately. In Val di Fiemme (and beyond) the Translagorai, 80km of trail in unspoiled wilderness, is well known. A unique place where it is possible to meet no one for miles and miles and the refreshments are just what you find in your backpack. On this traverse the “fiamazi” (valley dwellers) compete against each other to see who can travel it in the shortest time in the summer, and who can descend the most slopes in the winter.
Gian Luca Vanzetta and Nadir Maguet met on the steep climbs of their competitive years, alternating between podiums, cups and top rankings. Their passion for the peaks and a special complicity meant that over the years their paths then met elsewhere, away from stopwatches and starting lines while continuing to share their passion for the mountains as an Alpine Guide and professional athlete, respectively.
On a Thursday in late March Gian and Nadir set off towards Lagorai. Meet at 6 a.m. in Ziano di Fiemme to reach by electric bike the “trozo del Menador” that leads to the Canzenagol malga.
After the hut we climbed a gully leading up to the ridge. The line we followed is the one that connects the Canzenagol, Busa Alta, Cardinal and Cauriol peaks. A friend had already done it in the summer without the use of a rope, but we had it so we could do doubles, and abandon material. We did a double down from the Upper Busa and one from the Cardinal, to try to stay on this line as much as possible – Gian Luca explains. Skis in this case are used only for the approach and return while crampons are used for the crossing at the foot, in an effort to stay on the ridge line as long as possible.
For Gian Luca this was not the first time on the skyline; a first attempt had been aborted due to less than optimal snow conditions. But the urge to finish the project was great, and with Nadir’s request to tackle something long and technical in preparation for Mezzalama comes the perfect opportunity to reintroduce this line.
Surely then being able to make such a crossing in the mountains back home makes you want to try it more. Conditions that day looked good, although it had been a winter with little snow, what snow there was had turned well…. Everything was perfect.
For Gian Luca, who has grown up on bread and Lagorai since childhood, this is the most aesthetic line in the entire mountain range. The name Lagorai Skyline could only be more obvious, for that line between sky and rock. A line that Gian Luca had always seen from his home and therefore would have to honor sooner or later… It just needed the right conditions, and especially the right partner. Between Gian and Nadir it shows: there is a good feeling, they have been friends for many years despite the Dolomites-Cervino distance, and as soon as there is a chance to do something together, they don’t think twice.
Theirs, however, was not a challenge, they had no claim on the weather, and so they were able to take the right moments to take a few photos and savor the scenery. This should not deceive us: since the World Cup, the two have continued to love the fast movement (it is no secret that the Wizard loves fast&light) and finished the line in 7 1/2 hours for 1,300 meters of elevation gain. Nadir at the end of the day is enthusiastic:
A wonderful experience because I was able to share a project with a long-time friend. It is nice to be able to share strong emotions with someone, and this gives me so much satisfaction, more than many victories in races where the only goal is to win, without sharing nothingness.
This is the first time for him on these peaks, and within a day he has climbed all four, the same peaks it took Gian Luca years before he could say “I brought them all home.”
It is a traverse in which one cannot speak of either crazy numbers or great technical difficulties, especially for Nadir who has been setting record after record since last year, but for him it was, in any case, a very beautiful and logical line, in a part still so wild in Val di Fiemme.
Exploring is something cool ,” Nadir continues, ” you get out of the monotony, and for an athlete to train in new places gives something extra to both the preparation itself and to feel good about
themselves.
