Perfecto Mundo Stefano Ghisolfi

Stefano Ghisolfi, born in 1993, is only 26 years old and he’s already considered as one of the strongest athletes in the world, among the 4 climbers to have ever climbed a 9b+ grade. In 2010 he was the best Italian athlete in the World Cup in the lead climbing category and in 2017 he made his way to the second place of the general classification. Today, this undisputed number one Italian champion is one of the best climbers in the world, but Stefano has still one dream to be fulfilled, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

How did you approach the world of climbing?
My first approach to sport in general was through the bicycle. I started with mountain bike races because my father is a bike instructor and just after one of those races I had the chance to try an artificial wall on a dam in Val d’Aosta. From that moment I realized that cycling was not for me and I started climbing. I enjoyed climbing so much that I did on every street lamp or road sign in my city, Turin, and my dad, instead of discouraging me and telling me to get down, encouraged me to try to go higher and higher. This is how my passion for this world began.

And now you are one of the strongest climbers in the world, the 4th to have climbed a 9b+ grade, Perfecto Mundo, how did you get the idea for this project and how did you prepare for it both physically and psychologically?
The idea came to me in December 2017, I went Catalonia to look for some interesting routes  since it is one of the place where you can find the hardest walls in the world. There I tried some 9bs  and then Perfecto Mundo which was still a project that no one had done back then. I tried some other routes and quickly closed them in January 2018. This made me realize that my physical limit was different from what I expected, Perfecto Mundo could be the right thing for me. I started trying it, I made several attempts, some even hopeless, but I continued to try it during 5 more trips throughout 2018 until December, when I managed to close it, exactly a year later.

You often train with Adam Ondra who was the first to tell you about Perfecto Mundo. What is it like climbing with him and what kind of relationship do you have with him?
He is the one who mentioned about this route. Once we were climbing together and he suggested me to try this project that he hadn’t done yet. He knew that Chris Sharma had bolted it without ever climbing it and Adam thought it might suit my style.
With him I often trained also on other projects or on the cliff, especially in Arco. We stimulate each other and often one closes the route before the other has even the time to try climbing it. We have this kind of competitive spirit which is clean, a kind of positive and stimulating competition both in contests and on the rock.

How does it feel to have completed such an ambitious project, a goal that only a few in the world have managed to reach?
As I was saying, in December 2018 I managed to climb Perfecto Mundo, a difficult 9b+ grade route which is the second difficulty in the world of climbing and for me it was the culmination of a dream and a goal that I carried out throughout the year. It was exciting and also liberating at the same time, it was a project I had for a year and from a certain point of view it was a goal that motivated me but at the same time frustrated me. I happened to fall one step closer to closing it, other times I felt in a good mode but the route was wet, so when I finally made it I felt free to dedicate myself to something else. Although in the meantime I have continued to train for competitions, completing this great goal has also represented the end of a period of my life, the closing of a circle that has given me, up to now, perhaps the greatest satisfaction of my life. After Perfecto Mundo I started a new period of my life, the one dedicated to trying to qualify for the Olympics.

Besides motivation, how important is to have someone supporting you on your journey?
I always say that my main motivator is my girlfriend Sara who accompanies me everywhere, she came with me during all the trips for Perfecto Mundo and she was there when I climbed it. But there’s also a particular reason why she is a push for me, when we first went to try that route it was a difficult situation due to her particular health condition, so much that we had to bring a machine with us for dialysis while traveling in Spain. It was not easy for her to accompany me, but she always did it with a smile and for me it was the biggest motivation. She went through so many difficulties that my problems while climbing was all bullshit in comparison! So yes, having someone who supports you and who believes in you and who also shares your same passion is vital. We live together, climb together and travel together and this gives me more motivation everyday.

Climbing has gained great popularity over the years, up to the definitive culmination in the Olympics.
Since climbing was born in the 1980s, it has always only grown over time, so it is certainly not a trend of the moment but rather a constant progression of an activity that is always easier to practice. New gyms are opening in all cities, there are more and more walls, more people who climb and now it’s easier to practice this sport than a few years ago, so it is a discipline that is rightly growing so much. I can’t say it’s just a trend, because trends come and go, but rather a natural development of a sport that many people are discovering. Now it’s definitely easier to climb than many years ago and the nice thing is that it’s a social sport, going climbing with friends is definitely more fun than doing it alone!

Future long term projects, after your climbing career?
Many athletes have dedicated themselves to mountaineering at the end of their career in climbing, but at the moment it is not something that attracts me because I am focused on what I am doing right now and I have no alpine ambitions, having never tried. I was born in sport climbing and not in mountaineering so I see my activity as a final goal and I have never had the intention of moving on to something else.
Surely my career as an athlete will eventually end up due to obvious physical and human limitations but I’d like to stay in the climbing sector. Today this is my job but at the same time it is also my passion and I don’t think that will end once it will no longer be my profession. I will only have to turn it into a different job from the pure sporting performance but I believe there are many possibilities. I still have to find my way but I hope I still have plenty of time to climb!