Will

After my finger injury I made the decision to carry on with the hard training, hoping to get in a good shape for the middle of february.

Main target was obviously open hand strenght. I wanted to prevent my index finger from crimping and increase the power on slopers and pinches. Unexpectedly I felt great even without crimping, even if this has always been my forte! So after a week of training I was psyched and willing to test my strenght, crushing Messa delle streghe in Varazze, a problem that doesn't require right hand crimping and has become an epic, due to compulsive misunderstanding of the beta and constant bad conditions of the lower part.

Saturday 31.1 I left Biella alone, with a strong feeling of confidence and psyche, even though weather forecasts were a bit uncertain. I was sure that would be the day.

The arrival in Varazze was not promising anyway, heavy rain was pouring down! Instead of getting upset I strangely kept my confidence and when I got to the boulders rain stopped. Good sign.

Unfortunately everything was wet and the lower part of Messa was soaked, much more than the previous times I attempted it. I was still sure I could do it. I calmly proceeded to dry the key right pinch, a bit humid. No way to do so with the footholds, as the wet crack above refreshed them with clear and pure water in a continuous matter.

After a very approximate warmup deadhanging on the two edges of the problem, I set the camera and began. Feelings weren't as good as I expected, mainly because I was still cold.

After half an hour I had a good go, falling at the last move before the dyno to the final jug. I took 10 minutes to hike around, smelling the scents of the wet woods and listening to the birds tweeting. Sun came out. I was alone. Now I knew it was the time.

I returned to the problem, made my way on the lower part using the soaked footholds and executed the remaining moves, grabbing the final big hold with a liberating scream. Epic was over.

Feeling strong and happy, I figured out the moves of the nearby 7B called Ganimede and with my own beta I satched it up on my fourth try.

I was satisfied. With this great feeling and the certainty that my will power is something I can truly rely on, I packed and left.