I cannot remember how many times I have climbed in Massone. Surprisingly, there is always something new. In this case, the route is pretty old, it was developed 20 years ago by Rolando Larcher and it is called "Atene". It is a cool route between 8b+ and 8c (8c, I think, can fit better), but it had one problem - two artificial holds. In 2018, I tried to avoid these two artificial holds, found a good beta, and on my second go, I fell off in the upper headwall because of lack of attention. On the next try, I broke a tiny foothold in the crux - and even though it was tiny, it turned out to be absolutely crucial. Since then, I had been trying this route sporadically (4 days in total) whenever I happened to be in Arco and had a free afternoon, but never made it through the crux. This September, I arrived late afternoon (the same day I did "Sid Lives"), checked the moves, gave it a try and fell off like usual in the crux. I pulled back up and found a crucial right heel hook, that helped me to readjust the right-hand pinch. I did not have much time to rest before giving another try as the darkness was approaching. But I was sure there was a chance to do it with the new beta. Watch the next try in this episode.
