Day 1 of Melloblocco 2025. Sun, grip, rain and smiles breaking out in Val Masino and Val di Mello.

Wet morning.

Then the whole afternoon saw people climbing in the valley.

340 people turned up at the Melloblocco 2025 registration desk despite the catastrophic forecast of the last few days.

It was ‘surprisingly’ good climbing. The grip was there. This was demonstrated by the fact that one of the competition blocks was freed, Usucapione by Giulia Rosa, followed by Siara Fabbri and Katerina Zimova, while Marco Buffalo wasted no time and closed two blocks, followed by Stefano Motta, Simone Tentori and Davide Bassotto who closed one.

So much for the chronicle of the hardest blocks, which, however, takes absolutely no account of the most important thing: the relaxed atmosphere, of discovery and rediscovery, that one breathed here in the valley today. As it is every year after all.

The evening ‘Mystic Kyrgyzstan’, a tale of distant lands through the personal experiences of mountaineers Alessandra Prato and Matteo de Zaiacomo, was much appreciated.