Sportroccia was the very first international

climbing competition A climbing competition (or comp) is usually held indoors on purpose built climbing walls. There are three main types of climbing competition: lead, speed, and bouldering. In lead climbing, the competitors start at the bottom of a route and must ...

. Four annual Sportroccia editions were held in 1985, 1986, 1988, and 1989, in the village of

Bardonecchia Bardonecchia (; french: Bardonèche or ; pms, Bardonecia ; oc, Bardonescha ) is an Italian town and ''comune'' located in the Metropolitan City of Turin, in the Piedmont region, in the western part of Susa Valley. It grew out of a small village ...

and

Arco ARCO ( ) is a brand of gasoline stations currently owned by Marathon Petroleum after BP sold its rights. BP commercializes the brand in Northern California, Oregon and Washington, while Marathon has rights for the rest of the United States an ...

, Italy.

History

The first edition of Sportroccia was organized in 1985 on the initiative of Andrea Mellano, a strong climber of the '60s and a member of the Italian Academic Alpine Club, and the journalist and writer Emmanuel Cassara. The jury was composed of

Riccardo Cassin Riccardo Cassin (2 January 19096 August 2009) was an Italian mountaineer, developer of mountaineering equipment and author, and an important figure in the history of rock climbing. Life Born into a peasant family at San Vito al Tagliamento in Fr ...

, Oscar Soravito,

Maurizio Zanolla Maurizio "Manolo" Zanolla (born in Feltre, 16 February 1958) is an Italian rock climber and mountaineer, and a pioneer of sport climbing in Italy during the 1980s and 1990s. Climbing career Manolo came to international attention with his free ...

and Heinz Mariacher. The competition was contested on the Parete dei Militi (Wall of the Soldiers) in Valle Stretta, near Bardonecchia. The fact that the races were held on the rock and not on artificial walls put the organizers in the vanguard of several issues that eventually led to moving climbing competitions to artificial walls only. * In 1985 and 1986, Sportroccia was also used to proclaim the Italian champion, giving the title to the best Italian athletes within the competition. * In 1986, the event was divided into two stages: the first in Arco on the wall of Colodri, the second in Bardonecchia. * In 1987, Sportroccia gave way for the first time to

Rock Master Rock Master is an international climbing competition held every year in Arco, Italy. The event takes place in two rounds: the first is an on-sight session and the second is called "after work". The final classification is given by the sum of th ...

in Arco, but the event was still held on the rock, not yet on an artificial wall. * In 1988 began the artificial wall era. * In 1989 the competition became a stage of the newly formed World Cup of rock climbing. * In 2005, during the annual events, a conference was held in Bardonecchia, called "1985-2005 Sportroccia twenty years after, the future of sport climbing."

Editions

Sportroccia 85

The competition was held from July 5 to 7. Best Italian (men): Roberto Bassi (7th), Andrea Gallo (8th).

Sportroccia 86

The competition was held from July 11 to 13. Only Patrick Edlinger finished the final climb, which was named ''Caduta degli dei'', 7c+ ("Damned"). Best Italian: Roberto Bassi (men) (10th) and Rosanna Manfrini (women).

Sportroccia 88

The competition was held from July 15 to 17.

Sportroccia 89

The competition was held from July 14 to 16. The 1989 edition of Sportroccia also represents the third stage of the Lead Climbing World Cup, 1989. Best Italian: Nicola Sartori (men) (4th).