What can I say? This is definitely one of those experiences that leaves a mark. As early as Monday, on the phone with Matteo, we had decided to climb this route—a spontaneous decision, followed by a week to mentally digest it. It’s a hard route, it’s long, and the descent could easily be endless… Saturday, 12 p.m.: we are in Dalmine and we set off. Agordo is famous for being close to our home :-) In about four hours we reach Listolade and begin to make our way into the Val Corpassa, dominated by the Torre Trieste and its even larger sister, the Cima Busazza. The sight of these towers is always striking—their bulk, elegance, and sheer verticality inevitably inspire awe. At a calm, human pace (incredible! Matteo was running less than usual!) we enter this special world and reach the approach ledge, where we leave our mats and bivouac gear for the night. Surprisingly, it turns into a night of actual sleep rather than wakefulness, interrupted only once around 1 a.m. by a rope team coming down the Cassin route (oh dear—will we also be coming down in the middle of the night?!). “If you want to climb it all free, just know that a wedge on the VIII- pitch has a broken cord.” We had briefly considered it, but in practice things turned out differently. 4 a.m.: breakfast and off we go. As soon as the Monte Agner begins to change colour, we set off on the ledge system. The first pitches, wet and on mediocre rock, are very demanding, but they go one after another. I manage to skip a belay and link two pitches that lead to the second ledge, even taking a rather difficult variation. Lunch break and contemplation of the collapsed pillar from the first pitch above the ledge. Then we set off again. The route seems endless, and enthusiasm for the climb alternates with fatigue. In the end we make it, with a bit of simul-climbing on the final chimneys. The weather is unreal—you can see the entire Dolomites—but the obsession with the descent pulls us away from the stunning panorama. On the way down, a falling rock while retrieving a rappel damages the ropes badly, in places even cutting into the core, so we are forced to rappel by knotting the rope on the red strand (the one with only one tag) and on the green strand (the one with two tags). At 8 p.m. we reach Capanna Trieste, where we finally drink something to recover a bit. But our long journey is not over yet… There are still 400 km to Milan, and I will only see my front door at 1:30 a.m.