Location: Epicenter, 3125 Coffey Lane, Santa Rosa
Time & Date: Tuesday, June 7, 2022 @ 7:30 PM (Social hour and free beer for members at 6:30)
Follow Giovanni Traversi’s journey as he tells the story of how he jumped from a 5.13 sport climber to a near 5.15 sport climber in 365 days while only trying one single sequence over and over until he finally sent the route perfectly, in better style than most of the pros. “Everything is Karate” is a climb in Pine Creek Canyon near Bishop and it revolves around an intense move off of a mono-finger lock, which really hugs the barriers of your typical sport climb. Giovanni recounts the climb – “The rock is so sharp and new that often I would be left with no skin on both sides of my middle finger and completely flapped on both sides, while gushing blood.” Giovanni sent the climb on October 18, 2018, making it the 5th known ascent of the route.
He is now on a different path with plans to complete one of his other main projects, “Too Big to Flail” in the Buttermilk country near Bishop. He has decided the best way he can climb the boulder is completely free, with no ropes or pads and no one around. This climb is a notoriously highball/free solo, but no one has ever climbed it without the use of crash pads as a safety net and always with many people around. Giovanni’s aim is to make the first “free solo” ascent of Too Big to Flail.
