On 27th of January I did 4th ascent of superclassic  Il Marattoneta (8b+) in Paklenica, Croatia. It is famous, historic line and one of those which name speaks thousand words. I saw it first time in 1997., 10 years after Maurizio Zanolla Manolo did his epic first ascent and in period when route still didnt have any repeats. It looked unreal good, just like today and I was impressed by Manolo’s vision of the line. Altough I was 15 year old boy and didnt know much about climbing, I was sure this is kind of routes I want to climb and search for.

In the following years I gave all energy to develop my climbing skills while Marattoneta saw first repeats by Slowenian aces Perko and Lukič. I took my chance to try it few times but couldn’t offer much more than checking the moves.
Last year we met again and I felt I was ready to climb it but summer temperatures and humidity shut me down. This is why I decide to come back in clear and cold winter days, my favorite part of the year. The day before send I had short “stay strong” indoor boulder session, took a shower, shaved, prepared my lucky pants in which I did FA of Alcatraz and hit the road with my wife and bunch of friends. Tommorow afternoon there was big fight going on in the dark and frozen canyon. At the beginning nothing went according the plan but at the end of the day I manage to give one really insane try and the mission was completed – I cliped the anchor of Il Marattoneta and toped out the routes giant flake.

I allways wanted to climb Il Marattoneta. It was allways placed very high on my life ticklist and this is why I am glad that I dont feel empty  inside after acomplishing it. The main reason beyond this is that whole story never grow into obssesion, athough I walked the thin line in some extra committed moments. Working on project(s) is psychologically very hard and one of the best things I learned is to keep mental balance. If you take the project too serious, if you have ambition to prove something or to do big things in your life it necessary produce too much stress and this is not the best option. So, I just try to keep it simple and fresh along the way. Yes, it is hard to ˝give all you have and dont expect nothing˝(Klem Loskot) but this is definatelly receipe for all performances which  goes beyond maximum.  Usually  I am able to achive this state of mind only when I am totaly into everlasting joy of climbing and nothing else . Thanks God, I can say that happens pretty often.

>>> More about history of the route – here:  http://www.planetmountain.com/english/News/shownews1.lasso?l=2&keyid=40589

>>> Photos: