New route on the south face of Marmolada. A year ago, with Giordani Maurizio and Bernardo Rivadossi, we scouted an old route called "Ali-Baba" on the Elephant's back sector, one of the largest overhangs in the Dolomites, to see if it could be climbed free. However, there was a short section where "Ali Baba" exited onto completely smooth yellow rock, which Mauri had previously climbed using aid with pitons . Bernardo Rivadossi had perhaps glimpsed a solution where the rock was gray.

This year, Berni called me and asked if I would accompany him on "La Pancia" to see if we could solve the problem. Even though it was August and work was plentiful, I said yes. At first, Berni was thinking about a repetition, but then he spotted the line both on the yellow overhangs (with adequate cleaning) below the crux and above on the steep slabs.

So, after nine days of thunderstorms, scorching sun, and icy winds, we completed a king line on the south wall of Marmolada. The route is yet to be freed, but the major work has been done. The route intersects and partially follows Maurizio's aid pitch (for which we asked for permission); we didn't seek permission for the last pitch to Koller, where we crossed the route with existing routes and added nothing except for one anchor, as Maurizio's anchor was a bit precarious on a detached flake.

The first ascent lasted about 10 days, during which we initially traveled back and forth with Wilier Triestina electric bikes. Then, the Delbon family hosted us for two or three nights at the Falier hut. The route, named Egoland, because the world way, is 410 meters large with high difficulty, partially equipped with bolts and partially with quick protections, including two pitches that partially replicate Maurizio G. Zenatti's and Cipriani's route.

Berni was excited; I was working, so later, based on Bernardo Rivadossi's intuition, a new variant was traced (with the help of Luca Bana) that is even more independent than the first, using only six of Maurizio's pitons, but the difficulty increased. (Luca later freed the hardest pitch.) The route was freed by Bernardo Rivadossi and Luca Bana together, sharing the pitches; the variant is still there.

The materials used were left on the wall; additional pitons were added, and all the slings are in place with cord tied. Maximum difficulty: 8c+, 7c+ mandatory. Material used: 2 sets of Totem cams.