Danger : Muzzerone Cliff Alert

Danger : a serious accident at Muzzerone Cliff, in Italy, was caused by an anchor failure. It is potentially linked to humidity and damp conditions. It could have been worse. But it could have been better. Since the climber ended up with a dislocated ankle fracture and had to be rescued by Mountain Rescue by helicopter, as reported in the Italian media Pareti.
The situation is rather precarious in several sectors of the great wall that faces the Tyrrhenian Sea west of Portovenere. That is no mystery to anyone. It is enough to climb on one of the many walls to notice that many of the plates are attacked by rust. It is natural to ask the question about how the situation is inside the rock, in the invisible part of the fix infixed now almost 15 years ago (when not later).

The bolting of the walls with bolts in fact dates back, for the most part, to the 1990s. And most of the routes were re-bolted with fixes, and rarely with glue-ins, in the 2000s. Only at Atlantide Bassa there are few routes bolted or re-bolted in 2024. But these are a very strong minority.
Bad bolt = danger
Unfortunately, last Saturday was proof that not everything that is relatively recent and looks good is actually good, and in this case the second fix of the route Auf Wiedersehen Schwarzenegger, a classic 7b+ in the Polveriera Sector, which is very overhanging and features a more difficult passage than the others right at that fix, was broken.
What makes the situation even more worrisome is that the fix did not break due to catching a fall but as a result of the unfortunate climber simply pulling outward as he was trying to get to a next hold. It could have been worse. But it could have been better. Since the climber ended up with a dislocated ankle fracture and had to be rescued by Mountain Rescue by helicopter.
Read also : How to identify bad bolts