Christian Core

Christian Core (born 5 October 1974) is an Italian professional rock climber who specialises in bouldering and competition bouldering. He is known for being the first-ever person in the world to climb an 8C+ (V16) boulder, Gioia [fr], in 2008. As a competition climber, Core won the Bouldering World Cup twice in 1999 and 2002, and also won the Bouldering World Championship in 2003.

Christian Core

Christian Core on Gioia (8C+), Varazze
Personal information
Nationality	Italian
Born	(1974-10-05) 5 October 1974 (age 50) Savona, Italy
Occupation	Professional rock climber
Height	177 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	61 kg (134 lb)
Climbing career
Type of climber	Competition climbing Bouldering Sport climbing
Highest grade	Redpoint: 8c (5.14b) On-sight: 8a (5.13b) Bouldering: 8C+ (V16)
Known for	first-ever person to climb an 8C+ (V16) boulder
First ascents	Gioia [fr] (V16, 2008)
Medal record World Cup Winner 1999 Bouldering Winner 2002 Bouldering World Championships 2001 Bouldering 2003 Bouldering European Championships 2002 Bouldering
Updated on 31 October 2017

Climbing career

Competition climbing

In 1999 Core stopped competing in the Lead Climbing World Cup and started participating in the Bouldering World Cup, organized by UIAA in that year for the first time in history.^[1] He immediately won the Cup, and again in 2002.^[2] In 2003, he earned the title of World Champion in bouldering.^[3]

Bouldering

He has ascended several very hard boulders in Italy near Bobbio Pellice, Varazze, and Triora. In 2008, he climbed Gioia [fr], the first-ever boulder graded 8C+ (V16) in history, and was for 8 years, the most difficult boulder in the world. In 2011, Adam Ondra repeated the ascent and confirmed the grade,^[4] however, in 2015, Core announced that a hold broke on Gioia, which he could only partially repair, and which slightly lowered the grade.^[5]

Personal life

In 2009, he married the climber Stella Marchisio.

Rankings

See also: List of best IFSC results

Climbing World Cup^[6]

	1995	1996	1997	1998
Lead	10	11	9	17

	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
Bouldering	1	8	7	1	8	16	4	4	13	16	54	26	54	32

Climbing World Championships^[7]

	1997	1999	2001	2003	2005	2007	2009	2011
Lead	7	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Bouldering	-	-	3	1	18	10	10	33

Climbing European Championships^[7]

	1998	2000	2002	2004	2007	2008	2010
Lead	10	-	-	-	-	-	-
Bouldering	-	-	1	-	16	10	7

Number of medals in the Climbing World Cup

Bouldering^[7]

Season	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1999	2	1		3
2000		1	1	2
2001		1		1
2002	1	1		2
2003			1	1
2004		1		1
2005		1		1
2006			1	1
2010			1	1
Total	3	6	4	13

Rock climbing

Redpointed routes

Core redpointed 8c (5.14b) and onsighted 8a (5.13b) routes.

Boulder problems

Core redpointed 8C+ (V16) and flashed 8A (V11) boulder problems.

8C+/V16:

• Gioia [fr] – Varazze (ITA) – 2008 – First ascent.^[8] Adam Ondra repeated it on 6 December 2011 and confirmed the 8C+ grade.^[9] Third ascent by Nalle Hukkataival^[10]

8C/V15:

• Kimera – Rifugio Barbara (Bobbio Pellice, ITA) – 2006 – First ascent^[11]

8B+/V14:

• Toky – Val Ellero (ITA) – 2009 – First ascent^[12]
• New Base Line – Magic Wood (CHE) – 2006^[13]
• Beautiful mind – Albarracin (ESP) – 2006 – First ascent^[14]
• Ajna – Varazze (ITA) – 2004 – First ascent^[15]
• Toguro – Varazze (ITA) – 2003 – First ascent^[16]
• Dreamtime – Cresciano (CHE) – 2003 – Fifth ascent (first ascent by Fred Nicole)^[17]
• Taklimakam plus – Varazze (ITA) – 2002 – First ascent^[18]
• Shadowfax – Chironico (CHE) – 2002 – Third ascent (first ascent by Dave Graham)^[19]

Film

• i Core, my climbing family – 2012 – Regia di Angelo Poli – 45'^[20][21]

See also

• List of grade milestones in rock climbing
• History of rock climbing
• Rankings of most career IFSC gold medals