Rock Master: A Legendary Story 40 Years of Sport Climbing in Arco

Side events and the Lead Duel and KO Boulder challenges with the world’s best climbers.

Rock Master, Europe’s longest-running sport climbing competition, is preparing to celebrate a historic milestone together with great champions and special guests. From 2 to 4 October, Arco, in Trentino, will celebrate forty years of sport climbing events: a journey that began in 1986 with Sport Roccia and continued with Rock Master, following the evolution of modern climbing and becoming an international benchmark for the discipline. More than any other competition, Rock Master helped shape the competitive language, identity and sporting prestige of climbing.

For the occasion, the next edition of Rock Master will mark this special anniversary by welcoming some of the greatest legends in climbing history. It was on the walls of the Climbing Stadium in Arco that many of them pushed the level of the sport ever higher, helping guide the discipline towards Olympic recognition.

Among the guests of honour at the three-day event, organised by Rock Master 20.20 and Garda Trentino, will be Yuji Hirayama, two-time Lead World Cup winner, in 1998 and 2000, and Rock Master champion in 1991 and 2001. Hirayama was also the first athlete in history to complete an 8c route onsight, a breakthrough achievement in rock climbing in 2004. “Rock Master It was the birthplace of the sport climbing we now see in the Olympics,” said the Japanese legend.

Also coming to Arco is Belgium’s Muriel Sarkany, an outstanding athlete who won five Lead World Cups between 1997 and 2003 and claimed three consecutive Rock Master victories in 1999, 2000 and 2001.

Sarkany dominated the international circuit for more than a decade, showing the same consistency and dedication that also defined the career of American climber Robyn Erbesfield-Raboutou, four-time Lead World Cup winner and Rock Master champion in Arco in 1994.

She will be joined by her husband Didier Raboutou, one of the pioneers of French sport climbing and winner of Rock Master in 1989. Their sporting story now continues with their daughter Brooke Raboutou, a leading figure in the new global generation, winner of the Rock Master 2026 Lead Duel and the first woman in history to climb 9b+, with her ascent of Excalibur in Drena.

Another highly anticipated guest is France’s François Legrand, five-time Lead World Cup winner and four-time Rock Master champion, with victories in 1990, 1994, 1997 and 1998. Legrand played a key role in redefining the standards of Lead climbing during the 1990s.

Representing one of the most iconic chapters in the history of the discipline will be Lynn Hill, widely regarded as one of the greatest climbers of all time. “When I hear Rock Master, it brings back many nostalgic memories of the first International climbing competitions,” said the American climber. “ I considered this competition as important to climbing as the Wimbledon tournament has been to tennis. Getting invited to compete at the Rock Master competition is a success in itself, despite one’s overall placement in the competition.”

Hill claimed five Rock Master victories between 1987 and 1992. In 1993, she became the first person to free climb The Nose on El Capitan in a day, and she was also the first woman to climb a route graded 8b+.

Alongside the side events and the Lead Duel and KO Boulder challenges, which will bring the world’s strongest climbers into competition, Rock Master will host a series of meetings with its legendary champions. On Friday 2 October at 17:00, Lynn Hill will open the “Climbin’ Espresso” series. On Saturday 3 October at 11:00, it will be Yuji Hirayama’s turn, while at 18:00 the Rock Master Village will host a special aperitivo celebrating the fortieth anniversary together with the legends who helped shape its story. On Sunday 4 October at 10:00, Didier Raboutou and Robyn Erbesfield will bring the programme with the champions of the past to a close.

After forty years of sporting competitions, Arco continues to be the meeting point between climbing’s history and its future. At the foot of the Rupe del Castello in Arco, the journey of Rock Master continues: a festival like no other, combining sport and pure spectacle in the Home of Climbing in Garda Trentino. Free ticket reservations for the public are already open.

INFO: Rock Master

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