Luisa Iovane

Luisa Iovane is an Italian climber, born in 1960, eight times Italian champion from 1985 to 1996, and the first woman to have climbed a route in the eighth degree, with Come Back (8a). Luisa Iovane is a geologist by profession. At the age of 14, Luisa Iovane began climbing with her father in San Felicita, then during the holidays with the parish and the scouts. With them, she climbed her first via ferrata, without equipment of course, safety was not an issue at the time, and with Don Franco, she even climbed the Cima Grande di Lavaredo. At 16, not always finding a climbing partner, she began climbing solo, in the Dolomites. At 19, back from the Yosemite Valley, she then turned to sport climbing. In Arco, she contributed to the opening of new climbing routes. In 1978, at the Sella Pass, a chance encounter took place that changed her life: that of Luggi Rieser, Reinhard Schiestl and Heinz Mariacher, the latter of whom would become her life and climbing companion. In the 80s, the close...