UKC

Does anyone have a copy of the Valle dell'Orco Rock Climbing Guidebook? I'm going that way next week and we want to know if the guide is just smaller crag climbing in the valley itself or whether it includes the sub-alpine and alpine stuff above the valley? 

We're not against some crag climbing days but hopefully we want to get on some bigger routes too, so if anyone has some recommendations up to about 6a, sport or trad, in that NW part of Italy I'm all ears. 

Cheers all. 

Pic of the crags in the guide. It's a great area to visit, the long routes on the Caporal and the Sergeant are great.

Cheers Alex! So it's is valley cragging, but there is lots there including multi pitch? Does that sound fair? I think I'll order a copy.

Have you done anything bigger around Orco? My mate has had this route recommended to us for example https://www.camptocamp.org/routes/133911/fr/bec-meridional-de-la-tribolazio... 

We didn't do anything high up, but did climb some of the longer routes. There is quite a lot of multipitch climbing, certainly enough to keep you well entertained for a trip. The single pitch stuff is very good too, the rock is excellent.

The guidebook is also pretty special, you can tell it's been written with a lot of love for the area. I'll be looking at flights before we know it...

Hey Toby, hope all is well with you.

There is a bunch of info on the high routes at the refuge (Pontese) so you can email them if you want to check something specific I imagine, or more likely just rock up and use the topos and chat to the guardian. There might be a guidebook but I don’t know of it. If you find one let me know!

Orco is fantastic and wonderful cragging, and the higher alpine routes are great. Maybe not so much homogeneous easier multipitch down in the valley, but lots to do of course both down low and up high.

Have a great time.

J

Hi Jack - greetings to you too! All is well here in (currently) very rainy Derbyshire.

I'm going with my mate Dave from Finland who had been recommended the Pontese hut from some local-ish contacts, right down to the food being excellent, on top of the climbing around it being excellent. I think it was this page that got Dave thinking about that area http://www.rifugiopontese.it/1/alpinismo_e_arrampicata_659925.html  I either read somewhere or heard that you can buy a topo from the refuge itself.

I've ordered the English version of the guidebook so will have that as well.

Thanks again to you and Alex.

Anyone else with experience climbing out there I'd be happy to hear recommendations, suggestions etc. With my friend we have inadvertently created a tradition of having "climbing birthday parties" celebrating the turning of the decades - Dave is ten years and a couple of months older than me, so we both have "big" birthdays the same summer. When I turned 30 and he 40, we were in Lofoten having just climbed Eidetind on the mainland and got up lots of good routes around Henningsvaer. 10 years on we were back in Arctic Norway twice, ski touring up the highest peak in Lyngen and the North for his birthday then doing Sydpilaren (n6-) on Stetind just before mine. With my big five oh imminent, we thought about arctic Norway again but the logistics were easier for an alpine trip. So if anyone has an Orco-region Italian (or possibly even SE French, or SW Swiss) rival to Sydpilaren we'd be very interested!

The topo you're looking for is "A sud del Paradiso" by Predan and Sartore which covers the mountain areas around the hut. 

According to their website one can buy it at the refuge (See **2018 NUOVA GUIDA di ARRAMPICATA NEL VERSANTE PIEMONTESE DEL GRAN PARADISO):

 http://www.rifugiopontese.it/1/news_e_prezzi_659924.html

Thanks Ewan - we'll make sure we have the money at the ready if we go up to the hut. Cheers.