UKC

Hi UKC hivemind,

We're heading out to Arco next weekend (technically Riva del Garda) and will only have a couple of days child free (what are grandparents for if not holiday childcare?!).

Really keen to make the most out of being there and hoping to get:

- one day single pitch cragging

- one day doing a big multi pitch

- possibly a half day for a via ferrata.

Any recommendations for any of these? We've bought the Arco rock guideand have perused this a fair bit, but it's hard to draw much conclusions on the route quality or polish-ness. 

Have heard routes at Placche zebrate are good for multi pitching, Rita and Gabri-Camilla.

Have heard Rio Sallagoni is a good via ferrata for a few hours spare time.

We'll probably be looking for routes around the 6a mark, unless they're slabby in which case can push it higher. 

Thanks in advance 

Matt

Rita is good, the gulley is a cool feature to climb through. Most of it was very easy, almost all around 4, with one crux in the gulley, but very run out (~5 bolts per pitch). I'd be tempted to do one of the harder routes up there. Even as a 3 it only took us a few hours. Having wingsuits zipping over you is quite something.  

Traversi Perversi (6a+) was probably the route of the trip for me. https://www.bergsteigen.com/touren/klettern/traversi-perversi-coste-dell-an... 

Via Ferrata Rio Sallagoni at Lake Garda is a cool little ferrata you can do in an evening (or in the rain..), it's soloable as well with a bit of confidence. There are loads of good ones around, we did one above a church that was good fun. Via Ferrata Monte Albano. It also had a boulder circuit at the bottom.

I didn't do much single pitch as it's not really my thing. 

Cheers for the advice 👍 

Rio Sallagoni is what I would have recommended as a VF if you want the activity for its own sake. If you're interested in the tragic wartime history of the early vie ferrate then Cima Capi / Cima Rocca (lots of tunnels, take headtorches)

Regina del Lago is good in the up to 6a range.

If you can get the Sarca walls guidebook there's some lovey long routes in there.  Found the cragging directly around Arco a bit polished!

Rio Sallagoni is good at night as all the creepy-crawlies come out of hiding. For a VF with views then Via dell Amicizia (VF3C) is the one to do, it takes a while though.

If you like 5/6a slabs, Corno di Bo isn't polished. We didn't get round to it, but wanted to do the multipitches here  Piccolo Dain

Cragging: up to 6a pretty polished. I don't go to Arco for the single pitch sport routes any more.

Multi-pitch: I love it!

I think that the better quality routes are the traditional ones in the Diego Filippi guide, such as the Via del Missile (VI+) (VI+) on Monte Casale https://www.bergsteigen.com/touren/klettern/via-del-missile-monte-casale/ or Cesare Levis (VI+) (VI+) on the Pian dela Paia https://www.bergsteigen.com/touren/klettern/cesare-levis-diedro-manolo/ . Here you have natural lines on good rock with a minimum of vegetation.

I am not mad about the Placche Zebrata / Sonnenplatten. I have done Teresa (5c) (VI?), and it's fun because it's fairly long (15(?) pitches and about 400 m), but I wasn't so keen on the climbing itself.

I really enjoy the modern bolted routes, equipped mainly by Heinz Grill, described in the guide Arco Plaisir. These are on second tier crags which I guess would have been overlooked as uninspiring at the time when routes such as Via del Missile above were getting discovered. There is a lot more vegetation on these Grill routes and they are more of an attempt to find a climbable line through a mixture of trees, rock and other stuff. However... there are often some really good pitches. For example, the Helena (VI) on Monte Colt - Parete di San Paolo Nord offers an overhang at grade VI that looks wild but turns out to feel like a 5b overhang at the wall. The Molinei Piramide Lakshmi also has two really good routes at VI / VI+.

I don't think much of Piccolo Dain. (Sorry Toerag.) Too much wandering through low-grade grass and stepped rock.

My recommendation for three days in Arco: skip the cragging and probably skip the VF Do one or other of Via del Missile or Cesare Levis (take a rack), and then, for example, the Via Helena above and one of the grade VI routes on Piramide Lakshmi. Or just maybe Via Teresa on the Placche Zebrata if you want to have climbed there at least once.

Other recommendations: coffee on the main square in Arco (big cappucino is my favourite), ice cream, and in the evening pizza and Campari Spritz. It's busy and touristy, but I still love it there