UKC

Granite sports climbing in Sardinia

If you fancy a change from limestone, Sardinia has some good granite crags and bouldering. These are in the north (Capo Testa/Gallura), SE (Garibaldi, boulders between Cagliari and Villasimius with quite a lot of new developments) and east coast, where we live. Only 2km from where we live there is a crag, Lucertole al Sole, with 20 bolted lines, of which 15-odd have been freed, including 4 yesterday by Maurizio Oviglia and myself. Routes from 6a+ to 7b, with lots of superb jamming cracks and bouldery moves – Brits used to crack climbing will find some easy ticks since grades here reflect a general inability to jam on the part of the locals. Flat and grassy underneath, great to hang out. I can supply the updated topo and access info.

I just put a couple of photos in my UKC photo album and updated the crag details.

There’s also a porphyry crag, Praidas, 30’ away: in the shade in the afternoon and at 900m, ideal for summer, beautiful view over sea. Routes from 5b to 7b.

Happy climbing Peter

In reply to Peter Herold:
Hi Peter,
As luck would have it we've just booked a last minute trip to Bari Sardo for this coming week. I guess your granite crag won't be too far from here. I would be very grateful if you could email me the topo and access info, readza at aol dot com. Is it easy to pick up the local guidebook for the area when we're there, and am I right in thinking the nearest crags to us will be the ones at Jerzu?

In reply to Peter Herold: Is it all sport in sardinia or is there much decent trad? Also is there much in the way of new crag potential? That crag you've posted looks fun

In reply to MattG:
1. "Is it all sport in sardinia or is there much decent trad?" Most is bolted climbing, including "modern" multipitch routes bolted every 3-4-5-5+ metres as well as cragging. One reason for this is that on the limestone it can be very hard to place trad gear. One exception is Bruncu Nieddu / Cusidore, where there are cracks and good trad routes as well, eg "British Way" which is 7a+ / E5 6a put up by Maurizio Oviglia and Rolando LArcher last year; at the same crag there is Spalle al Muro, a "fearsome" offwidth only now protectable with large friends. See topo on www.pietradiluna.com . And easier routes as well. The main problem is that the older trad routes are described in the 1997 CAI guide, available only in EN.
2. "Also is there much in the way of new crag potential? That crag you've posted looks fun" Where we live, loads. Jaw dropping potential. We have bolts paid for by the bolt fund guests contribute to and we are bolting 3 crags: The Lemon House; the Co 'e Serra cave (a Czech friend brings in May 100 bolts, 20 quickdraws to leave, 100m static rope) with its grade 8 and higher routes, and easier routes on wall to the right; easier grade 4-6a routes on Monte Scoine for summer and Monte Pittaine and Campo dei Miracoli for winter. See the news of Sardiniaclimb.com searching for "Peter".But there are many other crags, and we really have to focus effort on these to reach a critical number of new routes. Roberto Vigiani added a couple more routes at The Lemon House last week and has spied a porphyry crag, location still a secret

cheers Peter