UKC

I’m looking for the best place to go for Sports climbing in Italy with plenty to go at between grade 4+ to 5+. Can anyone help with some suggestions? And what the best months are for climbing?

In reply to freddy:
Sardinia, Arco (bit polished on low grades as really popular) or Finale are great places when in UK is too cold for climbing!

In reply to freddy: (having translated 2/3 of the new 5th edition of Pietra di Luna, the guide to climbing in Sardinia which should come out next spring. It was near to publication in September 2010 but a serious illness affecting the publisher means a delay of at least 3-4 months. The new edition will contain almost all the island’s single-pitch routes, with 120 crags and 3600 climbs. Quite a lot of the routes have been bolted by us, including some 4's and 5's - We live on the east coast) Overall on limestone there's not loads of grade 4 routes, but there are lots of 5's and 5+'s. You/we climb here all year round, low down near the sea in the sun in the depths of winter, at 3000' in the shade in summer. As I read today "“The only area of Europe that has beaches which comes close to the Caribbean are those on Sardinia… Other places have better architecture, food, history and a diverse “feel” but, if you are looking for the best coastlines in Europe, head for Sardinia.” If you want to combine climbing with a beach holiday, as many people do, best months are May (water still a bit chilly) through to November.

ciao Peter and for more info email me peter@peteranne.it

In reply to freddy:

There is great sport climbing all over Italy from Finale to the Dolomites and all the way down the spine to Sicily. Season depends on how high you go.


Chris

Thaks to all

In reply to freddy:

i went to arco, loads there from grade 2 upwards, loads of 4, 5 and 6s. english guide available too

wendy

In reply to Wendy14:

"Loads" is something of an exageration. One of the problems of Arco is the lack of easy routes in general, leading to the few that exist becoming very polished. So much so that in order to teach my daugher (and local kids) to climb I made my own easy crags (just up the road).

Arco is paradise if you climb 6c+

In reply to Gavin Taylor:

A friend of mine is looking into renting a hut at Easter near Arco for the two of us, our two seven year old sons who have climbed a bit (my son led his first F4b outdoors last week), and my wife who mostly climbs indoors but has done a bit outdoors, leading around UIAA V in the Alps on bolted multipitch.

Are your easy crags documented anywhere?

I found a few multipitch 3-4ish slab climbs on bergsteigen.at, Lastoni di Dro - might they be the ones?

thanks
Alan

In reply to AlanLittle:

No, not documented anywhere except in my computer (and I have a firewall).
That's because one is on private land and the landowner said he would rather it was kept quiet. Another one is brand new and probably will end up in a guidebook (when finished).
The other two or three are esoteric sorts of places - one on a bronze age archeological site so not bolted.
Most are still under development, which is another reason to keep them quiet (very anoying to have folk rolling up at the crag while you are trundling loose blocks). And they are all up around our village, Cadine, just outside Trento (and all very small by Arco standards).

In reality there are numerous similar places all down the Sarca valley - occasionally you hear about them or even find them. One that I had discovered and that recently "went public" is the Cosina crag now in the new edition of the Arco sport guide. (I am talking about crags for youngsters, you understand. Just near the Cosina is an amazing, wildly overhanging but still secret crag.)

If you decide to come up this way you could get in touch and I would be happy to show you some good beginners' routes (good "first lead" type climbs) - some overhanging nasties too, for the big boys. But note in advance - the crags around Arco are huge, some over 1000 m, my crags are not much more than 10 m. (Although there are some two pitch trad routes, come to think of it, and some short easy trad lead routes for learning, the latter more or less unique in this area).

In reply to AlanLittle:
We were in Arco recently and had a lovely day at Belvedere. The lower sector has plenty of single pitch routes 4/4+

In reply to freddy: The best crag for lower grade sport climbing in the Lake Garda area is Marciaga. It is a 45 min drive south from Arco. The climbing is great and the routes suffer from relatively little polish. Two other crags worth considering are Stellavena and ca Verde. Those 3 crags will give you several days great climbing. My wife and I have been going to Arco for several years but this year are staying at the south end of lake Garda to take advantage of these 3 areas. We booked a 3 week holiday with keycamp in a caravan costing $400 for 3 weeks plus the cost of the ferry.

In reply to icnoble:

Now rivaled by Regina del Lago, recently gone public in the new Arco guidebook. It's very close to Riva del Garda, offers multi-pitch options, and is in a very nice quiet position overlooking the lake.
Check it out next time you are here!

Personally I like Sardinia and Liguria. These two beautiful italian regions pack a ridicolous number of sport routes at any grade and they keep developing! I heard the new Pietra di Luna will come in two books, one for multi-pitch and one for single-pitch sport routes given the huge amount of climbing that Sardinia offers. The Finale and Oltrefinale guide books are half a kilo each and they only cover a small subset of Liguria! In fact, I've heard a lot of good things about Muzzerone too at the east end of Liguria... another climbing area, another guidebook...

Early autumn and, even better spring, or late spring are the best seasons for climbing in these regions. Definitely avoid July and August. June can be already very hot depending on the year...

Easy Grades you can find at:

Corno di Bo(western shore of lake Garda, above a tunnel, not far from Nago)
and
Monte Baone(Arco)

both are easy slab climbs.

In reply to strunz:

And both very minor by local standards.

One of the few worthwhile easy routes:
Via Rita on the Placche Zebrate is no more than IV (despite being graded harder in gudebooks - some choss fell away making it a stroll around the old crux overlap) - 16 pitches and 450 m long
http://scuolaguidodellatorre.interfree.it/relazioni/roccia/PlaccheZebrate-v...