Climbing at Cala Mancina

Dirt road is not built for a city car.

The long awaited day when we finally had our very first climbing in Sicily. Our target was Scogliera di Salinella Nord at coast called Cala Mancina wich is located on the western side of San Vito Lo Capo. Access to the crag wasn't obvious, but because of our earlier scouting, finding the gate to the old dirt road was easy. Driving the road wasn't that obvious, our car is designed for the urban streets and the dirt road was full of big stones and deep potholes. At the halfway we decided to park the car to avoid potential damage to the car.

Life cycle.

Once we arrived to the walls it became obvious that why more and more climbers are heading to San Vito. Walls are good quality limestone and fresh. No chalk on the walls and no polished rock. Crag itself is divided into seven walls and biggest walls are divided into several sectors. Height of the routes varies between 15 to 35 meters and grades starts from 4 and go up to 8b+. A great varying scale of routes that should fulfill the demands of any sportclimber.

Where is the climber?

The setting of the routes is also beautiful, I would say the most beautiful. Red walls are standing from 50 meters to 100 meters from the sea and underneath lies only rugged fields where goats are pasturing. Beach is covered with sharp and grey stone hit by the strong waves of the Mediterranean sea. This is not the most common view that you would see from the photos of the San Vito's beaches.

Lost climber found,

During the day we climbed easier, but nice warmup routes from sectors Zoo and High wall (2 pitches route on a single climb). As a conclusion we were satisfied and the extraordinary setting adds a nice touch on the routes. Recommended.

About the routes:
Current version of the Versante Sud's Climbing has only few routes listed from San Vito Lo Capo's region. Our primary topo book for this area is Sicily-Rock that can be bought from GEBRO Verlag.

At the wall.

Sami at the High Wall

Mika at the High Wall.

Heta at Cala Mancina.

Hight Wall sector.

Sicily 1.10.2012