The eternal knot tied at Garda Trentino

The Story of friends, climbing, Garda Trentino and loveeee...

I start from the very beginning. Two years ago when Mika and Heta were visiting Arco (again) they wanted to take their bikes with. Sami and Nora borrowed their bike rack (Thule EuroWay G2 921, very handy) and as compensation Sami got his first climbing harness. So, Sami started climbing, because he had harness and Mika needed a friend to belay. Sami really liked climbing and he started to look for another climbing partner when Mika was not available, so he asked Nora to try. Nora fell in love with climbing and they started to climb together a lot.

This tells something about the importance of climbing in their life. Nora played beach volley and volleyball as a semi-pro player, but since she started climbing, she has hardly played a match. Sami raced DH biking, but since he started climbing, he has done that twice in total. ;)

So, they trained climbing and bouldering at indoor places in Helsinki region and Tampere, they traveled to climb in Sicily and Sweden, they climbed at crags all around Finland and they were really happy together. They coached each other, they encouraged each other, they helped each other, they belayed each other, they spoke about climbing, they watched climbing movies and the most important they spent their best time together while climbing.

It was January 2013 when they planned to travel to Garda Trentino at Summer. At the same time Nora got an idea to get finally married after eight years together. They both love Italy and climbing and especially they love each other so what would be a better place to tie an eternal knot between them.

Nora's wedding ring, the eternal knot

The final test for the marriage was set to be passed at Sarca walls. The test was to do multipitch climbing together as a pair. ;) It was three days before the wedding when they approached Amazzonia route (5/5 stars, Sarca Walls– Guidebook) at the crag of Piccolo Dain at Parete Del Limaró. The route is 11 rope lengths and 250 meters, the hardest grade is 5C.  As they have enjoyed time together while climbing also the multipitch ascent went perfectly, even if it was raining when Nora leaded her longest and hardest pitch (5b), the ropes were wet and heavy and they didn't have time for breaks to get down before sunset. It took 6 hours and they were totally exhausted after the tour, but they worked as a solid team from start to end. So there were no doubts for the successful marriage! :D

Check the full story from here.

On the top of the world, or at least on the top of Amazzonia!

The end of story, but the beginning of lovely start for another one...

Thanks to the Italian friends for all the pre-work since the ceremony went perfect. Riva del Garda is very international city, so they gave very precise information what they need for a civil wedding ceremony. But it is good to communicate in Italian with the people working at city, if possible. Nora's lovely Italian volleyball teammate Alice helped a lot with the booking, documents and jewelry. Also Valentina and Daniele from Garda Trentino Tourist Office did great job by witnessing and translating the ceremony. The ceremony was at Comune di Riva del Garda (City Hall) by the Lake Garda.

After the ceremony by Lake Garda

This beautiful and lovely happening was really worth to immortalize. Mika made invaluable work to sweat and run with the married couple around the city of Arco and the Calvario crag. The day was hot even it was not so sunny. The feelings, the happiness, the love and the action were captured to these awesome photos.

Yoga and dynos are keys for good climber and excellent relationship. (c) Mika Huhtamäki

"See, there are some mountains!" (c) Mika Huhtamäki

"Catch me if you can!" (c) Mika Huhtamäki

Heading into the future together  (c) Mika Huhtamäki

Some extra without make-up and dress :)

Balancing at Via Ferrata Rio Salagoni (c) Mika Huhtamäki

The news of the wedding

Basso Sarca e Ledro News

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Relaxing activity at Rio Salogoni and Lago di Tenno

If you just want to see the photos then click here.  

What an exhausted group of climbers can do after a long multipitch to recover? They can spend a

Juha and Nina in the lost valley.

relaxing half a day at via ferrata and then go swimming to the nearby lakes.

I have to admint that one of my favorite via ferrata is Rio Salogoni in Drena. We visited there the very first time during our last years trip to Lake Garda, so it was a familiar route for most of us (read more about Rio Salogoni from here). As a route Rio Salogoni is not the most demanding or technically difficult but it has a certain spirit of a lost world that I haven't experienced in other places.

I was proud to show this place to our new members Juha, Niina and Nora. All of them had the opportunity to experience the lost world in a peacuful mood without other groups rushing in to it. And that shows on the images.

Rio Salogoni is definitely a worthy half day adventure to take and for our non climber quests Juha and Nina the day was definitely exciting and challenging even. After my second visit here Im even more convinced of the Rio Salogoni's magic. A defnite place to visit, recommended!

Sami & Noro shows how to walk on a wire bridge.

After the half day adventure there was only one thing to do, to swimming in the nearby lakes. Our choice for the day was Lago di Tenno that is well know from its turquoise and lagoon like environment (read more about Tenno). This year the water level was extraordinary high because of the rains and floods. Anyway the swimming was refreshing after the day at via ferrata and a good ending for our rock adventures.

Reflections on the Lago di Tenno. Notice the trees growning from the lake because of high water level.

See all photos:

Drena, Rio Salogoni, 9.7.2013

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Excellent multipitches at Piccolo Dain in Sarche

Jarkko "on the edge" (180 meters at Parete della Centrale).

If you just want to see the photos then click here.  

Read also releated story: Amazzonia - 5 stars multipitch at Parete Limaro

Are you looking for a great climbing experience on a good rock, with easy access, good bolting and beautiful views? If all that sounds good then Piccolo Dain in Sarche is definitely the mountain to conquer.

So far our trip has been a great adventure around the sourrounded valleys and mountains. But because time runs fast we had to choose the last multipitch adventure for the holiday. The choice was Piccolo Dain's Parete della Centrale wall.

Piccolo Dain is about 17 kilometers from Arco in the city of Sarche. It offers several different walls and a great number of both, traditional and bolted multipitch routes. Routes are relatively long, around 250 meters and the longest routes are up to 450 meters.

Parete della Centrale wall is easy to recognize. It faces to west and can be seen easily on the right side of  the road from Sarche towards Madonna di Campiglio. All routes can be accessed just before the river Sarca from the dirt road on the right side. The road starts just before the river and it travels under the wall towards the power station. Routes starts from the road just before the gates of the Enel power station.

Parete della Centrale wall has several great 250 meters long routes and our picks for the day were  Orizzonti Dolomitic and Amazzonia. Both are 250 meters and 11 pitches long and grades are 5b and 5c. For the two routes we splitted into teams. Mika, Heta and Jarkko formed the first team and Nora and Sami formed the second team.

When we started at 14:30 the weather a bit too hot for efficient climbing. The first hour and a half the temperature was around 32 celcius degrees and it made climbing consuming. But then, after two hours and 100 meters, the unexpected happened. Just in five minutes the whole sky was full of dark storm clouds and rainy thunderstorm started to beat us. As usual, it was my turn to lead. After a brief group thinking we decided to continue at least one pitch further to see if the weather is getting any better. Storm was over in 40 minutes and the sky started clear just when my lead was over, typical.

Leading in the rain.

Mika's lead, up we go (230 meters left).

For our luck the rain cleaned the air and climbing after the storm was enjoyable because of the fresh air and lower temperature. Once we reached the top our total climbing time was 5 hours and the descent from the top to the nearest gelateria took additional 50 minutes.

Very enjoyable experience, definitely a must wall to visit! I'm just wondering that how I could stay here for a longer time, Garda region is such a great place to be. I'm ready to listen good ideas how group of Finns could afford staying here more permanently while adventuring around the region ;)

Heta didn't knew about the upcoming storm yet.

After the storm it was time to eat.

Belaying somewhere there.

Jarkko posing on 230 meters.

Team.

 

It took about 50 minutes from the top to the nearest gelateria.

 




Read also releated story: Amazzonia - 5 stars multipitch at Parete Limaro



 See all photos from our Picasa album:

Piccolo Dain, 8.7. 2013

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Amazzonia - 5 stars multipitch at Parete Limaro

Read also releated story: Excellent multipitches at Piccolo Dain in Sarche

Whooo! What an experience in many ways, physically tough, challenging to climb, mentally exhausting, but still so awesome and gorgeous!

Multi-pitch climbing is a climbing route that cannot be climbed with one rope length and it requires one or more stops at a belay stations. Each section of actual climbing between stops at the belay stations is called a pitch.

Our team, Sami and Nora, chose to climb as their first real multipitch the route Amazzonia (5/5 stars at Sarca walls Guidebook) at Piccolo Dain sector at Parete Del Limaro in a town of Sarche. Amazzonia is 250 meter high and consists of 11 pitches. The most difficult grade is 5C and there are only four pitches under 5, the first three pitches and the last one. We climbed the entire route alternating: the leader ascended the pitch and stopped to a belay station and then the second ascended to a belay station, where we exchanged to a new leader for the next pitch. Sami started as the first leader for the whole route.

Sarca walls guidebook: Amazzonia and Orizzonti Dolomitici

The approach to the start of the route didn’t go very smoothly. We followed the instructions from older guidebook (2007, new 2013), which directed us to cross the Sarca river. Fortunately, the other team had an updated guidebook, which has dry feet approach to the crag. But what begins badly, cannot end badly, this is an experience. ;)

It took 6 hours in total to approach and ascent the Amazzonia. When Nora leaded her longest and most difficult pitch (6. pitch, 5a+5b “amazing slab”), hit the rain. Yippee!! :D No excuses, just had to keep moving upwards despite the rain. Luckily it all went well and no need to pull from quickdraw, even if it is allowed on multipitch oute. Fortunately term “slab” does not always mean positive wall with only couple of crystals on limestone, but it could be positive wall with some kind of holds, even with jugs. :)

Sami had his Suunto Ambit to track the ascent and it showed over 2500 kcal burned when we topped the route! This explains why we were really exhausted on the top of Amazzonia… The routes did lot of curves and the ropes were very heavy after the rain, so it was hard work to pull them during the lead and at belay station. Nora had only water to drink in her hydration back bag and Sami had hydration drink (North Force Extreme) in his Camelbak. There was no time for breaks because found the descending route same time as dusk arrived. This meant that we had only approximately 30 minutes to get down to our car. The route down was NOT any highway, 45 degrees hill with fist sized round stones to surf on. Legs were jelling for help, but no time to stop or even slow down a bit. Luckily with the guidance help from our other climbing team we managed to get down just before the darkness came…! Note to ourselves: Head light in the back bag wouldn't have been a bad idea to carry with...

It took almost a week to recover from the Amazzonia. The most exhausted was to pull the wet rope at belay stations. The new rope, Beal Joker Unicore 9.1 mm, worked perfectly, but the old rope, Beal Diablo Unicore 9,8 mm, was really heavy. Otherwise the equipment and hardware worked molto buono. Nora’s Miuras became wet but not slippery, Helly Hansen surfing shirt was excellent choice, The North Face Chugach back bag was unnoticeable and Petzl Elia helmet with Bolle sunglasses protected Nora’s precious head. Sami got his new La Sportiva Testarosa shoes just days before the multipitch, now they fit perfectly to his feet after being soaking wet. Norrona’s Fjorå back bag was excellent choice and did not disturb lead climbing at all. Helmet was really important since rocks fell down all the time.

When we belayed, we took shoes off and stood in stocking feet on rock. Fortunately we didn’t drop any gear and especially ATC guides (Petzl Reverso 4), because we had only one extra with us. We should have used longer slings when the route made bigger turns to avoid friction. We even skipped some clips to make the route straighter.

Gear ready for journey

We managed well with the signals until the last pitch. Nora was so tired that she didn’t realized what Sami meant with his signals, there was 5 meters slack in Joker rope. Sarca river passed just below the crag and the hairpin road to Madonna di Campiglio started across the river, so there was no possibility to hear any shouts. Pitches were zikzaking as mentioned before and there were a lot of forms on the wall, so there was neither any visual contact. The sign language consisted of different rope pulling sets. What we really consider for next multipitch are the walkie talkie radios. Sure it adds the weight, but could help a lot if rope communication is not enough…

Even if the descent route was quite challenging, we were happy that there was one. Rappelling would have been almost impossible, because of fatigue and difficulty to find belay stations.

Overall, the Amazzonia is indeed worth of 5 stars. The route is safe (bolt spacing about 2 meters and you can stand on every belay station), diverse and challenging. It has nice views, good rock and easy access (when you know the right one). All in all an amazing, wonderful and never to be forgotten experience for both of us!!

With love, Nora and Sami

Upwards from some belay station in the middle of Amazzonia

And downwards, to Sarche town, from the same spot

It begun to blur when we reached the top of Amazzonia

Exhausted climbers on the top

After awesome experience with the gear on. Nora has the heavy Diablo and Sami has the light Joker.

- See more in Finnish at: Treenipäiväkirja - La Multipitch
- Releated story: Excellent multipitches at Piccolo Dain in Sarche

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Gathering at Coltura

Heta leading 5b at Coltura.

If you just want to see the photos then click here. 

Jarkko, Mika, Heta, Sami, Nora, Niina and Juha.

  

Storm passed by.

Who we are? Rock Blocks is a group of friends from Finland who love to travel, especially in Italy. Our (Mika's & Heta's) history goes already  back to year 2001 when we spent a week in Malcesine. Back then we didn't knew that much about great opportunities at the Garda region. But somehow the spirit  grew on us and already on 2002 I was with Heta at Riva del Garda for two weeks and since then we have been at Lake Garda 7 times and in Italy 10 times.

During the years we have been inviting our friends and families to visit here with us. Heta's parents visited us last year at Arco, Jarkko has been here three times and this is Sami's second time. This year we are breaking the record when total of 7 Finns are here. Current newcomers are Sami's wife Nora, my brother Juha and his girlfriend Niina.

Heta leads the rope to the top of the 5b route.

To get our newcomers Juha and Niina familiar with the activities we already organized a quick via ferrata to Monte Colodri. But via ferrata was just a warmup, actual target was to show some climbing on a beatiful rock wall. Our choise was Coltura (read more about Coltura) that offers great views and long routes even for beginners.

During the day we also tested our photo and filming equipment. Few fotos of the session are included.

Niina's first rock climbing experience!

Sami and Nora lowering off from a three pitch 6a+.

 See all photos from our Picasa album:

Coltura, 7.7.2013

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Sisyphos at Valle dei laghi

View from Sisyphos Towards Lago di Toblino and Toblino castle.

Google's route planner does
not draw the route right.
Route goes through Sarche.

If you have been climbing few days nearby Arco and  already seen the well known crags, such as Nago, Beldevere and Massone it is time to head for new routes and views. Get some fresh rock from Sisyphos. Crag is a good option for medium level climbers. Sisyphos is located at Valle dei Laghi (see also: http://www.valledeilaghi.it) nearby Sarche and it is about 17 kilometers from Arco. Final parts of the approach by car goes on a small dirt road between the wine groves and after that the very final part is on foot and takes about 15 to 20 minutes to the wall.

Crag has 44 routes to offer from 5a to 7c and most of the routes are in the range of 6a to 7b. It is best suited for medium level climbers by offering a great playground, wich is not too crowded. Routes are nice varying climbing on grey and brown limestone rock and the average length of the routes is about 22 meters.

Our day was relative short because of the upcoming evning activities. Still this is defnititely a crag where we want return on next year to test routes that we had to pass due the schedules.

Heta's "tree aided, A0" climbing move.

View to Lago di Toblino.

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Rough rock at Promeghin and training at Massi di Prabi

If you just want to see the photos then click here. 

We took a visit to Promeghin crag at San Lorenzo in Banale to see a different rock quality. Crag's face is definitely different. The whole rock face looks like that it is cast in concrete and mixed with varying sizes of smaller rocks. Because of the structure the face has a lot of different pockets, small holes and bumbs.

Driving to San Lorenzo in Banale takes about 40 minutes from Arco but the road goes on a nice mountain environment and on the few final parts Dolomites showed up on the background.

For climbing the wall offers a nice surroundings and is definitely suitable for family picnics because of good facitilities and peaceful environment. On top of that crag is next to a sport center on a beautiful shadowy environment wich makes it ideal for hot summer days.

Crag has 52 routes from 4 to 7b and majority of the routes on 6a and 6b graded.Climbing at the crag was good but not spectacular.  On few routes bolting is not neccessary optimal and grass growing from the small holes, but still routes were climbable and ok. Crag offers nice views to mountains on the back. It is excellent for families who cannot take a long and difficult approach and in that case the crag is definitely recommended.

After few hours at the Promeghin we head back to Arco to Massi di Prabi to take a more relaxed climbing and to practice some slab routes. Massi di Prabi is not the most exciting crag but it offers a good spot to train slabs (read more from our last year story about Massi di Prabi). Two of the biggest boulders are bolted and routes are graded from 5a to 7a. All the routes can be top roped easily and it is an ideal setup for trainig slab moves and balance.

Length of the day during early July is long and we were able to climb until 21:30 in a nice and shadowy environment, not bad.

Heta's late evening climbing at Massi di Prabi.

Nora climbing at Promeghin.

 

See all photos from our Picasa album:

Promeghin, 5.7.2013

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Multipitch at Parete Zebrata

Mika's lead at the Parete Zebrata, Zo Le Man.

If you just want to see the photos then click here.

Parete Zebrata has a long history in alpine climbing. Wall is pretty easy to recognize on the left (west) side of the road (S45bis) from Arco to Pietramurata. From a distance it looks like a massive slab but it offers a varying set of routes.


The wall was explored by Heinz Steinkotter in 1969 who created the first route 46¤ parallelo. From those days the wall has evolved and nowadays it includes three different sectors with routes from 70 meters up to 500 meters. Bolting has changed the nature of the wall from traditional alpine climbing wall to a bolted multipitch sport wall. Still the routes are alpine style and the bolting varies between routes. Most recent routes have been bolted 2012.

Our choise for the second multipitch day was a newly built 120 meters route Zo Le Man, 5b. Route has good bolting but not necessary in the terms of sport climbing. Route was a good choise for a quick and enjoyable climb. The approach, climb and decent took only 3 hours and 45 minutes from parking to top and back to parking. So it was a quick drive-in and climb experience.

Approaching.

Wall is completely surrounded by loose rocks, so wearing a helmet is a necceccity and its also a good idea to go before other groups or clearly late after majority of the climbers are already gone.

We chose to climb in the evening at 5 pm when the wall was completely in the shadow. That was a good choice because at that time other climbers had left the wall already and we didn't need to worry too much about falling rocks. Early evening option works nicely when the day is long enough, but it might be harder to do during late summer days or on early spring.


Parete Zebrata offers a quick access multipitch. It was a good next step after the Corno di Bo' training day and offered a great opportunity to enjoy the surrounding views.  Again I can recommend Zebrata's 80 to 120 meters routes if you are seeking for a nice warmup multipitch. But remember that longer routes take more time and dedication.

After this the next multipitch will be 250 meters of pure rock in Sarche at Piccolo Dain, routes Amazonia and Orizzonti Dolomitici.

Jarkko at the 1st pitch.

View from the top.

Mika and ropes on the top.

Heta climbing behind the leader.

See all photos from our Picasa album:

Parete Zebrata, 4.7.2013

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