Multipitch at Parete Zebrata

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

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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.

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Parete Zebrata, 4.7.2013