Back to the rocks, Finale Ligure

Route from railway station to Rocca dei Perti.

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

Back to Italy, its time to climb again. This time our destination is Finale Ligure that is located next to the Rock of Caprazoppa mountain in Liguria. Old city is well known of its sand beaches and the steep mountain walls rising from the sea.

Climbing has also long traditions in the area of Finale. Oldest known route in the area are from 1928 at Perti - Versante Nord, routeVia dello spigolo. But the whole area became more known a way later when Alessandro Grillo started to establish new routes during 70's. He is the climber who introduced the region to the public and made it popular by publishing writing articles.

Heta posing in fron of the Rocca dei Perti. Sun is still shining.

But back to the present. Our adventure in Finale started on Saturday 28 of September when we arrived to Milan and drove 220 kilometers to the Finale Ligure.

Weather forecasts predicted rain for the first full day Sunday and our expectations were low for the first day. When the sun rised the weather outside was as forecasted, rainy. But just after the noon the sky turned suddenly blue from the sea and we decided to take a quick warmup at the nearby Rocca dei Perti's Falecia dei tre porcellini crack.

There were other fellow climbers.

Finale is known to have difficult routes so we took an easy warmup. Once I was at the top the skyline started to look dark and rainy. And when Heta's turn came to climb as a second then it started to rain again. Rain got harder the higher Heta climbed. Once at the top the rain was beating us on at full tilt.

We packed our soaking wet climbing gear into the bags and rushed quickly back to our car. And once there we were wet from top to bottom. Let's see if we are lucky enough to get our gear dry enough for tomorrow.

First day, one route and two ascent.

View from the top towards A10 motorway.

After the rainy climb.

See all photos:

Finale Ligure, Falesia dei Tre Porcellini,9.29.2013