Valle di Rian Cornei - Falesia del silenzio

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Packed climbing crags with loud fellow climbers or a nearby highways are not the best mood makers for demanding climbs.  Silence, that is what we are looking for a climbing holiday and that's what Falesia del silenzio offers. West facing crag has a beautiful view over the valley  and the only sound coming from buzzing bees and signing birds.

Access to the Falecia del silenzio supreme is a 30 minutes walk on a nice surroundings. For some reason we managed to pass it with only one but costly mistake. To avoid our mistake it is recommended to read and understand the approach instructions completely upfront because few of the turns can be misinterpreted. Total length of the approach walk is about 1.5 kilometers mostly on a flat or small uphill ground.

Falesia del silenzio has actually two crags, supreme(upper) and inferiore(lower) sector. We visited on the upper on that has total of 36 (there are few new routes on the right hand side, we hadn't topo guide for those) routes from 5c to 7c average grade of the routes being 6b.  Length of the routes varies between 15 to 25 meters.

Falecia del silenzio upper sector has mostly a good quality rock even thou it has been discovered already in 80's but be careful with overhanging routes, some those are polished and may be hard to climb. Since 80's the crag has been completely re-bolted so the bolts and anchors are in a good shape.

Crag has slabs, vertical and overhanging routes with small pockets like in many other crags in finale. When it comes to grading the routes were demanding for the grade, so be modest when choosing a warm-up routes.

For the autumn climbing crag offered a perfect warm and silent environment for a climbing day. The silence was so overwhelming that it felt like we were the only people at the mountain. Peaceful and tension free crag with mentally and physically demanding routes.

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Finale Ligure,Valle di Rian Cornei, Falesia del silenzio superiore, 31.10.2014

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Valle Aquila - Placca dei Maleducati

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Are you rude? Plate of rude, that is what the name of today's crag roughly stands for. Placca dei Maleducati has a long history starting already from 1980's. For what I have learned old age usually means bad and polished routes in climbing. But the good rock quality is what surprises me on several old crags in Finale. Placca dei Maleducati is not an exception it has good rock quality. 

Placca dei Maleducati is a west facing crag that has total of 58 routes ranging from 5a to 7c and majority of the routes are in the range of 6b-6c. Grade range makes it interesting for medium to higher level climbers. Length of the routes starts from 15 meters and ends up to 30 meters and there are even few multi-pitch sport routes.

When it comes to climbing it is just good to remember that the grading is typical for Finale so pick your warm-up routes carefully. I noticed that on my typical "bread and butter" 6a routes. Routes of the day were actually slightly more demanding than I expected so I had to take few moments hanging on a rope to gain some more strength to "warm-up".

And one thing more about the routes, whenever there is a corner crag just climb it. I did it here  and in few other crags too. I can recommend the classical corner crag line from the right end as a warm-up route. It is not hard nor difficult but just great climbing and the route offers nice exposed view over the valley below, excellent!

Great crag overall, just avoid the first 3 routes from the left end, those are widely bolted and not the best crag can offer.

Good rock quality.

Good rock quality.

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Finale Ligure,Valle Aquila, Placca dei Maleducati, 30.10.2014

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Rocca Carpanea - Pilastrino mirovino

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How often you lost your way when looking for a new crag? I bet that almost everyone will eventually lose their way when adventuring on a new neighborhood with poor instructions. That's what happened to us already with the failed approach to Pilastrino mirovino and after the short but intense approach we found back to Falesia delle Tecchie. 

Today we decided to give another try and see if we can do any better. If you won't succeed on the first time, try again. I might be illiterate but the approach to the crag is not obvious.

This time we succeeded but not without spending a lot of time wondering in the woods. And at the end approach to the crag is almost easy. Advice for the potential climbers heading up there. Use GPS just in case and try to find the small rock piles that are potentially heading to the crag, we have seen several groups trying to find it without a success.

Pilastrino mirovino is still an excellent crag for a medium level climbers with a good quality rock. Crag has total of 13 routes from 5a to 6c average being 6a+ length being around 25 meters. Types of the routes varies from slabs to vertical and overhanging, so lots of different types of routes to climb. Grading is relatively easy in Finale standards, but still not overgraded. If 6 is your target grade and you like longer routes on a good rock then Pilastrino mirovino is the crag to go.

Belayer safety first, sling to the rock.

Small holds.

Excellent views from the top.

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Finale Ligure, Rocca Carpanea- Pilastrino mirovino, 29.10.2014

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Rocca Carpanea - Parete dimenticata

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If lots of people want to be in a same place at a same time it has to be something good. In every climbing area there are classical crags that are almost must to visit and so is in Finale. Popularity in climbing means usually polished routes but not in our today's target.

Parete dimenticata is not necessary the very best but it is great crag offering total of 48 routes between 15-25 meters long and grade ranging from 5a to 8b. Lots of west facing routes with a relatively short access in about 20 minutes. And as a bonus you can get nice views over Finale and to the Mediterranean sea.

It is actually surprising that the oldest routes in the crag have been created between 1983-1989 with a second round in 1996 and 1997. What surprised me the most is that the rock is still in a good shape and very well climbable. Age of the oldest routes can be seen on the grading and some of the routes are though when compared to expected difficulty. Bolting is generally good but sometimes there are slightly distant bolts for additional excitement. Still no complains.

But being a fabulous crag means popularity and that realized for us. For our surprise the crag was almost full when we arrived. Several groups from Germany and France were already there reserving  the routes. That is not common here especially when crag has 48 routes to climb. Being crowded is not too bad but the common habit of reserving the lines with ropes for all day long wasn't too fun. Still friendliness of few fellows and the slowly diminishing groups of climbers freed us the needed routes before the sunset.

Parete dimenticata is excellent autumn crag just be aware that few others may know that too!

Heta top roping one of the hardest 5c lines.

View over Finale.

Death is among us!

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Finale Ligure,Rocca Carpanea, Parete dimenticata, 28.10.2014

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Chilly east faces - Val di Nava, Falesia del sole

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Rock climbing during the autumn seems to be excellent as long you stay on the right side of the mountain. Our hunt for the good and solid rock lead us this time to eastern face and the difference is definitely noticeable. Temperature is not cold  but the shady eastern face is not the warmest place to be for your fellow belayer.

Today's mission was to continue our adventure from last year by visiting a sequel crag to Falesia del Luna. Falesia del sole is facing to the east and not towards the sun as the name may promise and I bet the crag is very cold during the mid winter months and excellent during the late spring and early autumn.

Routes are about the same height when compared to the twin crag Falesia del Luna but sole is slightly harder crag when it comes to grades. It is still for medium level climbers having total of 19 routes from 5a to 6c majority of routes being 6a+ and 6b grading. Grades are mostly though, except the routes I on-sighted ;)

There are lots of rumors about a bad and polished  climbing routes in Finale. It is most probably true but it is definitely not the whole truth. For example both, Falesia del sole and luna are in a good conditions. Of course routes have been climbed but I didn't noticed any serious showstoppers due a polished rock, bad skills stopped me several times instead.

And what did we climbed, few 6a+ routes, one 5b and 6b+ which was my hardest clean ascent in Finale so far. I have to admit that the route was perfect fit for me, strong boulder start moves and then switching to a leaning slab. Excellent day!

Mika's first clean 6b+ ascent in Finale.

Mika's first clean 6b+ ascent in Finale.

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Finale Ligure,Val di Nava, Falesia del sole, 27.10.2014

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Lost and found back to Falesia delle Tecchie

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If bolting or polished routes are common topic among sport climbers so are approaches. In Finale approaches are usually clear and there is not that much space for an error. Well this time there was. We even have the latest gear to find the crag but it doesn't always help.

Our initial target of the day was Pilastrino mirovino crag at the Rocca Carpanea. It is only 5 minutes further from Falecia delle Tecchie where we had the 1st visit just a year ago. So plan was simple and coordinates clear but as you may guess things didn't went as planned. Somehow we got lost from the approach path and we weren't the only ones who had same issues. Unlucky group of Germans were also wondering in the woods with the same problems. Maybe it is just pure incompetence but after a while we just found to Falecia delle Tecchie and decided to climb there instead Pilastrino mirovino. On top of that I had dropped my jacket while wondering in the woods. It took just a 15 minutes hill run exercise to find it, lesson: Do not have an uphill run training session before climbing! 

During the last visit we climbed primarily on the left side of the crag. This time we decided to head further to the right and see rest of the routes. Right end of the crag has the most demanding routes starting from 6a+ and ending up to 8b+. Routes are between 10 to 20 meters on a red limestone. Special detail is a cave covered with a brick wall that gets a nice golden glow when the sun is about to set.

Back to climbing, again the grading is mostly though. Shorter routes that I climbed were demanding but rewarding. Again typical Finale, pockets, pockets and small pockets. Still good climbing on a good rock with good bolting.

Finale has enough sharp pockets!

Heta got some tension to her muscles.

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Finale Ligure,Rocca Carpanea, Falesia delle Tecchie, 26.10.2014

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Finally in Finale - Rian Cornei, Ciappo delle conche superiore

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Time to head back to Italy and see the Mediterranean sea and enjoy the mild fall climate. Our journey started on Friday straight from the work and from the chilly Helsinki. After a busy morning we rushed to the airport to catch the flight to Milan. After 3 hours  flight and 2 hours drive to Finale Ligure the day was finally completed. And in just about 6 hours from the start the temperature has raised adorable 25 degrees.

Spring and fall in Italy is supposed to be the best time of a year for climbing. And so it seems to be! On the first morning the sky was crystal clear and temperature +20 Celcius degrees with a nice wind from the Mediterranean sea, not a bad start. I don't know if we are lucky or if the weather is just good in here. I bet that we have a small amount of luck because our landlord told that just a week before the weather was rainy. Well let's just enjoy the luck and head up to the crags.

For the first climbing day we headed to the Valle di Rian Cornei, valley where we had our last climb just a year before (Rian Cornei, Falesia del cinghiale). The first crag for this year's journey was Ciappo delle Conche settore superiore that is on the opposing side of the same valley.

Crag has been found 1994 and completed 1995. Based on the bolts at the crag it looks like that some of the routes have been re-bolted quite recently. Still some anchors looked original and the bolting spacing is a bit spread out even on re-bolted routes. Routes are in the range of 5c to 6c and are about 15 meters long. Excellent crag for medium level climbers but the grading is typical Finale, so routes are more demanding what the grade states. Approach to the crag is reasonable taking a bit less than 20 minutes from the parking. As a small detail to check out before arriving the crag: noticeable engravings on a nice big rock plateau.

Rock quality is good and the difficulty of the routes is primarily coming from technical moves, athletic parts and usage of pockets. So all the typical elements of the Finale climbing are present.

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Finale Ligure, Rian Cornei, Ciappo delle Conche superiore, 25.10.2014

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