Valle del Vero and crowded Santa Lucia

Valle del Vero is in an exceptional setting between steep mountains, next to the Grotte di Toirano, the caves of Toirano and the Church of Santa Lucia. Walking further via path "Sentiero delle Telle Alte" shows also the hidden beauty of the nature in the valley. This is place is not just about climbing, it is about experiencing the surrounding nature as well.

For climbing the Church of Santa Lucia gives name to the sunny and most popular climbing sector. Reasons for the popularity are obvious, sector has a quick access and you can reach the bottom of the routes withing ten minutes from the parking. Routes are also well bolted and grade range is from easy to medium and mostly technical slabs and vertical walls in total of 22 routes.

Over the day we felt that in the noon and early afternoon the crag was too crowded at first. Rock quality was average and ok in general most probably because routes were bolted beteen 2006 - 2010. Best routes we climbed were Idefix and Obelix because of the combination of the slab and overhand in a single routes. Also Lella is worthwhile to do. Not the best of the Oltrefinale but ok for a one time visit.

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Initial touch to the Oltrefinale - Telematica

Oltrefinale is relatively recently bolted region and new climbing location for us. Well almost, we have been twice in Finale Ligure which is only 15-20 kilometers apart from Oltrefinale. Still the difference in these too locations is amazing. The amount of relatively new routes in a small region is amazing.

Oltrefinale consists six main valleys: Val Nimbalto, Val Varatella, Val Pennavaire, Val Tanaro, Valle Argentina and Val Nervia. Our basecamp is located at Albenga so that we can easily access the Val Pannaire, Val Varatella and Val Nimbalto. Finale Ligure routes are also accessible in a reasonable time because the drive from the Albenga to Finale Ligure takes less than 30 minutes.

We started our expedition by visiting Val Pennaire that offers over 40 crags and more than 1000 routes. Valley offers a great amount of routes for different climbing styles from tufas to overhangs and slabs. 

Our expedition to Oltrefinale started from the good warmup crag Telematica, bolted 2004. Crag has total of 25 routes mostly on red and grey limestone and varying heights from 15 to 25 meters. Grade range is relatively easy from 4c to 6b+. Grading felt a bit stiff on few routes but overall level of difficulty matched well on expectations.

Telematica was a good starting point for our journey to Oltrefinale. Ok rock quality and nice vertical walls.

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