Rise Up - speed climbing and deep water solo

Relaxed social events are always great to be with friends. Millet Rise Up Tour in Arco is one of a kind happening where all climbers without distinction of age or skill can have good time together. Two days event started in Arco's climbing Arena and continued at the following morning with a deep water solo climbing event at Lake Garda.

This year I was lucky to get in the speed climbing competition. For me speed climbing is a new experience so I was climbing the route on-sight. I don't know if it is luck or Finnish mentality that let me push up to the 3rd semifinal round where I accidentally slipped and fell. After that round my next opponent for the finals would have been our ice-climbing couch from last winter's Marmolada adventure, Alessandro Beber. Well maybe it was better that I fell, he would have been too fast for me ;) Great fun thou.

Young power!

My 1st round speed climbing.

And after the competitive evening the following day started as an early morning wake-up with a paddle boat trip to the deep water solo wall. Climbing there was good but at some stage I started to wonder why I feel so cold all the time. I'm a Finn after all and cold water shouldn't be an issue and I was climbing on reasonable difficult routes. The reason for the cold became clear when I got back to home, my body temperature was 39,1 Celsius degrees, oh boy!


See the official video about the 2 days event.

I'm heading towards Madonna.

My brother Juha learns to be a superman.

Learning balance.

Late night picnic at the climbing arena.

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Via Trento and Via del 46 Parallelo - Parete Zebrata

During the last years Parete Zebrata has been our favorite hang around wall for quick and shady afternoon climbs. One obvious reason is the shade and reasonable afternoon and evening temperature even during the hot season. Wall is climbable even during the hottest days after around 4pm so the only limiting factor is the length of the day.

Rita
On the other hand Parete Zebrata is a good wall for longer 400+ long routes during the spring and fall. Still easier long routes are not necessarily always well protected, for example old and popular route Rita has several pitches where bolt spacing is around 15-20 meters. Usually distant bolts are not in a difficult spot but sometimes additional protective gear may help while climbing. Interesting route that has a long chimney at the last third. Just the history and length of the route justifies an ascent.

Via Trento
A good afternoon or evening route to be climbed during the hot season. Some friction climbing and few harder sections than the grade 5b. Good belay stations and safe descent makes it a nice option for a relaxed evening picnic over the Sarca valley.

Via del 46 Parallelo
Oldest route on the Parete Zebrata, easy with good belays stations. It can be a good training ground for a multipitch climbing as a 180 meters long. Somewhat long bolt distances may still scare some of the beginners off. We still managed to use it as a training climb for my brother and his girlfriend so at least in our case it was a good choice for that. Grade is 4a and mostly it is that, maybe few harder spots but no friction climbing.


Over the years we have climbed at least the following routes from Parete Zebrata:

• Opera Prima, 5b, 3 pitches, 100 meters
• Via Delle Mimose, 5b, 3 pitces, 120 meters
• Donne, 5b, 3 pitches, 120 meters
• Zo Le Man, 5b, 3 pitches, 120 meters
• Gino Gianna, 5b, 4 pitches, 150 meters
• Giusy, 5b / A0, 3 pitches, 150 meters
• Via Trento, 5b, 5 pitches, 180 meters
• Via del 46 Parallelo, 4a, 6 pitches, 180 meters
• Spinelo, 6a, 7 pitches, 220 meters
• Rita, 5c, 15 pitches, 400 meters

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Regina del Lago and long routes, 17.6.2016

Rock climbing is more than just a physical and mental test of your skills. On a right location it offers a great way to see the surrounding nature from a different point of a view. One of such places in Lago di Garda is Regina del Lago.

Regina del Lago is popular sport climbing crack that has also a nice sector of longer routes. We have
been visiting here occasionally and for us it is a great place to get started before longer and more demanding routes. Still when it comes to the challenge you an find routes up to 7b and 150 meters long so it has plenty to climb at the Prima Fascia and Seconda Fascia sectors.

Today's climb was one of the shortest routes, only 80 meters and 3 pitches with a grade of 5c/6a. Route was enjoyable with a reasonable boltin and great views. Scariest part was when snake was next to our belay station between 2nd and 3rd pitches. Most propably it was mildly or non poisonous Zamensis longissimus longissimus - Aesculapian snake.

So far we have climbed the following routes from the Sector Prima and Sector Seconda Facia:

• Via Caino e Abele, 6a+
• Via Plaisir, 6a
• Via Babilonia, 6a
• Via Sole Minore, 6a
• Via Sesto Senso, 6a+
• Via Settimo Cielo , 5c/6a
• Via Messalina, 6a

The views over the surrounding mountains, valleys and over the Lake Garda makes this wall unforgettable. 

Read more about Regina del Lago from our earlier posts:

2015 March: Switch from ice to rock faces at Regina del Lago

2014 March: Spring climbing over Ledro Valley

2013 June: Regina del Lago, great views over Valle di Ledro

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Climbing for everyone at Falecia Family San Martino

We got a nice challenge this year. Our godson and his two brothers are going to visit us in the Arco. And of course they want to learn some climbing. Yahoo, but wait, they are 3, 5 and 8 years old, what we can find for them?

Easy enough access for our small mountaineer frenchie Helli.

Climbing is demanding sport and thus most of the crags have been created with the idea of stretching
your limits. That is good for the active climbers but starting of the sport becomes very hard due the fact that majority of the crags are not suitable for absolute beginners.

To solve the this issue local cities at Lake Garda have been doing excellent job by creating new easy to access and casual climbing crags for kids, beginners and families. One of such crags is Falecia Family San Martino just next to the center of Arco and famous crag Massone.

Crag passed all the test. Easy access, easy routes and good spots for a picnic. White checking the crag we also climbed all the 8 routes from Junior sector graded from 4c to 6b (9-15 meters tall) and checked the kids sector that has routes from 3-4 which are 15-20 meters tall.

This is the place where we are going to visit with our godson's family. A true 5 star experience on its class! Great work from the GardaTrentino outdoor park project, thanks!

Really nice views over Arco and Lake Garda while climbing.

Official topo. Just a notice that grades of the junior wall at routes 5 and 6 are opposite. So 5-Voldemort is actually 6b and 6-Albus Silente is actually 5c. 

Kids wall, 9 routes 4-4b grades and 18-22 meters.

Junior wall, 4-6b and 9-15 meters.

Crag is only 20 minutes by feet from the center of Arco.

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Roadtrip Helsinki-Arco 2016

Roadtrip from Helsinki to Arco takes 3 days, two boat trips and 2500 kilometers. Year after year the trip shows the continent's different traditions, great sceneries and wonderful people. It is an eye-opener and I always see something new that blows my mind.

<<Click the map to see the route>>

<<See the roadtrip video from 2015>>

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Switch from ice to rock faces at Regina del Lago

After four days of ice climbing and two days of snowboarding it was time to switch the mode from ice to rock. This time of the year is a perfect for longer rock climbing routes to we headed down to Sarca valley and Arco.

After the longer ice climbing routes we decided to start with shorter 110 meter routes at Regina del Lago. Regina's Prima Fascia sector has great 4-6 pitch long routes with quick approach and easy exit. And actually after climbing a longer route you have three good option, head to the sport sectors, continue longer lines at the Regina del Lago C-sector or just walk down and start the next route.

This is the second time at the Prima Fascia sector and today we climbed two 6a lines, Via Settimo Cielo and Via Messalina. Both routes were enjoyable to climb and the belay stations were relaxed with excellent view over the valley below and Lake Garda.

Prima Fascia sector has 20 know routes and we also found some fresh ones too. Majority of the routes are bolted during last 5 to 10 years. But be aware some of them have trad pitches in the middle and few of the routes are complete alpine graded. I was also surprised about the wide range of grades in the routes. Easiest ones start from 5b and most difficult ones go as high as 7b. A great range of difficulties for a one sector.

After the 2nd visit at this sector I'm convinced that this is the best part of the Regina del Lago crag.

See all photos:

Regina del Lago - multipitch routes, 23.3.2016

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Besagno - north west but not the best

If you just want to see the photos then click here

Sometimes you find yourself from a crag that looks good on paper but in reality it turns out to be something else. Besagno was such an experience for us.

Besagno is located behind Mori on 420 meters and facing north west. Approach is short and easy and crag has total of 31 routes making it promising enough for a visit. And on top of that guidebook tells that it is recently bolted and not too often visited and now we know why.

Crag has nice set of  long routes from 5 to 7b and most of them are in the range of 6. But then the downside. More than stiff grading and partially polished rock makes this crag hard for medium level climbers. Several routes were graded too easy on the crag and even the upgraded grades in the guidbook were optimistic.

Hard climbing with polished rock on the easier starts is not my kind of climbing. Crag may turn out ok for better climbers. So if you are solid 7a climber then you can try but if grade 6 is your beef then pick another crag for the day.

Crag grade: 2+/5
Rock quality: 2+/5
Bolting: 3/5
Surroundings: 3/5
Approach: 5/5

See all photos:

Besagno, Mori, 9.7.2015

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Little big Serrada

South face for a hot day rock climbing doesn't sound too attractive but Serrada's crag nearby Rovereto is a worthwhile to visit even during the hot season. At least partially shady crag at the woods on 1250 meters sounds promising.

Serrada is not the closest crag from Arco. Car drive to there takes about an hour but then the access from the parking is only 10 minutes. To the first routes the total approach time is still reasonable.


Serrada has almost 80 routes which makes it huge in number of routes. At the same time routes are packed closely in a pleasant environment makes it enjoyable environment. So it is a perfect setup for families or climbers who don't want to take too long walks before getting to the wall.

Routes have a varying length from 10 meters up to 30 meters so there is good set of different alternatives to choose from. Difficulty of the routes starts from 4 and ends up to 7b but best offering is between 6a to 6c. Stil there is enough for beginners and few 7 graded routes for better climbers.

Rock quality varied from slightly polished to little less polished and well climbable. If you are looking for untouched limestone then Serrada is not your crag. But most of the routes are in good enough condition for climbing. And as usual the style of the climbing route dictates how much that bothers. I would say that I enjoyed most of the time and pre-clipped only one route because of polished holds at the start.

Nice place, not a gem but plenty of different routes with an easy access and a pleasant environment. Worthwhile to check out if all the fresh rock walls are already climbed and you are not afraid of long legged spiders ;)

Crag grade: 4-/5
Rock quality: 3/5
Bolting: 4+/5
Surroundings: 4+/5
Approach: 5/5

See all photos:

Serrada, Rovereto, 8.7.2015

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