Great climbing at Massone, Falecia

10 minutes walk from the parking.

We decided to head back to Massone after our yesterday's failed climbing session spoiled by the sudden rain. We learned from our earlier mistake and headed towards the crag earlier to avoid potential afternoon rain.

Massone crag is located about 3 kilometers from the city center of Arco. Crag is loacted on the eastern side of the Sarca river at the Massone village. It is nearby the Via Olivi road that heads up to the Monte Ben. Road to the crag is mostly narrow and running through tiny gateways and then through olive groves. Because of the narrow streets and our clumsy car we decided to park our car next to Via Maffel road on a free parking and take about a ten minutes walk up to Massone crag's first entry point. Entry is locates on the first serpentine turn towards right it has also a parking for drivers who want to drive up there. Crag itself is divided into a six sectors offering grades from 4a up to 9a and height of the routes being between 12 to 25 meters. Our choise was to start from the sector A that offers grades from 4a to 6c.

Massone wall.

Rock was pretty much ok and mostly it wasn't too polished. Surprisingly the the Massone crag wasn't overcrowded either. Maybe it was the temperature of 35 celcius degrees, meaning hot for Finns! Climbing at the Massone during the hot summer months is hard because at least sectors A, B and C are exposed to to sun from the 10 am to the late afternoon. Good water reserves were a necessity for the day's climbing session.

Our team completed all the 4 and 5 graded routes from sector A and few 5 and 6a routes from sector B and C. Some of the grades might be slightly out of the actual grade. One emple of a  such a route is number 9 "Boiacca" - 5c, wich was downgraded.



Again Arco has provided a good climbing day for us. Yet another reason to have some more gelato.
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View from the top towards overhaning parts of the wall.

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Failed plans and quick freeride at Monte Brione

At the top of Monte Brione.

I bet that everyone has a day or two during their holidays when things won't go as planned. Our Thursday was a day like that. Initial idea was to sleep a little longer than normally and then head to a via ferrata or to a climbing crag. Morning started as planned but during the noon the plan started to drift between different ideas. Finally we decided to head towards Massone which is also known from the Rock Master climbing festival. But during the approach we heard a distant sounds of a thunder and soon after that it started to rain. Once we arrived to Massone the rain was already getting harder and at that stage it was obvious that climbing wasn't an option for the day. Still it was clear that Massone crag looked promising and we would be back later. Once rain got harder we decided to head back to Villa Nicole.

Meeting with a German trail heroes!

Luckily the bad weather didn't lasted forever and in the evening there was still enough time left for a short freeride run. I have been riding at the Monte Brione trail only if there is nothing special for the day and during the late hours when the mountain is empty and silent. This was just a perfect day for the Brione ride. Climbing up to the hill takes about 30 minutes and I got there just before eight o'clock. At the top of the Brione I met also a small group of German trail riders who had exactly the same plan in their mind, to head down via old mountainbike trail. Last year the trail wasn't ridable because trees were cut down on it. Now the trail was in a better shape thanks to German riders who have been cleaning the path.

Evening view over Arco.

Sunset is a great time for a ride, temperature is just right and colors of the view over Arco were excellent. After a short photo shooting session it was time to head down. German riders had done a good job, trail  wasn't completely clean but ridable. Day wasn't spectacular but the view over the Sarca valley during the sunset was beautiful.

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