Back to Italy 14.6. - 14.7.2013

We are finally heading back to our favorite summer camp, Lake Garda! Right now I can tell you that we are seriously busy while preparing all little details for the upcoming trip.

Traveling takes three days from Finland to Italy by car. Our trip goes via Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Austria to Italy. What scares us are the floods in southern Germany and Austria. It has been a mess out there and we shall see if all the main roads are accessible or not.

Our team is split into two waves this year. I'll be coming to Garda with Heta in the first wave and our reinforcements will be coming 28th and 29th of July ,just after the Finnish midsummer. So this year there will be total of 5 Rock Blockers adventuring at the Garda region.

To get into the right mood I decided to do some eye candy for our dear followers. Switch to full screen, turn on audio and see our summer teaser 2013. And remember to have fun!

See you at Lake Garda!

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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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King Tremalzo

Our transportation arrived to Tremalzo.

If I would have to ride only one mountainbike trail at Lake Garda it would be Tremalzo trail down to Riva. Ride starts from top of the Tremalzo at 1800 meters and descends down to 80 meters. Length of the route varies slightly between different paths but it is around 30 kilometers long.

Bike shuttle started from Torbole at 10:00 and arrived to Tremalzo 50 minutes later. The trip wasn't boring because shuttle driver had prepared a karaoke session for passengers. Definitely a right attitude for the day. Karaoke song was Litfiba's Tex. I didn't understood too much of the lyrics, but the main message was clear, lonely cowboy riding alone in the desert. That fits pretty well for the day's theme. And of course our shuttle driver was the loudest singer, bravo Luca!

Preparation for the ride started with coffee at the Rifugio Garda at 1686 meters. During the final check we noticed that Jarkko's bike wasn't in a proper shape. Several spokes were badly loose and because of that the whole rim was risky for a long ride. Luckily Sami had a proper tool to fix the rim. After half an hour Sami managed to tighten the spokes and to rebalance the rim. It seems that bike rentals do not check the rims at all between customers.

Starting tunnel at Tremalzo on 1800 meters.

At twelve we finally started to head towards the starting point of the trail. Approach took about 15 minutes from the reataurant and we had to climb additional 120 meters up to 1800 meters. The fun part starts just after the tunnel. Initial part of the Tremalzo trail  goes on an old World War I road. Story tells that prisoners of the war built the road during World War I.

Rocky road is easy to ride and for us that meant a high speed. Still we had to use breaks a lot on the steep curves to avoid sliding and falling out of the way. The road is mostly covered with loose rock and is thus demanding to ride fast on tight curves.

Old war road ended to the Passo Nota at 1205 meters and first part of the trail was completed. From Passo Nota we headed towards Bocca dei Fortini (1243 meters) by following the trail number 421. Here some pedaling was required to ride few steep uphills. Next we headed to Passo Guil (1209 meters) by following again the trail number 421. From Passo Guil we continued to Passo Rocchetta (1159 meters) switching to the trail number 422.

Trail map.

At Passo Rocchetta we continued on the 422 wich is long, fast and enjoyable to ride. There is also more technical alternative 422bis. I have done it once. Still I wouldn't recommend it. It is great for experienced and technical trail riders but 422bis is it's own kind of a "fun" and majority of the riders do not enjoy it.

After the trail ended to a rock road we had a small planning break for the rest of the day. During the recent years I have chosen the rocky and dry riverbed that is crossing the 422bis pedaling route (see our trip to the secret spot). It is enjoyable and fast trail that crosses the 422bis few times until it joins to the main route 422bis.

Freeriding path 422 nearby Passo Rocchetta.

This year was different. We chose the 422 trail that ends nearby Pregasina. It is more demanding  and steeper than the earlier part. This trail requires good control on a loose rock, on steep turns and on sudden drops. Final part of the trail runs on a very loose rock road. From that part forward the path continues to on an asphalt road and then via old Ponale road down to Riva.

Tremalzo trail has shown it's greatness again. It is a nice combination of easy scenery roads, technical trails and demanding and steep descents. We had a great reason to enjoy ice cream at  Riva!

Videos will be available afterwards once we get a better Internet access.

See our photos from the Tremalzo trail.

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Towards Lake Garda

This blog is a diary about our team's mountain adventures at Lake Garda in North Italy. Majority of the posts will be about climbing, mountainbiking and via ferrata trips at the Lake Garda region. You can follow our adventures via this blog, a journal and twitter.

Our team: Heta, Mika, Jarkko and Sami

Mountainbiking has been the major sport for me but  this year's goal and challenge is to climb first multipitch routes on alpine walls. This may sound like professional, but actually my clibing career started just a year a go at Lake Garda. 15th of August 2011 I had the very first top rope ascent on a real rock. And the rest of the team started rock climbing soon after that. Now after a year of training and coaching from alpine guides we are ready for the multipitch climbing challenges on alpine walls.

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