Return to Arco and Trentino

Here we are again! Just three months ago we got a taste of the late winter snow at Madonna di Campiglio and early spring climbing at Ledro Valley. Now it is time to for a whole month at Lake Garda region. 

Drive from Helsinki to Arco takes more than 26 hours by car. Over three days by car is not the fastest way to travel but the only viable option for having 2 dogs, climbing and mountain biking gear packed together. Road trip by car offers a great opportunity to see a completely different side of the Germany than the urban and crowded big cities. By picking small hotels from the countryside we have been able to see a glimpse of more traditional lifestyle. I have to admit that it is actually relaxing to hear the noises of cows and wild animals after the busy day at the highway. And when it comes to highways Germany is well known for having the fastest roads in Europe, except this summer! We learned that knowing the roadworks and closed roads upfront is more than valuable. Our usual way to Italy passes Hamburg. For this summer Hamburg was full of roadworks and closed ramps that had blocked or even disabled the traffic completely. Luckily expensive roaming internet access and phone's handicapped online navigation saved as a day!

What surprised us on highways was the amount of German flags attached on the cars. Germans are visibly proud for winning their very 1st game in the FIFA worldcup in Brazil. We were just wondering that how you can attach a small flagpole on the car that holds at the speed of 160 km/h.

For this year we are not alone, our long time friends Sami, Nora and Jarkko will be joining us later as well my brother Juha and his girlfriend Niina. And on top of that Sami and Nora has invited few of their friends to visit at Arco too over the weeks. It looks like that we are turning Arco into a Finnish town during June and July.

See all photos:

Helsinki-Arco, 18.6.2014

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Beaches of Finale and Finalborgo

If you just want to see the photos then click here. 

Last full day at Finale Ligure. Today we decided to take a good look over the beaches, city and Finalborgo, one of the most beautiful mediaval cities in Italy. Weather was perfect for a tour and as bonus there was plenty to see because of the Finale for Nepal event in Finalborgo. 

Beaches of the Finale Ligure are great and beaches basically covers one side of the city completely. In October beaches are almost empty but still few swimmers were breave enough to enjoy the sea. I can imagine that during the hot summer months the streets are packed with tourists and the whole beach is crowded by sun worshipers.

Restaurants and palm trees covers the the nice beachline boulevard and just behind the boulevard you can find a great number of small stores and boutiques. Central area of the Finale Ligure compact but big enough to find all the essentials in a nearby area.

After the city tour we headed to mediaval Finalborgo that is one of the three urban districts forming the town of Finale Ligure. It was independent municipality until 1927 when it was merged with Finale Finale Marina Pia and to form the present-day municipality of Finale Ligure. 

Finalborgo is definitely the most facinating part of the city. It is surrounded by walls and all the narrow streets are only for pedestrians and bikers. It seems to be the base for climbers and mountainbikers and here are the climbing and biking stores too. Today the whole Finalborgo was a huge exhibition area with full of different climbing and biking activities because of the Finale for Nepal event. Finalborgo has definitely certain similiarities with Arco in Lake Garda, starting from the narrow mediaval streets and lifestyle.

Day was a good conclusion for our first trip to Ligure Finale and now it is time to prepare our return to Finland. We shall see when it is time for the next adventure to Italy. Until then, Grazie!

Slackline over the river.

Hot chestnuts.

 

Junior bouldering competition.

Spinning class.

See all photos:

Finale Ligure,Center and Finalborgo, 6.10.2013

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Back to the rocks, Finale Ligure

Route from railway station to Rocca dei Perti.

If you just want to see the photos then click here. 

Back to Italy, its time to climb again. This time our destination is Finale Ligure that is located next to the Rock of Caprazoppa mountain in Liguria. Old city is well known of its sand beaches and the steep mountain walls rising from the sea.

Climbing has also long traditions in the area of Finale. Oldest known route in the area are from 1928 at Perti - Versante Nord, routeVia dello spigolo. But the whole area became more known a way later when Alessandro Grillo started to establish new routes during 70's. He is the climber who introduced the region to the public and made it popular by publishing writing articles.

Heta posing in fron of the Rocca dei Perti. Sun is still shining.

But back to the present. Our adventure in Finale started on Saturday 28 of September when we arrived to Milan and drove 220 kilometers to the Finale Ligure.

Weather forecasts predicted rain for the first full day Sunday and our expectations were low for the first day. When the sun rised the weather outside was as forecasted, rainy. But just after the noon the sky turned suddenly blue from the sea and we decided to take a quick warmup at the nearby Rocca dei Perti's Falecia dei tre porcellini crack.

There were other fellow climbers.

Finale is known to have difficult routes so we took an easy warmup. Once I was at the top the skyline started to look dark and rainy. And when Heta's turn came to climb as a second then it started to rain again. Rain got harder the higher Heta climbed. Once at the top the rain was beating us on at full tilt.

We packed our soaking wet climbing gear into the bags and rushed quickly back to our car. And once there we were wet from top to bottom. Let's see if we are lucky enough to get our gear dry enough for tomorrow.

First day, one route and two ascent.

View from the top towards A10 motorway.

After the rainy climb.

See all photos:

Finale Ligure, Falesia dei Tre Porcellini,9.29.2013

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White Wall Sector at Cala Mancina

Cala Mancina as a whole is a huge sector containing up to eight walls. Today we decided to come back for a second time to Cala Mancina. Earlier visit was for the Zoo and Highwall sectors but today's target was the north side of the High Wall sector called White Wall. White Wall is also the only one of the walls that is pointing north making it a better option for climbing on a hot days to climb. White Wall offer routes between grades from 5 to 7 and the altitude of the routes varies from 13 meters up to 25 meters. Wall itself has an easy access from the north west side of San Vito Lo Capo.

Näytä suurempi kartta

During the daywe onsighted few 6a's and at the end of the day we finally managed to swim. There is a nice but slightly rough beach nearby the High Wall sector that is definitely recommended. We has the opportunity to enjoy a rare temperatures, sea water was crystal clear and  +24 celsius degrees on the shallow beach. Not too common during October. Again recommended if beautiful nature and tall rock walls makes your heart bump.

See the photo album:

Sicily 4.10.2012

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In the shadow of the Bunker

World War II bunker guarding the beach.

Todays target was Scogliera di Salinella Centro wall guarded by a World War II bunker at the top of a 60 meters cliff. Climbing sector's name comes from the unreachable bunker that has been controlling the access to the rocky beaches during the war.

Bunker sector is located on the western coastline of San Vito. Approach is from top of the cliff where from an old dirt road heads down towards the rocky beach. Normal city car wasn't suitable for the approach and we took a walk on the rough but stunning beach towards north. Walking along the beach is like a travel to older times. Cows we pasturing at the top of the cliff and goats at the beachline. On the western skyline misty mountains rise from the sea. It is like travel to a fantacy world, amazing.

Heta on the rough beach.

Climbing routes on the wall are also well done. Most of the routes are around 20 meters high, highest routes are about 30 meters. Rock quoality is also good and routes are untouched, almost brand new, no worries about polished rock. Grades varies between 5 to 7 and majority of the routes are graded to 6 but there is still plenty of 5 and 7 graded routes available. Because of heavy waves and rough beach swimming at the Bunker sector is not recommended, but otherwise definitely a worthwhile place to visit.

We would like to add more photos but our local Internet access is too slow. More will be available later...

Heta leading on a fantasy world.

Sami on the wall.

Rough beach.

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Great views over Garda at Fausto Susatti Ferrata

View down to Riva and Arco from Cima Capi.

Trail starts from via Ponale.

As a last adventure for this summer we decided to summit Cima Capi (907 meters) by climbing F. Susatti Ferrata. Our day started slightly late and because of that the temperature was already around 34 celcius degrees, which is hot for a long ascent.

Actual route starts from Riva and goes along via Ponale. The first half an hour goes exactly at the same road that we pedaled to the secret spot to Punta dei Larici. While walking the old road it is easy to spot fortresses, tunnels and barrack on the sides. Old Ponale road has a long history. It been built already 1860 to protect the lake, Garda, the road and the Sperone aqueduct supplying Riva.

Sign at the Ponale road pointing
towards Cima Capi.

After the 30 minutes walk at the old war road we arrived to the point where the path number 405 heads towads via ferrata and Cima Capi. From this point forward the road gets more steep and is covered with loose rock. It takes a bit over an hour to get to the starting point of the ferrata from the crossroads.

Soon after the start the path heads towards a steep and open mountain meadows that were extremely hot during our ascent and only few parts ware nicely in the shadow. For us the ascent was one of the hottest that we have completed during the years that we have spent at Lake Garda. Having enough water and some snack was essential. Personally I reserved four liters of water for the day.

Steep ascent.

Exhausted traveller.

Views towards the lake and nearby peaks are magnificent and were getting even better after every step. The price for views is the demanding approach walk up to the starting point of the ferrata. Once we arrived to the ferrata luckily the wind was starting to cool the air and we didn't felt tired anymore.

The ferrata itself is easy and suitable for all who can walk to the starting point. It is not exposed so climbing should be easy for anyone. Ferrata is also split into several parts and it continues even for the descent path towards Bastione.

From the peak the ascent path is obvious to follow. But the ferrata, ascent and the route is not yet over. Soon after the peak descent is partially exposed at the ridge. Then after that ascent has several ferrata parts traversing on the edge of the mountain. Trail back to Riva follows first the path number 405 and then the path number 404 which goest via Bastione at the end. For us the ascent took about 2 and half hours so it was a good idea to have some additional water for the ascent. Our total time for the ascent, ferrata and descent was about 5 and half hours (including the time we spent for photographing).

At ferrata.

Summit.

Yet again we got a great adventure but sadly it was our last for this year. I'm still happy that I had the opportunity to do most of the planned activities. For this year we had to skip the more demanding via ferrata Ottorino Marangoni at Monte Albano that seemed to be closed for some reason. We also had to skip few of our planned alpine multipitch routes and we missed the local freerider's weekly ride at the Skull route. But three weeks is only three weeks. I gues that we have to come back again next year. We'll see.

Heading down.

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Denied multipitch and evening at the Muro dell'asino

We had a solid plan to climb a short multipitch early in the morning and then head to the Muro dell'asino to climb some sport routes. Weather was great in the morning and we headed towards Monte Colodri's south face in time. Once we arrived we saw a warning note that the whole south face has been closed since 2008. Idea for the route came from Sarca Walls book that has been printed 2007, but we didn't checked the latest access information, what a bummer. A lesson learned, from now on we check the access upfront from the Arcowall.com web site and we do not trust on old books that lists the routes.

Best part of the failed multipitch was the beautiful sunrise.

Santa Maria di Laghel and trail 431.

That left us then only one option, to wait until early evening to let the temperature calm down a bit. At 17:00 we decided finally to head towards Muro dell'asino that is located almost on our back yard. "Almost" means that the approach took an hour and a half. We followed the instruction provided on the Arco Rock topo book. First part of the approach went well but once we turned right to instruction became confusing. But eventually we found the crack.

Heta clips a quickdraw.

To avoid similiar confusing experiences I'll try to write briefly how to navigate the last part of the approach correctly. I expect that readers can find Santa Maria di Laghel where from my instructions starts. From church Santa Maria di Laghel turn right and follow the trail number 431. Same path is used as an exit trail from the via ferrata. Follow the main trail up to 310 meters from sea level. From time to time the approach is rocky and relatively steep. It takes about 15 to 20 minutes to get up there from Santa Maria di Laghel . Then the trail splits into two, take the left and follow it for a slow descent until you can see wooden steps which lead up to La Placca sector.

We were quite happy once we got there. Routes were high, between 15 to 30 meters and on the highest routes a 70 meter rope is recommended. Topping the routes was also great, because the view was rewarding. Grades of the routes varies between 4c up to 7b. Majority of the routes are between 5b to 6b. Because of our late schedule we only climbed between 2 to 4 routes per person but the late day temperature was definitely a pleaseant experience.

Top view was great when the sun was setting behind the opposite mountain

Jarkko holding on an x-position.

Muro dell'asino is also one of the rare places that has a dedicated sector for kids or true beginners. Baby Wood sector has routes where altitudes varies between 8 to 10 meters and grades starts from 2c and end up to 4a. Environment is pleasant and I can imagine that this is a suitable crack for a whole family. Still approach might be hard for the youngest climbers.

Additional notes:
We noticed that on La Placca sector routes number 29 "Testo Finito" - 5c and number 32 "Lo Spazzacamino" - 6a had loose bolts. We noticed one bolt on both routes that was moving slightly sideways (few millimeters). Be cautious out there.

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Sport climbing at Beldevere

Top view from Beldevere towards Torbole, nice!

It is a time for the first sport climbing session at Lake Garda. Our goal was to find a crag to get more familiar with the local rock. Finding a spot for climbers who have been rock climbing less than a year is not an obvious task. For our team Beldevere was an excellent choice, because it has a lot of well bolted routes where you can pick any one of the lines without thinking too much about the grades.

So we packed our gear in the early in the morning to head towards Nago and Beldevere. Beldevere is easy to find, just head towards Arco from Nago by following the road SS240. There is a good parking on the left side of the road nearby the mast. Beldevere is the grey wall behind the woods on the opposite side of the parking slot.

Jarkko climbing route number 6 "Ale'Gher"  - 5a at Beldevere.

Once car was parked we headed to the crag by following a path that started on the other side of the road. Beldevere has two sectors, A and B. We headed to the sector A that has 20 routes from 3c to 6a. Length of the pitches varies between 8 to 12 meters.

It took about a 5 minutes to get to the crag and another 10 minutes to locate a free starting route. Beldevere seems to be relatively popular since at 9:30 half of the routes were reserved. Still it didn't felt too busy and switching the routes was easy and quick. Beldevere is mostly in shade so for the belayer it was a nice environment to belay. For the climber shade lasted up to 4 meters and after that climber became well exposed to the sun.

During the day we climbed between 6 to 9 routes per climber and everyone of us felt that Beldevere managed to fulfill our expectations.We can recommend the crag, if you want to climb 4-6 graded routes. But be aware, you are not going to be alone at the Beldevere during the August.

See photos from Flickr

Sami and Heta belaying routes 4 - "Fessa" (5a) and 6 - "Ale'Gher" (5a).

Parking on the left side of the road. Access via trail from the other side of the road.

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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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