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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More fresh snow at Val di Fassa and Belvedere - Passo Pordoi

Val di Fassa seems to have a great spring this year. While the snow dumps have been slowing up our ice climbing the snowboarding has been a pure joy. Of course some of the easy off pistes have been skied so that there is nothing left, but there was still plenty for us too.

Today we had the most spectacular view over Dolomites. The highest peak at the nearby area is he Sass Pordoi, 2950 meters. It is accessible via cable car and can be skied down. Magnificent views! A worthwhile Refugio to visit and have a coffee.

After all we got a pretty good impression of the Val di Fassa. Of course if you are hunting for lots of black slopes then this is not the best choice. But for the regular skiers, snowboarders or off piste skiers Val di Fassa has a lot to offer.

See all photos:

Val di Fassa and Belvedere - Passo Pordoi, 20.3.2016

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Cascata di Fontanazzo di destra - ice screw tested!

Time for an ice fall multi-pitch climb. Our target was in just behind of the small village Fontnazzo - Cascata di Fontanazzo di destra or Bus de Tone as locals call it. Climb follows a small creek that that connects a sequence of 5 ice falls into a nice multi-pitch graded WI4.

 Approach to the climb takes about 30 minutes from the parking just next to the little bridge near a kids playground just behind Fontanazzo village. Right spot is easy to recognize because the alternative climb Cascata di Fontanazzo di sinistra shows on the forest face.

Approach was slightly harder due the fresh snow but nothing overwhelming there. This time of the year the first pitch started from an open creek so getting wet would have been easy.

The 250 meter long route is mostly WI3 and only the last pitch is getting harder. But it does not mean that it is a walk in the park. The amount of snow was the hardest part and opening the ice was energy consuming duty for the leader.

The fresh snow was also causing the first serious danger during our winter holiday. On the 1st pitch the snow packed so that the grip to the ice was partially lost when screwing the second protection. The axe and crampons failed at a same time. That caused an upside down fall towards the creek. Luckily the screw hold and the bones and muscles did not got any hits from axe or screws! Ice climb leader must not fall!

Rest of the route went without any "close call" situations and we were able to enjoy the dolomite winter on its best!

See all photos:

Cascata di Fontanazzo di destra, 16.3.2016

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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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Looking for a shade from Valli Giudicarie and Comano

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

Rumors tells that we are enjoying the hottest summer in Italy in 136 years. Our car shows +43 Celcius degrees, crazy. Now our challenge is to find a reasonable place where to climb without dehydration and sunburns.

Valli Giudicarie has pastures, woods and wild beauty and pure nature and silence. North west facing
crag is located nearby the relaxed small village Comano at the high altitude of 850 meters. Access is easy and quick. Even thou it takes about 40 minutes from Arco by car but then after parking only few minutes by feet.

Once we got there the temperature was showing only +30 Celcius degrees so the drop from 43 degrees was significant.

Comano has total of 29 routes around 15 to 20 meters high. Difficulty of the routes is wide starting from 4 and going up to the 8a majority of the routes being in the range of 6c to 7c. So this crag has plenty to offer from a bit better climbers. Still as a hot day visit crag has enough routes to try for a low to medium level athletes too. There is total of 3 routes below 6 and total of 6 6a-6b routes to be climbed.

Rock quality varies between routes and the bolting is good standard. Some of the routes might be just slightly polished but nothing that prevents climbing. Just be careful with the grades showing on the crag that not always showing the right difficulty. Latest 2015 edition of the Versante Sud Arco Rock had the corrected difficulties that were much more precise.

Comano is a nice crag to visit during hot days or if you are looking for new challenges. Not a classic but offers good climbing on partially overhanging walls with a wide level of difficulties. Good alternative for hot afternoons.


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

See all photos:

Comano, Valli Giudicarie, 7.7.2015

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Breathtaking views from Sentiero Gustavo Vidi

If you just want to see the photos then click here
Looking for a breathtaking day trek at the Brenta Dolomites? Well we have an excellent proposal or you. Go to Madonna di Campiglio and take the two-stage gondola up to Rifugio Stoppani and head towards Sentiero Gustavo Vidi.

Sentiero Gustavo Vidi can be counted as a very easy via ferrata but in real life it is more of a mountain walk with some protected sections. But don't let that fool you. Sentiero has a lot to offer on great heights at 2660 meters.

What makes this route quick is the fast gondola access directly from Madonna di Campiglio up to the Passo del Groste. It is a good idea to prepare schedules so that you are heading up before the siesta between 12-14 and be back at the middle gondola station before 17:00 when they close the line.

Route starts at 200 meters north-east from the Rifugio Stoppani where is a clear sign pointing towards the beginning of the trail. Trail ascents about 250 meters and descents down to the Groste middle station about 500 meters in about 3-4 hours.  During the walk there is about 500 meters of ferrata cables.

Route itself offers a good way to get used to the heights at mountains and trekking on the ridges. On some parts the route is narrow with steep walls on the sides and thus requires careful walking.

Sentiero Gustavo Vidi is a perfect way to get an overview of the spectacular Dolomite mountains even for ferrata beginners. For experienced ferrata trekkers or climbers the route is very easy but just the spectacular surroundings justify to complete the route. During the early summer few parts of the route might go cross snowy or icy sections and it is a good idea to check the status of the route if you are heading there during the early summer. And as usual at the the mountains weather conditions should be good before attempting this one. Recommended, one of the best experiences you can have during a day visit at the Brenta Dolomites.

Ferrata grade: 5/5
Route quality: 5/5
Security: 3/5
Surroundings/views: 5/5
Approach: 5/5
Exit: 5/5

See all photos:

Sentiero Gustavo Vidi, Madonna di Campiglio, 5.7.2015

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