Massi di Prabi and La Festa della Musica

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Just few days a go we met Tero, Rock Climbing Instructor (RCI) candidate at Regina del Lago and already today we got his into action. Tero promised to help out our newcomers Juha and Niina by having a training day for them. And what could be a better place than Massi di Prabi, climbers playground for such a course.

It is quite common to see Italian RCIs to organize classes at Massi di  Prabi for climbers but I bet this was the very first "official" rock climbing training held in Arco in Finnish. Tero performed very well and it was a pleasure to assist him and see how professional instructor turns newcomers into sport climbers. After a long day our newcomers Juha and Niina were ready for their upcoming climbing challenges independently.

Our training day was organized at Massi di Prabi that  is not necessary the most challenging rope climbing experience but fits perfectly for training purposes. Crag offers good facilities to train lead climbing, anchor work and belaying. And if you are looking for bouldering problems with the crash pad then this is a worthwhile location to see.

And after the long training day it was time to celebrate the midsummer. In Finland we have a midsummer party called Juhannus. While in Arco we have a great alternative midsummer party called La Festa della Musica. Festival that turns the old city into a big music and dancing party. Stages and bands are all over the city with all kind of different music styles for free. For the usual pace of the city this this festival turned it upside down to something unexceptional. All the streets were crowded and mix of different music styles was playing on the background. This was the 2nd time in a row when we are spending the midsummer here in Arco, not a bad alternative for the Finnish Juhannus.

 





















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Arco, Massi di Prabi - La Festa della Musica, 21.6.2014

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Back to the old, good and solid

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Just the next day after our arrival it was time to head back to the rock walls. Three days by car takes its toll and expectations weren't high for the  1st climbing day. Goal was to climb long and beautiful 6 graded routes in a nice environment. Perfect target for the first day was one of our favorite crags, Regina Del Lago at the Ledro Valley.

Approach to the Regina can be hard in a hot summer day due the long and steep path to the crag. 
Luckily our expectations were wrong, the weather was perfect 24 Celsius degrees. Over recent years we have got used to the hot summer days that are exhausting for bikers and climbers and can drain all the energy before the actual activity. But this summer seems to be different. Based on the local's knowledge the whole summer has been more or less colder than usual. Of course 'colder' is not 'cold' in terms of Finns and the temperature is actually perfect for outdoor sports.

Maybe one reason for the cooler weather is the number of Finns around here. For the first time we actually heard a spoken Finnish at the crag, 2 fellow climbers Tero and Viivi from Jyväskylä. They were visiting Lake Garda for the very first time and Tero was getting ready to his RCI (Rock Climbing Instructor) training at the Dolomite mountains. That was a perfect coincidence, we got a RCI candidate to teach rock climbing for our soon to be arriving guests Juha and Niina. Great!

For the 2nd climbing day at 20th of June we headed to the L'Orto that us just at the backyard of Arco. But backyard doesn't mean that the approach is a walk in a park to a picnic camp. Actually it was the opposite. It took about 50 minutes by feet from our apartment at Arco up to L'Orto.

The crag has short to medium length routes with nice and challenging moves. Overall grading of the routes is solid but the routes have started to polish since the last visit. L'Orto used to be known from fresh rock, which it still has, but popular routes have started to polish and the roughness of the rock is permanently lost from few 6 graded routes. Still a good crag to visit!

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Arco, L'Orto-Regina, 19.-20.6.2014

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