Hannah and I spent 10 days in Italy in July, climbing, biking, and doing klettersteige. Felix let us borrow his van and we loaded up our bikes, climbing gear, and food, and followed the weather.
Our first stop was in Süd Tirol, the Dolomites in Northern Italy. We climbed the Ferrata d'Trincee, a klettersteig just east of Canazei on the Fedaia Stausee. This is a veiw of the lake.
Our second klettersteig in the area was the Oliveri Klettersteig just west of Cortina. Felix and I had done this klettersteig last summer, but heavy fog and rain prevented us from seeing the view - much better this time (and less scary - no lightning!).
We ran into an unexpected snowfield, but a group of Slovakians who were taking the same route had crampons and ropes and we were able to cross safely with them, roped into the middle.
The weather turned lame at that point (this summer a giant cloud loomed over the entire alps, forecast for weeks of rain over the whole mountain range) so we headed down to the Gardasee, just south of Torino. Famous for biking, wind surfing, and climbing. Instant sunshine and summer heat! The northern end of the lake is a mecca for climbing, with Arco being the main jumping off point. Many big faces to climb, multipitch trad as well as sport. Also lots of smaller walls and bouldering. This is a mutipitch sport route, Colodri, on Rupe Secca East - "Aspettando Martino" just north of Arco. Nice limestone rock, somewhat polished from so many climbers.
Camping is discouraged around Arco, but we found a nice site in an olive orchard in a hanging valley just out of town to park the van for a few days.
We also climbed a multipitch sport route in Sarche, about 20 min north of Arco. Hannah is pointing to the route we took, along the left edge of the face. We climbed with a group of older Italian men from Venice who were very nice, spoke a few words of English, and liked to pile up on the ledges - sometimes 4 of us were balancing off one tiny belay spot. Sketchy hike down!
The week that we were in Arco just happened to be the Climbing World Championships! The town was filled with buff climbers, serious athletes. We watched the semi-finals and finals of the bouldering competition. Wow! Adam Ondra from the Czech Republic, on the left, took second overall.
A fantastic biking path leads from Riva, on Gardasee, up to Lago di Ledro, following an old road that winds along the side of a mountain towering over the east side of the Gardasee. The road is now closed to cars and passes through many tunnels and sleepy little villages, a great day ride.
A fantastic biking path leads from Riva, on Gardasee, up to Lago di Ledro, following an old road that winds along the side of a mountain towering over the east side of the Gardasee. The road is now closed to cars and passes through many tunnels and sleepy little villages, a great day ride.
