Alpine Logistics

After a brief spell of rain at the beginning of the week, blue skies and sunshine made a come back. We headed straight to Baunei, which is about an hour’s drive south of Cala Gonone. Some of the island’s most active bolters have recently opened a few new crags in the area, which is predominantly known for its long sea cliff routes but until now has had little to offer in the way of crags.

Genna Croce is a slab-lovers heaven with about 25 climbs from 6b up but mainly in the 7a-7b range. Serra Oseli is similar in size and grade range but has a variety of styles and even a few short multipitch routes. The area is still very wild and rugged with few roads or towns interrupting the sea of limestone formations and mediterranean vegetation which cover it. The valleys are full of goats, cows and wild pigs; it’s something special.

Yesterday we ended our stay there with an epic 13-pitch route on Punta Giradili. This is a 400m high face which dominates its surroundings and offers stunning views across the tourqoise waters of Golfo d’Orosei and countless other yet unclimbed walls. Six long and sustained routes have now been established on the face, which offers a variety of styles but is mainly vertical to slightly overhanging with lots of small pockets…almost too sharp for comfort!

We chose to do one of the most recently opened routes ‘Sette anni di Solitudine’; first climbed in 2002 by Michelle Piolà and Manlio Motto. It takes a striking central line up the middle of the wall and is a relentless 6c/6c+ from beginning to end. Needless to say that on reaching the top after eight hours climbing we were happy but pretty exhausted, so after another hour’s walk back to the car and a few kilometers dirt track back to civilisation we treated ourselves to a pizza.

We are now back in Cala Gonone where we’ll stay for our last week here in Sardinia. Update and photos on our return next week-end.

Isili, right in the centre of Sardinia, is an open limestone gorge…and a haven for those who enjoy horizontal climbing. We arrived early in the morning after an overnight ferry from Livorno to Olbia. Armed with a car full of food, water, climbing and camping gear, Sardinia welcomed us with sunshine and a landscape full of spring flowers. After a 2 ½ hour drive to the small rural town of Isili we found the bumpy dirt-track road which leads down into the gorge. At the road’s end vans, campers and tents belonging to German, Austrian, Belgian and Spanish climbers had already been neatly established.

The gorge is divided by a wide, winding river which is bordered on either side by open grass meadows and dwarf Mediterranean forest. The result in this otherwise relatively arid landscape is a great concentration of wildlife, from goats, birds and insects to a large colony of frogs, which serenaded us to sleep each night.

There are lots of sectors to explore, so you can choose whether you want sun, shade, 45 or 90 degree overhangs! We went to Pietra Filosofale the first day, the least demanding sector which although pretty short is a relaxing place to warm up. The rest of the time we spent at Corvo Spaziale and Urania, both of which tested our upper body muscles and heel hooks to the limit; we ached all over after three days and decided it was time for a change in style. The rock here has also suffered from Isili’s popularity since it was bolted in 1988, as the polish is now quite noticeable.

Jerzu was next on the list. The complete opposite of Isili, not an overhang in sight and certainly no polish. After a several hour drive through endless forests and fields full of pink and yellow flowers in the heart of Sardinia, our jaws hit the floor when we saw what we were heading for. It looks like a green version of Utah ….limestone towers and cliffs spring up across the landscape all over the place until it drops 1000m down towards Sardinia’s east coast.

I couldn’t contain my excitement that afternoon when we went to check out the crags. It’s been a long time since I saw limestone of that quality; very compact, grey vertical walls with crimps, pockets, flakes and cracks plus a superb view across a beautiful unspoiled landscape.

There are three main sectors here at the moment: Palazzo dell’Inverno, Isola del Tesoro and Il Castello; although there’s scope for an awful lot more. We spent some time at all three, with our favourite probably being Isola del Tesoro. This for me was the essence of climbing…movement, balance, precision…absolute joy.

However after three days of good weather it turned cold and wet. This morning we packed up our tent and we’re now in Cala Gonone (on the east coast) making a plan of action for the next few days. There are a few new crags in the area that we want to visit, as well as doing some long routes on the coast and at the Gole di Goroppu…watch this space and we’ll keep you posted!

Unfortunately we haven’t been able to upload our photos but we’ll have them online as soon as possible.

For us there’s no better place to spend Easter than Sardinia. At this time of year its warm but not too hot, there are no tourists and the landscape is green and yellow with the colours of spring right upto the edge of the sea.

The quantity, quality and variety of limestone on the island is quite astounding. From crags to long mutlipitch routes, cliffs and beaches to mountains and gorges there’s no danger of running out of things to do. New routes are regularly put up both by local climbers and others from the mainland.

We’re leaving this afternoon for a three week trip to the island and although we won’t be online everyday we will certainly be posting regular updates of what we’re up to with some photos.

We’re planning to start with some cragging at Isili before moving north to Cala Gonone. Here we want to experiment some of the new routes which have been opened along the coast since our last visit. Also on the list is gole di Gorroppu…a spectacular gorge stretching for kilometeres which is renowned for long climbs on beautiful compact rock and airy bolting! If we have time we also plan to go to Jertzu. A vast crag with hundreds of routes on vertical crimpy walls.

 Happy Easter!

A local Alpine Guides Luca Machetto spent last week enjoying perfect snow and good weather ski mountaineering with two of his friends in Valle d’Aosta.

Their first stop was three days at Refugio Benevolo in Val di Rheme, where they ascended Punta Calabre (3445m), Punta Galisia (3346m) and made a descended back to the main valley floor via Vallone Vaudala. They had the valley all to themselves and there was excellent powder snow after the recent fall the week before.

The second half of the trip was dedicated to off-piste skiing in the Monte Rosa massif, where they report good snow conditions on the north-facing slopes and excellent food and drink at Refugio Gugliermina!

Ski mountaineers in Biella had reason to celebrate this week as, after a very dry winter, the end of March saw the arrival of 30cm of fresh snow. Some of our friends headed into Valsavaranche in Valle d’Aosta where they went to Col di Entrelor (3007m). They enthusiastically recounted the fantastic powder descents to us on their return..

As it continued to snow throughout the week-end, those of us who prefer rock climbing escaped to the coast in search of sunshine and limestone…bliss! We managed to enjoyed some new routes at Terminal before the rain reached us around 5 o’clock, just as we were packing up to leave. It was a race to the car down slippery limestone ledges and terraces full of rosemary and cherry trees in an attempt not to get completely soaked!