Alpine Logistics

Cala Gonone is Sardinia’s most famous centre for climbing. Here the sea, great crags, fantastic multipitch routes and relaxing evenings in town can all be combined; a good way to end our trip in the paradise which is Sardinia.

 We started the week cragging and both decided to dedicate our efforts to pushing our grade. We started trying two splendid lines at the beautiful crag of Arcadio, where we were able to make the most of morning shade. We spent the afternoons visiting new crags and trekking the final part of the five day ‘Selvaggio Blu’ from Cala Fuili to Cala Luna.

I finally resolved my project at Arcadio on Monday morning: a 7c+ bolted and freed by the mythical Manolo. We then made the most of the stable weather conditions that afternoon to abseil the 180m to the base of Biddiriscottai and climb ‘Apriti Cielo’. This is a six pitch sea cliff route which we didn’t find easy for the grade but the climbing was varied and good and offered fantastic sea views.

We were joined by our friend Luca on Tuesday and spent the day at the popular crags of Cala Fuili at the Thailandia sector. There are some new lines on an apparently blank wall of white limestone which are difficult to interpret but very rewarding.

The following day we set off to do a long route at the Gole di Gorroppu but after a long approach and the first pitch of ‘Sogni di Sara’ the intensity of the sun and lack of any kind of breeze forced us to descend. We had fun none the less in the form of a regenerating swim in the beautiful pools of Rio Flumineddu; the river which flows out of the Gorroppu gorge.

Thursday we returned once more to Arcadio where Luca and I managed to climb another of Manolo’s great routes ‘Un Panino e via’. It was Julia however who accomplished the greatest achievement by also leading ‘Un Panino’ and with that her first 7c. We finished the day’s climbing at Millennium; an other-worldly cave full of wild tufas and overhangs; before celebrating Julia’s success with a pizza.

We spent our last day on a beautiful multipitch climb called ‘L’Ombra della mia Mano’ at Punta Cusidore; a striking limestone mountain near Oliena. The route offers nine pitches of beautifully compact rock and exhilarating exposure and views in the last few pitches, which follow an arête to the top of the mountain’s NW pillar.

The trip is over but things to do in Sardinia are all but finished. The infinity of fantastic rock guarantee new objectives and the desire to keep coming back to this ‘piccolo grande paradiso’.