Gardasee climbing and hiking

Published on 2020-6-10 by Michael Stanton

Georg and I drove to Italy, hoping to climb in Arco. Day one was rainy, so we gingerly stepped out of the car on the road above Bolognano-Vignole, making for the summit of Monte Stivo, 1500 meters above. The hike was rather uninspiring for a long time, weaving it's way up wet jungle paths and roads. At one point we decided to shortcut a long switchback on a road by stealthily sneaking up through some property. What a mistake! Walls of thorns and soaking wet hip-high brush meant I had to wring my socks out afterwards. Above a tourist attraction building with llamas wandering around things got better. The rain stopped, for one thing.

And finally we were above the trees on a steep but scenic ridge with views all the way down to Roverto 1800 meters below (that's a vertical mile for my 'Murican readers!). Georg had switched to trail-running mode and was on top after 37 minutes compared to my full hour, but he paid for it -- a loving goat tried to lick every exposed area of skin he had. I found him on top with the goat nuzzling in his hair!

Georg on top of Monte Stivo. The goats ran to me when I took the picture!

Us on the top.

Georg really made a friend here.

We went down a little bit to a hut. It wasn't officially open yet, but they let us order a beer and brought us a free plate of chips. Really nice young people, all enjoying a meal of their own after having cleaned the hut spotless. Down, ever down through the climate zones into the hot jungles. Then we drove to the hotel, got a pizza across the street, and crashed gratefully in bed.

Next day, we decided to climb an ambition grade 6c multipitch route. Never were ambition and ability so wildly mismatched, especially on my part! Hilariously though, I was the one advocating hard to climb challenging routes. It's often like that, isn't it -- the fools lead you into the alligators mouth then fall to pieces!

Georg led the first pitch at 6b+. It was quite intimidating! He did a fantastic job, only having to stop a couple of times to figure out hard moves. I followed the pitch, finding it really enjoyable, though at one traverse I gave up and pulled on a quickdraw, making it A0. Then I saw a handhold I missed. The climbing featured delicate traverses left and right, with underclings, narrow, seamy cracks and slabby feet. The feet were the worst part for us both, so unused to real rock.

It was very easy for us to rappel off rather than commit to another 12 difficult pitches. We drove a bit down the road to a Klettergarten ("L'Orto") where we found several 6a climbs. These were fantastic, though I always had serious difficulty at the top out where the crux moves were. I did one climb which had a difficult clip above an overhang. Reaching wildly for the good hold on top, I lost my grip and fell. This was a great thing. Hanging on the rope, swinging above Georg below, my mentality adjusted itself to sport climbing a little better. I tried the move again, got it this time, and felt good.

The routes were Rapa (6a), Spinaci (6a), Lampascioni (5a), Melanzana (6a) and Zigole (6a).

After a couple hours at this crag our fingers were very sore, painful to the touch. We were frustrated to see that we couldn't become great "overnight." We went to the hotel, ate something and took a nap. Georg went for a run and I did my zen thing. We ate dinner, also with some friends of Georgs in the area, though I had a growing headache and so I went to bed early.

Next morning we went to the Nago climbing area and had a fantastic time. We climbed a set of 5a, 5b, 5c and 6a routes. One of the 6a's had a pretty dynamic move reaching a high hold followed by a dynamic reach above a mantle. I was too scared to do these moves without a top-rope and even then it wasn't awesome. Grr. I'd like to go back!

Names of routes were:

• Vogue (6a)
• Nuvola Rossa (6a)
• Giochi d'Ombra (5c)
• Take It Easy (5c)
• Virgi (5c)

Along with the two unnamed routes just to the left of Vogue, grades 6a and 5c respectively. These had very, very hard starts due to polish.

Climbing at Nago.

Around noon we realized that with sore fingers again it was time to switch to hiking. Plus, the weather forecast was awful for the next day. I saw that with an hour's drive, we could hike into the Brenta. Let's burn ourselves out, cuz all we gotta do the next day is drive home!

Georg and I both love an interlocking plan where everything fits perfectly. So we did this. Drove to the town of San Lorenzo Dorsino, then the Alpenrose Hütte above town. It was odd to see a solitary hiker galumping down the road with a mask on.

I know Italy was very hard-hit by COVID. But we occasionally saw a person alone in an odd place wearing a mask. Why?

We hiked up. It was about 2:10 in the afternoon. Sweat poured off me despite the high elevation (about 1000 meters above sea level). Georg decided to run, and by gosh he took off and I wouldn't see him again for 5 hours. Man, that guy is fit.

Cobblestone road led up to open meadows and a herd of sheep. Thankfully, clouds covered the sun occasionally and the wind was cool. Using OpenStreetMap, I wanted to follow a trail on the Southeast Ridge of Cima Soran. Turns out there was no trail at all, but the steep grassy hillside could be climbed without one at the expense of thigh muscles. It felt like I was French-technique-ing up a steep snow slope. This went on for about 700 meters and I was pretty damn tired when I reached the summit. The view was amazing though, looking into the Brenta Group, wreathed by misty clouds.

I looked for Georg's name in the summit register, but the cannister was empty. Hmm!

Summit of Cima Soran.

One strange dude!

Slopes below the peak.

Gorgeous large scale valleys.

The mysterious Brenta Group.

Brenta.

Sheepses.

Getting down was initially challenging. Here there was a marked path, but it was very faint and steep. Lower, it was entertaining to keep the faint path because it continually turned or traversed unexpectedly. But finally I was back with the sheep. I took a rest, then jogged painfully down the cobblestone road to fina a napping Georg at the closed Alpenrose Hütte.

We drove back to the hotel, stopping at a restaurant for dinner. I introduced Georg to Key & Peele -- what a tragedy that he didn't know their many hilarious skits!