Leonidio was one of the places I’ve wanted to visit for a long time, but never did because it felt way too far. All I ever heard about the journey to get there from Innsbruck was by plane or by a crazy long car ride (which I didn’t want to do). This year, we had a month offin February and since we are all into bikepacking, we decided to make it an ecopoint trip. First, we took the train to Venice . Then, we took the ferry from Venice to Patras, which is a 30 h trip, but since the ferries are huge and there’s a lot of space outside on the decks to move, do yoga and chill in the sun in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, it felt like a holiday. Then we rode our bikes from Patras to Leonidio, which was a 3 day bike journey through the beautiful Peloponnese. Leonidio is a dream for climbers. There are so many crags that are accesible straight from the village, sport climbing and multipitches and all on beautiful orange limestone with tufas, holes, crimps,….
Instead of going to Arco for the Easter Holidays, we decided to try something new and explore the sport climbing crags in South Tyrol in Italy. We started in Innsbruck by bike and had a first stop at ‘Ritten’, a high plateau right above Bozen, to climb there for three days. After that, we continued our bike trip through Meran to Latsch, a big sportclimbing crag in Vinschgau. Since we were only binking, we decided to go back to Innsbruck via Reschenpass to have a round trip, but if you don’t want to bike the whole Vinschgau, Meran, and Bozen are easily accessible by train and busses as well.
Siurana is a world-class sport climbing crag. It is known for its excellent rock quality, diversity of route types, and hard grades climbs. But don’t worry, it’s accessible to anyone as it has more than 1400 routes. I planned this trip to try climbing at my limit while travelling by bike. It’s a wonderful place to find a hard project!
Buoux is one of the major crags in Southern France. It is located in the Parc Régional du Lubéron, a beautiful and wild place 80 km north of Marseille. It is an important part of the history of climbing but also a place where people have been living since maybe 10 000 years! Its walls, caves, forests, and river form a welcoming environment for many different species… since way before climbers arrived. I travelled there first of all because I am curious about the history of this place, beyond the climbing and beyond our own species. Of course, I also love climbing there. It is a crag I know very well, and the rock connects me to my family for many reasons. I like the game of trying to send the routes my dad and my uncle opened in the 80’s.
For me, Finale Ligure is one of the most beautiful climbing spots I have visited so far! It is less crowded than Arco and has a vast variety of routes for sport climbing and multipitch climbing. I went there with a friend in the summer in June, which was nice. As you can find some sectors in the forest it’s also fine for warmer temperatures. But if you have the opportunity to go there in the spring or at the end of the summer, the temperature might be even better for climbing. During our stay we enjoyed this amazing spot a lot.
Ticino is wonderful. In autumn, winter and spring its cold and warm enough for bouldering, climbing, hiking, biking (even in summer one can climb in the shadow, if somewhat heat-resistant). It’s beautiful, and greatly developed in terms of public transport. There are lots of buses to the different valleys. Sometimes, while in front of the Gotthard tunnel cars are being stuck in traffic jams for hours, I race past it by train in peace and quiet (yes, all quiet – in Swiss trains you can mostly almost hear a needle drop…). Whenever I get out of the Gotthard, I’m blinded by the dazzling light, and then I see the lovely landscape, the green, wooded hills, the high mountains in the background – and I’m glad to be back here, and eager to go climbing. The famous Valle Maggia, close to Locarno, meanders deep into the mountains. For ecopoint climbing, it is perfect. There is a vast variety of different climbing styles and types – from slabs to steep overhangs and from trad to sport and multi-pitch climbing you can find almost everything – and almost everything is reachable by train and bus.
The Calanques are a beautiful national park directly at the Mediterranean coast. It’s a stunning place full of climbing opportunities – you can find sport-climbing routes there as well as multipitch routes. And if you’re interested in deep water soloing, there are some great options nearby. In June, I travelled with four friends to Marseille where we continued our journey to the Calanques. But it’s better to go there in the springtime or in autumn, as it can be very warm in the summer. I was very impressed by this amazing place and how easy it is to get there by train and bus. We spend most of our time in the sector Les Goudes as it’s easy to reach and a wonderful spot!
Osp is a small village in the southwest of Slovenia, just a few kilometers from Trieste in Italy and is home to one of Slovenia’s major climbing spots. There is a wide range of well-bolted single and multi-pitch routes in solid limestone. The Mediterranean climate allows climbing all year round, although it gets very hot in summer. Since we had a great trip to Slovenia once, in June we decided to try to get to Osp by train. Here is the description of our great trip.
The beautiful forest of Chironico in Ticino is well known for its fantastic bouldering opportunities. Over easter, together with my friend Theresa, we travelled from Innsbruck to Chironico by public transport to spend a few days there for bouldering and it was fantastic!
Arco is one of the most famous climbing areas in Europe with excellent climbing on limestone in a beautiful setting. It offers perfect climbing opportunities all year round. Since you can climb there even in winter, my friend Judith and I left Innsbruck in January by train and bike to escape the snow and enjoy the Italian sun.
