ARCO - Lago di Garda, north Italy

     

 

Mentioning the name "Arco" makes every climber´s heart beat a little faster. It’s the place where climbing dreams are made of, a place to get great pizzas and pasta or gelatis, to go equipment shopping and sizzle your skin brown over the weekend. Olive trees and wine yards decorate the sarca valley. Arco with a great infrastructure by today poses a great getaway for everyone big & small, beginners or muscled packed. There´s no corner where you could turn to and not find some mountaineering store to spend your money on. Not only is the region made for climbers, it’s a haven for mountain bikers and windsurfers. With it´s mild Mediterranean climate 360 days long, no wonder it boomed over the last 20 years with sport tourists coming from all over the world, looking for sun, sport, pizza and great fun over the weekend. In the winter when days are short and the sun low, arco offers you many possibilities to enjoy climbing in your t-shirt. The best time of the year to come is nevertheless from February till November. It could get really hot and humid in the summer but there are an abundant crags hidden behind the trees, or north facing, offering shade and cooling air.

 

In the late 90ties the hardest route around "Underground" 9a was born. Since then, multiple sectors with diverse difficult routes popped out of nowhere, making Arco very popular. You have a choice of over thousands of routes to choose from. Even today, new routes and sectors keeps on growing, you wonder sometimes, why didn’t they discover this place much earlier. Of course there are also side effects of a boom. Laghel, famous for it`s beautiful routes as with "Butter fingers"(Mani di Burro) 7c or Drepano 7b+, is now closed. Many crags are found on private ground. We should always respect this and behave ourselves. Throwing rubbish everywhere and shouting should be banned from your mind. Sportsclimbing is a tolerated sport on private areas. Never take it for granted that the owner loves having a crowd of vans on his land, camping for free. An abundance of hotels, guest rooms, agriturismos and camp grounds are found in Arco. So, even if you’re coming in peak periods (weekends and summer) you shouldn’t have a problem to find accommodation in the area.

It’s been more than 20 years since the first Rock Master Competition was held in Arco. This big event takes place yearly where strong athletes from all over the world participate to compete against other. Thus making Arco internationally famous.

There are more than 80 different crags, and many guide books full of multiple pitch routes and more than a 100 boulder problems in the area. Massone, Nago and Colodri are some of the classic sectors. Each crag has it’s own speciality, dealing either with tufas, overhangs or ledgy, slabby walls. Arco is great fun, and if you haven’t seen Arco, you haven’t started having fun in climbing yet.

 

Guide Book:
Klettern in Arco (Versanti Sud ) available in 4 languages

Rock:
Limestone, Dolomite limestone

Climbing shops: 
Red point, vertical Sport, Salewa, North Face…. etc in Arco

Best time to go:
Sprint, autumn. It’s also possible to climb in the summer and winter time, depending on good weather conditions. There are times when you have minus 10°c at night, you’re climbing the next day in t-shirt and swearing that you didn’t bring your sun hat along.

Rope:
70m

Accomodation:

Camp grounds:
Campeggio Arco, Prabi - Arco
Zoo Camping, Prabi - Arco
Camping Daino, Pietramurata – Dro
Camping Bellavista, Arco-Torbole
Camping Maroadi, Arco-Torbole

Listings of guesthouses and apartments:
http://www.fewo-direkt.de/gardasee/s/1284/fa/find.squery
http://www.cittadiarco.com/eng/apartments/

Mangiare (where to eat):
Generally, every corner you would find diverse pizzerias, pasta restaurants. Our recommendations for the best pizzas in the area are Pizzeria Centrale, Aurora. If Arco is just not enough, try looking pizzas in Riva. This place not only has an abundance of restaurants and pizzas but also night clubs, bars and discos. For those of you looking for a formal restaurant: La Laterna offers slow food and good Italian specialties.

Supermarkets:
Coop in Arco
T here’s a huge supermarket just after the roundabout, driving in the direction of Riva. It’s open till 9pm and on Sundays.
Smaller supermarkets in Sarca, Dro…

Access:
Coming from the A22 Brenner highway (Modena-Brenner), take the Rovereto Sud exit to Lago di Garda, until you arrive in Arco. For areas in Sarca, it’s faster if you exit already in Trento sud.

Crags:
It’s probably pretty hopeless to name all the crags that’s available. But here’s a recommended overview of crags to go to for the different times of the year. (Note that I’m listing on crags, if you climb 6c and above)

Winter:
Massone, Ranzo, Noriglio (Trento), Serrada (Trento), Bassilandia , Babilonia , Cavedago , Margone , Sunny Place, New Massone , Laghel (closed) , Belvedere , Pizzeria, Terra Promessa (west), San Siro, Sarche, Lon

Spring and autumn: (these areas are usually east or west facing)
Panoramica, Colodri, Grottosauro, Padaro, Salt de la Cavra, Red Point wall, Monte Colt (multiple pitch), Ceniga, Ottava meraviglia, Transatlantico (multiple pitch), Camarette, La Gola (Arcadioland, Pezzent Area), Lomasone, Rio bianco, Cavedego, Nomesino, Serrada

Summer:
Climax, Camarette, Coltura, Breguzzo, L’orrido, Commano, La Gola (Gorge), Lomaso

If you don’t have much time but want to get quantity, Massone, Nago and San Siro are best bets.

Rest days:
Go dws, or swimming, biking, paragliding or skiing.