Easter trip to Tessin, the climbing

We wanted to make the most of the Easter break and it looked like the weather was going to be better south of the Alps, so we headed down to Tessin to do some climbing. We stayed in Locarno and just took the bus to nearby climbing or hiking areas.

This was our first time climbing in Tessin and we both really enjoyed doing the gneiss slabs!

The climbing, difficulties and route names from either "Plaisir Sud" or the SAC Kletterfuehrer for Tessin. Unless otherwise indicated, we both lead-climbed each route.

Thursday afternoon, Ponte Brolla

• Jimmy 4b
• Pino 4c (greg lead on the first pitch) then 4c/5a/3b (multi-pitch)
• Bionda 5b (just greg failing here: getting over the first step was too much)
• Chiara 5a
• Rosso 4a/4a/4b/4a/4b

 


Friday, Ponte Brolla

• Salamandra 3b
• Azzuro 4b
• Chritin 4b+
• Schogsii 4c (both lead) then 4c/4a (multi-pitch)
• Sunneblueme 5a (Andrea only)
• Gero 4b
• Trio 4b (both lead, then greg did it wearing his hiking boots for the practice)
• Coccodrillo 4a

Sunday, Arcegno
Sector Rotaus:

• Rote Schlüfi (4a)
• Mamma li Turki (top rope) (5b)
• Bambela (4a)

After finishing those things were starting to get crowded, so we walked past a few other sectors (full!) to get to the one furthest from the street. As hoped, there were a lot fewer people there.

Sector Ruino:

• Ruino (4c)
• nicotina mon amour (4c)
• zululubambalu (4c)
• calypso melody (5a)
• kottolengo kante (5a)
• samba pâté (4c)
• artore (5c+) both top rope 
• la zota (5a)
• vampiro dal nero mantello (5c+) Andrea top rope, greg lead
• la petrolleuse (5b)
• Survi (5c) Andrea top rope
• il Volo di Marco (5c+) greg lead

Monday, Ponte Brolla
We got moving pretty early so that we could do the whole wall up to the Rovine del Castelliere multi-pitch without being in a crowd. There are multiple ways to do this; we opted for a pretty easy one:

• Joggi (4a)
• Coniglio (4a/3a as one pitch)
• Farfalla (4b/4c)
• Congilio (3b/3c/3b)

Not particularly challenging, but very fun climbing and a great lunch spot at the top. Since we got an early start, we only saw two other climbers. From the top it was a nice walk back down to Ponte Brolle and the bus back to Locarno.