Sicily
Welcome to some photos of Sicily and some information about our trip there at Easter 2006.
In conjunction with the local activists we have arranged a "New Route Festival" in San Vito lo Capo, situated on the northwest coast of Sicily in an area of outstanding potential for new climbs of all kinds from sport routes to 400m multi pitch. We are experienced "new-routers", each with hundreds of first ascents and are looking for a few more like minded souls to join us, either to put up routes, learn new routing or just climb in the best areas of Sicily.
Our primary objective is to establish a new bolted sport venue on a cliff near San Vito and we plan on around 100 new routes with the current team, if you would like to help and maybe to learn all about developing new areas and bolting then contact me at webmaster@climbargolis.com.
Logistics.
Members of the group will be in Sicily from 6th April to 24thApril so visit any time within these dates.
Travel from the U.K. by Ryan Air to Palermo, daily flights.
Accomodation will be in one or more villas, cost around €16 pp pn (maybe less sharing). A camp site is available but the prices at this time of year make it hard to justify along with the difficulty of transporting camping gear by air.
Transport will be by shared hire car, the cliffs are very near the town which is 90 km from the airport, we will arrange to pick you up when you arrive or coordinate travel with others arriving.
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To whet your appetite here are some photographs of the area, have a look, contact us and then come along for a great time, good food and excellent beer (to say nothing of the climbing).
A view over the beach and town of San Vito (taken on a bad day!), the area of trees in front of the rock face is the campsite we used last year but this time we will either rent a villa below the cliffs or near where this photo was taken. The cliffs in the background have some single pitch routes and multi pitch to around 400m long, the mountain is ca 650m high.
A closer view, the pillar in the foreground has maybe 6 routes and is ca 200m high, there are some more routes on the higher face far left, the rest is unclimbed.
View of the same pillar from the campsite.
A view of part of the other side of the mountain, there are half a dozen single pitch routes on the grey slabs centre bottom and a couple of long ones to the top ca 400m long and 7a+.
Just another 300+m cliff waiting for someone!
Our main objective, part of the four kilometre of untouched cliff by San Vito, one of the best sport cliffs I have ever seen with super access, between 15 and 30m high, the greener area in the centre is a four star campsite.
Some of the caves on the road to the campsite, about 20-25m high. ( for those new to Mediterranean rock the orange bits are overhanging).
Looking from this cave along the coast to the next headland with the campsite in between.
Close up of the headland with another cave, an idea of the scale (and easy access) is given by the car parked on the shore below the butress.
Checking out the stalactites in the cave entrance,
and in it,
and on the walls.(View is about 10m high)
Another superb cave with potential for some massive (and easy) tufa routes, ca 25m high.
An untouched 150m cliff on the way from the airport, there are some good pinnacles on the other side of the bay, DWS anyone?
Just a boulder area near Palermo, lots more to be done and directly under a row of cliffs.
A poor photo of climbing at Palermo with the city behind, around 200 sport routes, some multi pitch with near-endless potential on the best inner city-crag in the world. (Not Avon Gorge, Bristol as Chris Bonington would like us to believe.)
Another area in Palermo, a minute from the road.
Another area in Palermo with bolt routes of all grades, single and multi-pitch.