Rock
climbing in Corsica
The island of Corsica has a stunning alpine
landscape with peaks over 2,000m that dramatically fall away
into the sea. This landscape means there is an abundance of
beautiful bolted rock to climb, from coarse weathered granite
rock, to sandstone or limestone rock. There is climbing all
over the island, from single pitch routes to multi-pitch routes
up to 300m long, plus many bouldering areas. Corsica is claimed
to have more unclimbed rock than anywhere else in Europe -
a truly impressive statement. The rock climbing main areas
within Corsica are described below:
(1) Rock climbing around Bastia
and Cap Corse. Here the sports climbing ranges from
sea cliffs through to inland crags up to 50m long, all on
bolted limestone rock.
(2) Rock climbing around Isula
Rossa in the Balagne region. High in mountains are
a series of isolated buttresses that offer mainly bolted single
pitch routes on granite rock.
(3) Rock climbing around Corti
in central Corsica. The heart of Corsican climbing
is definitely at the Gorges de la Restonica.
This valley stretches for nearly 10Km out of Corti, with crags
both low lying and high up in the mountains giving single
and multi-pitch routes. Here are 100's of sports routes on
bolted granite rock offering a good mixture of climbing styles
from; big slabs; technical vertical walls with cracks and
corners; to overhangs and roofs. There is also a great range
of grades from F4 up to F8b, with a good quantity of routes
in the F5's, F6's & F7's. The shear quantity of rock here,
also means there is great potential for developing new routes.
Around Capuralinu (only 20 minutes from Corti)
there are a series of limestone bolted crags. Here the rock
climbing is mainly single pitch, with the majority of the
grades from F6b upwards.
(4) Rock climbing around Aiacciu.
At Gozzi there is perfect balance of mountains
and the cliffs, with a great diversity of climbing styles.
The red granite is fully bolted with a mixture of single-pitch
routes to multi-pitch routes up to 300m long - the longest
bolted routes on the island. There are other granite crags
around this area, all of which are bolted giving both single
and multi-pitch routes (up to 5 pitches long).
(5) Rock climbing in southern Corsica.
Here there is a mixture of limestone and granite rock. The
limestone crags tend to be at a lower altitude and are single
pitch. The granite crags are concentrated around Bavella,
which is high up in the mountains. Here there are single and
multi-pitch (up to 3 pitches long) bolted routes.
The best months to go rock climbing in
Corsica are from spring to early June and then September until
the end of autumn. In main summer months of July and August
will be just too hot and very busy. |
