Rock climbing at Finale Ligure

The rock climbing at Finale Ligure offers fantastic, diverse sports climbing of great quality and character, with over 2700 routes to choose from on white limestone rock. The rock climbing is situated in a succession of valleys in the hills behind Finale Ligure, and covers an area of 10 square kilometres. This huge deep green landscape can be harsh, wild, rough, and splendid and therefore not your "standard" sports climbing area but is a real adventure.

Map of the rock climbing areas around Finale Ligure

The above information (with French grades) has been extracted from the current rock climbing guidebook for Finale Ligure, called Finale 8.0. This excellent guidebook can be bought from our shop.

Crags of Finale Ligure
No	Crag	Total No of Routes	Number of routes in grade range						Single or Multi-pitch
No	Crag	Total No of Routes	F3	F4	F5	F6	F7	F8	Single or Multi-pitch
1	Caprazoppa	65	2	7	14	37	5	0	Single
2	Rocce dell'Orera	33	4	5	16	8	0	0	Single
3	Paretina di Finalborgo	10	0	0	1	9	0	0	Single
4	Rocca di Perti	379	1	5	78	215	67	13	Both
5	Placca delle Case Valle	17	0	0	3	13	1	0	Single
6	La Parete Dimenticata	59	0	0	10	35	11	3	Single
7	Monte Sordo	104	0	2	15	68	17	2	Both
8	Pian Marino	55	2	4	18	31	0	0	Single
9	Bric Scimarco	78	0	1	7	56	14	0	Both
10	San Antonino	33	0	0	6	19	8	0	Single
11	Tre Frati	13	0	0	4	9	0	0	Single
12	Bric Grigio	39	0	0	5	17	14	3	Single
13	Kattedrale	16	0	0	0	7	9	0	Single
14	Sakrestia	13	0	0	0	12	1	0	Single
15	Konvento	21	0	0	3	15	3	0	Both
16	Bric del Frate	74	0	0	11	51	12	0	Both
17	Bric Pianarella	69	See below						Both
18	Bric Spaventaggi	126	0	2	10	84	29	1	Both
19	Monte Cucco	286	1	4	30	156	75	20	Both
20	Rian Cornei	542	0	4	77	404	56	1	Both
21	Val di Nava	74	0	2	9	42	16	5	Both

The rock at Finale Ligure is a marine limestone and the variety of rock climbing is huge, from slabs, smooth and pocketed vertical walls, to steep imposing overhangs. The style of climbing is technical, usually with the crux near the end of the route. The routes are mainly single pitch, though there are some bolted routes up to 3 & 4 pitches long. However the exception is the Bric Pianarella crag, the so called “big wall”, where the routes are up to 250m long. With around 130 different sectors/crags and over 2700 routes, the grades range from F3a to F8c+, though most of the crags have routes with grades between F6a and F7a.

Further along the coast is Capo Noli, which offers climbing some great sea cliff rock climbing that has a totally difference character to that of Finale. This area is also a very popular place for deep water soloing.

The area is very accessible being only a 30 minute drive from Genova airport, along with plenty of accommodation that you would normally find in a popular tourist area.
The different climbing areas are split into many different sectors and crags that face all directions. Hence it is possible to climb throughout the year, though the best time is spring and autumn. See our logistics page for more information.

The photograph opposite shows an unknown climber on Peace, F7a+ at Rocca di Corno crag, one of the popular crags in Finale Ligure.

Outside of Finale Ligure there are also many other excellent rock climbing areas.

OltreFinale - Towards the French border there are a series of valleys running into the hills behind the sea. Over the years these have become known as the OltreFinale crags, which as the name suggest are the alternative crags to Finale Ligure. In total there are 5 valleys, 80 climbing sectors and hundreds of routes across a wide range of grades on solid limestone rock. The climbing is mainly single pitch sports routes though there are some bolted multi-pitch routes up to 170m long and many excellent boulder problems.

Muzzerone - Situated between Sestri Levante & La Spezia this area offers a wide choice of fantastic sea cliff rock climbing. The routes range from single pitch routes on slabs to steep and overhanging multi-pitch routes across a wide range of grades. Here the rock climbing is on very good quality limestone rock that has recently been re-bolted.

Andonno - Close to French border is the village of Andonno, which is another great rock climbing area. There are over 200 routes here, mainly single pitch with some multi pitch routes up to 90m long on good quality limestone. Just outside the village there is also a bouldering area.