Rock climbing at OltreFinale

As the name suggests this is an alternative area to the classic crags of Finale Ligure. These OltreFinale crags are situated between France and Finale in a series of valleys running into the hills behind the sea. The rock climbing is all on bolted limestone rock and is mainly single pitch sports routes, plus an excellent bouldering area.

Map of the OltreFinale rock climbing areas

The crags of OltreFinale
No	Crag	Total No of Routes	Total number of routes at this grade
No	Crag	Total No of Routes	3	4	5	6	7	8
1	Val Nimbalto	56	1	9	25	19	2	0
2	Val Varatella	267	2	7	33	167	53	5
3	Val Pennavaire - East	450	0	7	29	231	159	24
4	Val Pennavaire - West	180	0	6	25	79	50	20
5	Valle Argentina	189	0	4	41	105	39	0
6	Val Nervia	7	0	0	0	4	3	0

The above information has been extracted from the local guidebook for this area called OltreFinale #2. This guidebook can be bought from our shop.

Val Nimbalto is dominated by the Rocca Dell' Aia crag, located at the foot of Monte Carmo. This bolted limestone crag offers a good number of easier multi-pitch routes up to 90m long.

Val Varatella is dominated by the Valle del Vero area, which is positioned behind the caves of Toirano. This area is split into 12 different crags offering bolted sports routes on grey and red limestone rock. Many of the crags face southwest and are therefore ideal for climbing from autumn through the winter into the spring. The majority of the routes are in the 6th grade and and are single pitch, though there are some multi-pitch routes up to 200m long.

Val Pennavaire. At a height of almost 1,400m the 28 separate crags of the Pennavaire valley run from Cisano sul Neva in the east past Alto and onto Caprauna in the west. The limestone and climbing style changes from crag to crag, therefore offers something for everyone, from slabs, vertical walls with crimps, to big overhangs with tufas and a bouldering area. There are over 700 sports routes here, which are mainly single pitch though there are some multi-pitch routes. With regards to accommodation, bars and food the main climbers centre revolves around the village of Cisano sul Neva.

Valle Argentina, is made up of 3 separate sports crags, with the largest being Rocce di Loreto, near Triora. This is also close to where the largest bouldering area is, called Massi di Loreto with over 270 problems identified across a wide range of grades.

Buy the rock climbing guidebook for OltreFinale
from our shop.

Climbing season - The best time of the year to visit the crags of OltreFinale is generally in the autumn and spring. However it is possible to climb at some crags in the winter such as Valle del Vero at Val Varatella, and the high altitude of Val Pennavaire means some crags are climbable in the summer.
The best information is in the OltreFinale #2 guidebook, which at the start of each section describes the climbing season for each crag. This guidebook can be bought from our shop.