Rock Climbing and Bouldering around Nuoro

The majority of rock climbers who visit the Nuoro province of Sardinia head straight for Cala Gonone. While Cala Gonone is at the heart of Sardinian rock climbing and is known as one of the top European rock climbing areas, there are many other excellent areas to go rock climbing around Nuoro. These include the big wall, multi-pitch routes of Supramonte that are situated between Dorgali and Oliena, plus a number of granite bouldering areas to the west of Nuoro.

Map of the rock climbing and bouldering areas around Nuoro & Cala Gonone

This information has been extracted from the 2 guidebooks for the area, which are 4th Edition of the Pietra di Luna and Arrampicare a Cala Gonone. Both of these guidebooks can be bought from our shop.

Rock Climbing and Bouldering around Nuoro & Cala Gonone
No	Region	Type of climbing	Type of Rock	Single or Multi-pitch	Max Height
1	Cala Gonone	Sport	Limestone	Both	220m
2	Monte Oddeu	Trad/Sport	Limestone	Multi	305m
3	Gole di Gorroppu	Trad/Sport	Limestone	Multi	600m
4	Surtana	Trad/Sport	Limestone	Both	230m
5	Lanaitto	Sport	Limestone	Both	260m
6	Bruncu Nieddu	Trad/Sport	Limestone	Multi	270m
7	Punta Cusidore	Trad/Sport	Limestone	Multi	370m
8	Monte Maccione	Sport	Limestone	Single	30m
9	Orotelli	Bouldering	Granite	Not Applicable
10	Orani	Bouldering	Granite	Not Applicable
11	Sarule	Bouldering	Granite	Not Applicable
12	Ollalai	Bouldering	Granite	Not Applicable
13	Cala Goloritze	Trad/Sport	Limestone	Both	135m

The 4th Edition of the Pietra di Luna is the only guidebook that covers the bouldering and the multi-pitch rock climbing in the Nuoro, including the big wall routes at Supramonte. Buy this guidebook from our shop.

Arrampicare a Cala Gonone is the comprehensive guidebook for the sports climbing around Cala Gonone. It also includes information about Monte Oddeu and Surtana in Supramonte. Buy this guidebook from our shop.

Big wall rock climbing at Supramonte

The area of Supramonte is situated between Dorgali and Oliena is an isolated limestone plateau that is indented with deep gorges and huge vertical walls. Therefore it is not surprising that Supramonte offers some of the best big wall, multi-pitch rock climbing on Sardinia. These routes are up to 600m long with many routes between 200m to 300m long on good quality limestone rock.
Though these routes tend to be bolted, they are often well spaced so it is advisable to bring some traditional protection such as nuts and cams, and due to the length of the routes to use duel ropes. By picking your crag appropriately it is possible to rock climb in Supramonte throughout the year.

Bouldering around Nuoro

To the west of Nuoro there are several excellent bouldering areas close to the villages of Orani, Orotelli, Sarule and Ollalai. Currently only the areas around Orani & Ollalai have any boulder problems been recorded, which are detailed in the Pietra di Luna guidebook. However there is scope to develop many more, along with the areas around Orotelli and Sarule. The main limiting factor is that these boulders are on private land though the local climbers are negotiating access; again further information about this is available in the Pietra di Luna guidebook.

The quality of the granite rock is superb though, which is very rough with large crystals imbedded into it. Ollalai is at an altitude of 1,100m making it ideal to climb from spring right through the summer to the autumn, whereas Orani is at a much lower altitude and offers ideal bouldering from the autumn through the winter to spring.

Climb Europe has information about apartments and villas suitable for rock climbers in Cala Gonone.

Click here for more information.

For details and logistics on getting to Nuoro and Sardinia, then click here.

Click on these images to view these excellent photographs of rock climbing in the Cala Gonone and Supramonte areas of Sardinia.