Rock Climbing and Sports Climbing in Cala Gonone

Cala Gonone has long been established as one of the main rock climbing areas in Sardinia and as such attracts many International visitors. Primarily the majority of the rock climbing here is single pitch sports routes, offering many different styles from slabs, steep walls and fierce overhangs on hard limestone rock.

There is some multi-pitch rock climbing to be found in Cala Gonone, though this tends to be easier routes (up to French 6a), which are not bolted at all, and are therefore protected using traditional nuts and cams. However there are exceptions to this notably; Grotta dei Colombi crag that has fully bolted routes up to 210m long in the 6b-6c grade range; and La Poltrona crag where all the routes are fully bolted across a wide range of grades. There is also some sea cliff climbing to be found at Biddiriscottai.

Rock Climbing and Sports Climbing areas around Cala Gonone
No	Region	Type of Climbing	Max Height	No of Routes	Grade Range	Single or Multi-pitch
1	Cala Cartoe	Sport	15m	21	5a to 7a	Single
2	Margheddie	Sport/Trad	150m	41	4b to 8a	Both
3	Grotta dei Colombi	Sport/Trad	210m	26	VI to 8b+	Both
4	Biddiriscottai	Sport	80m	50	5b to 8a+	Both
5	Arcadio (Monte Irveri)	Sport	55m	55	5c to 7c+	Both
6	Alveare	Sport	30m	13	6b+ to 7b	Single
7	P. Serendippo (Budinetto)	Sport/Trad	40m	23	3c to 6c	Both
8	Placche Flintstones	Sport	35m	16	4c to 6a+	Single
9	Budino	Sport/Trad	220m	18	3 to 6a+	Both
10	La Poltrona	Sport	175m	75	4b to 8a	Both
11	S'atta Ruia (Dorgali)	Sport	50m	81	5a to 7b	Both
12	Falesia Scheel	Sport	30m	7	6b to 7b+	Single
13	I Tornanti	Sport	20m	37	5c to 7b+	Single
14	Monte Bonacoa	Sport	30m	34	5a to 6b+	Single
15	Aguaplano	Sport	35m	11	6a to 7c+	Both
16	Ziu Martine	Sport	30m	7	6c+ to 8a	Single
17	Codula Fuili	Sport	30m	60	4a to 8a+	Single
18	Cala Fuili	Sport	70m	117	5a to 8b+	Both
19	Noce Secca	Sport	Not Known	12	Not Known	Single
20	L'ottavo Nano	Sport	25m	14	5b to 6c	Single
21	Cuccuru 'e Su Carvu	Sport	30m	4	7b to 8a	Single
22	Buchi Arta	Sport	30m	35	5b to 7a	Single
23	Cala Luna	Sport	75m	56	5c to 8b+	Both

The above information has been extracted from the " Arrampicare a Cala Gonone" guidebook that is available to buy from our shop. This guidebook details over 800 sports and trad routes in Cala Gonone and its surrounding area. There is another guidebook available that also covers the majority of the crags detailed above called "Pietra di Luna" by Maurizio Oviglia. Though slightly older it still covers the main crags of Cala Gonone and also details the vast majority of the other rock climbing areas to be found in Sardinia. Both of these guidebooks for Cala Gonone can be bought from our shop.

There are many other excellent rock climbing areas near Cala Gonone such as the bouldering near Nuoro and big wall multi-pitch routes up to 400m long to the west of Dorgali called Supramonte. To the south of Cala Gonone is the Ogliastra region of Sardinia where there are many single pitch sports routes around Jerzu and Baunei. All of these areas including Cala Gonone are covered in the “Pietra di Luna" guidebook.

Cala Gonone Logistics

For the majority of the routes a single 60m rope and up to 12 quickdraws will be sufficient. For those looking to climb the long multi-pitch routes, then duel ropes and a full lead rock with nuts and friends is advisable.

The best time to go rock climbing in Cala Gonone is from the autumn through to the spring as it is just too hot in the summer months. Click here for further information on how to get to Cala Gonone.