Rock Climbing in Arco – Placche Zebrate

Our first goal in the area around Arco was the Placce Zebrate. A huge limestone wall over the Sarca Valley a few kilometres north of Arco, the Placce Zebrate are facing south and thus offer year long climbing in perfect limestone. The wall is up to several hundred metres high and most routes (length between 5 to well over 10 pitches) are in mid-difficulty range. The base of the wall is about 15 minutes of hiking away from the street (good parking possibilities). All routes are well protected (fixed gear, mainly bolts) making this huge wall one of the most attractive ‘crags’ for beginners and early intermediates in the whole Arco area.

We chose the Via Trento (5a), a short slab climbing over 5 pitches on the left side of the wall. Gavin, who is a well experienced climber in the best english tradition, was leading all pitches giving me the comfortable position of just follow his footsteps. The climbing was fun with incredible views down to valley. The northerly Foehn had cleared the sky and the November sun was still warm here at the Southern side of the Alps.