Oltrefinale - Castlebianco - Italian sportclimbing

Castelbianco , Italy , also known as Oltrefinale – outside Finale Liguria .   In particular the Val Pennavaire – the Castelbianco area itself, just to the North West of the small coastal town of the Italian Liguria region, Albenga. Where? Oh you must mean Arco? Nope, this area is relatively new and wow, southern France style of climbing, but in small village Italy . Why southern France style and not Ligurian Italian? Well to most of us North Americans, we know of Southern France as the uber sport climbing stone and setting, and explaining that there are other areas of Italy that are not Rome, Milan, or the climbing area of Arco.   The Ligurian area is just off to the East of Nice, France – the actual main road is the A8 out of France which turns into the A10 once you cross the France/Italian Border. The drive from the Nice Airport is about 1.5 hours to the Castelbianco villages. There are toll roads about 12 Euros to get there – you will require coins to get out of France, the Italian tolls take North American credit cards, but the French one’s did not.   Leaving the Nice airport can be a bit of an issue – it does get pretty confusing very quickly and just off a plane, but once on the A8 going to Monaco you just need a heads up for the closer coastal towns to the turnoff, like Imperia, then Alassio, then Albenga SP 582 – this is the one you want. Leaving the toll you want to go left on SP 582 and head towards Cisano Sul Neva, about 10 minutes up the road. You will drive through the village, then notice a sign to Martinetto and an Esso gas station – you want to go left here. This is the road that runs the entire Valley Pennavaire.   The climbing is pretty amazing, you have either side of the valley – sun or shade – Tufas, overhangs, techy climbs, burly climbs and the whole scale for most climbers – from 5.8 to 5.14 (5 to 8c). For more information and photo's - Oltrefinale Article on sportandmixedclimbing.com It's a personal article in english about our trip to the area - some solid information. Cheers, jd