Solo Granito Volume 1 rock climbing guidebook

The Solo Granite Volume 1 guidebook covers the multi-pitch trad routes at Val de Mello and S. Martino at the head of Val Masino.

Buy rock climbing guidebooks for Valtellina from our shop.

Rock climbing in Valtellina in the Italian Alps

Valtellina is also an area of great natural beauty that stretches from Chiavenna past the northern tip of Lake Como through to Masino, Sondrio and onto Bormio. As shown on the map, there is plenty of rock climbing throughout this region from bouldering at Mello, low level sport climbing to long multi-pitch mountain climbing on big walls. There is also a great variety of rock to climb on from granite, gneiss, schist, and limestone, to marble and conglomerate.

(1) Rock climbing around Val Masino

The area around S. Martino at the head of Val Masino offers a wealth of long multi-pitch mountain climbing on big granite walls. Here many valleys branch off providing numerous rock climbing opportunities, which are a combination of both sport and trad routes, and are well served by alpine huts. The guidebook which covers this area is called Solo Granito Volume 1, which can be bought from our shop.

Map of the rock climbing areas in Valtellina including Val di Mello and Val Chiavenna

(2) Rock climbing at Val di Mello

Val di Mello provides some of the best climbing in the Alps. This valley with its crystal clean streams and wide meadows is surrounded by huge granite walls. These walls feature endless cracks, corners and grooves on some of the best quality granite in Europe, solid, featured and clean. The climbing ranges from single pitch sport routes to long multi-pitch mountain climbing up to 800m long, with everything in between and across all grades. It’s understandable why Mello is often referred to as “Little Yosemite”. The guidebook covering these multi-pitch routes is simply called “Val di Mello rock climbing guidebook”, and can be bought from our shop.

Mello is also a world class bouldering venue. In the wide meadows thousands of granite boulders litter the valley floor of all shapes and sizes. There are a good range of problems to suit all abilities from easy slabs through to powerful roofs with generally very good landings. Find out more about bouldering at Mello…

(3) Rock climbing at Val Chiavenna

Val Chiavenna and Val Bregaglia offer a wide variety of low level valley sport climbing and long multi-pitch Alpine rock routes. Here there is a great variety of rock including gneiss, limestone and granite, with the style of routes from ranging from slabs to severe overhangs, and across all grades.

The sport climbing is generally well bolted, with the majority of the routes being single pitch, though there are also bolted multi-pitch routes up to 400m long. It is possible to sport climb at Val Chiavenna and Val Bregaglia throughout the year, as the crags face multiple directions, and are located within the valley floor or at low altitude. The sport climbing at Val Chiavenna and Val Bregaglia is covered in the Valchiavenna and Engadina rock climbing guidebook that is available to buy from our shop.

Val Bregaglia and Val Chiavenna also host a number of long multi-pitch mountaineering rock routes. These routes are very much Alpine style with the emphasis on trad routes rather than sport routes. These long Alpine routes are covered in the Solo Granite Volume 2 guidebook that can be bought from our shop.

There are many bouldering areas with Val Chiavenna, find out more about the excellent bouldering at Cimaganda.

(4) Other rock climbing areas around Valtellina

There are also many lower level rock climbing areas here, such as those in Chiesa Valmalenco, Sondalo, and Bormio. In these areas the rock is more varied with gneiss, schist, limestone, marble and conglomerate being found in addition to granite.