VALTELLINA Rock – Falesie

Monotiri sportivi e trad in Valmasino, Valmalenco, Val Gerola, Bassa e Alta Valle

Trad and sport routes in Val di Mello, Valmalenco, Valtellina

This is the new edition of the historic guide book “Valtellina, Valchiavenna and Engadina”, due to the enormous quantity of material, we have felt the need to divide it into two distinct parts, this operation was facilitated by the clear-cut geographical nature of the territory. This is how the volume was conceived, which after two years follows the Valchiavenna guide book, which has already become a best seller. Guido Lisignoli, after four editions, handed the job over to two youngsters: Simone Manzi who wrote the book in 2018, and Camilla Cerretti who wrote this new volume.

The river Adda runs down the entire Valtellina, and divides two mountain groups which are very different one from the other: the Western Rhaetian Alps and the Bergamo Alps. Thanks to this orographic abundance and to the length of the valley, a few kilometres away we find different types of rock: the Val Masino granite, the limestone of the upper Valley and the gneiss and schist of the lower and medium Valley, the serpentine of Val Malenco and the verrucano of Val Gerola. We are in a territory covered in rock which still needs to be discovered: near a well known structure known internationally as Sasso Remenno or lo Zoia in Val Malenco, there are many rock faces which are not well known or have never been taken into consideration, where new lines are continually being set up. There are many local climbers who have improved the territory making the crags safe and developing new sectors, and Simone Pedeferri is without a doubt one of the most active.

Finally a valley offering a wide range of areas and routes, to be chosen according to the weather forecast, to technical difficulties, to the mental effort required, to the motivation to walk and to the type of climbing. This is the guide book which becomes a bit like a recipe book for our holidays, where we choose a dish depending on the ingredients we wish to use, to guarantee an experience coinciding with our needs.

Camilla Cerretti born in Genova in 1984, moves to Milan at the age of 18 to study and work. In 2008 she approaches the world of climbing in the Milanese gym ‘Passaggio Obbligato’, where she feels at ease straight away. She starts exploring all aspects of climbing, from bouldering to multi pitch climbing, from crags to indoor climbing, and she understands that this is mainly a mental exercise, where the control of a psycho-physical balance is the foundation for everything. Following this path, in 2014 she finds herself in Val Masino for the Melloblocco event and suddenly feels at home there. As well as an attraction for the area, an attraction for Giovanni Ongaro follows, her current partner, with whom she has chosen to settle down in Val Masino. Val di Mello thus becomes her play ground, on granite which needs discovering, getting to know friction and trad climbing, without disdaining sports climbing at Sasso Remenno. Luckily she is accompanied by someone who knows every single crystal of these exceptional rocky formations, in a few years she discovers even the most remote corners of the valley. From 2018 she lives in Santa Croce, in the Costiera dei Cech, from where she can quickly reach the other areas of Valtellina, opening the road to never ending opportunities that this incredible valley offers, not only for climbing but for all outdoor activities.