Passo San Giovanni:
Passo San Giovanni… well… WOW! This crag is another piece of history of Arco! It is composed of a nice grey vertical wall and a bunch of boulders nestled in the woods. The routes on the wall are long and technical and the ones on the boulders are short but challenging. Here you can find Fafifurni, the first completely natural 8a climbed in Arco.
The equipment is good and the area is very comfortable, nice for the children.
There is something to climb for everyone, since the 37 routes go from 4c to 8a and it is possible to get on the top of the boulders from behind and put the rope in the anchor, allowing to top-rope also the hardest lines.
Passo San Giovanni is old but gold. Some routes could result a little bit polished but they are still nice.
The crag also has a large bouldering area, so do not leave the crash pads at home! There are over 160 problems with a difficulty range going from 4 to 8A. Some boulders are small and perfect for children, but there are also some highballs. The rock is generally good and rarely polished. The start of some problems is indicated by a small colored arrow. The color indicates the line difficulty: orange -> 4 or easier, green -> from 4 to 5, red -> from 5 to 6A+, black -> from 6B to 6C, white -> harder than 6C.
Pausapranzo:
It is one of the most recent and probably one of the best winter sector of Arco, as it is quite normal to climb here without the shirt even during winter. Pausapranzo requires good climbing skills, since the difficulties are above the 7c grade and the wall is overhanging. The lines can be defined futuristic, as they generally run along traverses and follow the natural shapes of the wall. Lorenzo De Bonis, the equipper of the wall, did a great job discovering the sector and enhancing it with this new concept of climbing.
The rock is a bit aggressive and absolutely not polished. The crag base is not so comfortable but fixed ropes has been set properly.
it is not advisable to come after long rainy periods, as generally many seepages form on the wall.
Do you want to test the new school climbing style of Arco? Come to Pausapranzo and enjoy the mild temperature and the good rock.
