Description

Secluded and charming cliff, completely surrounded by nature. In the beauty of the landscape and isolation in addition to the presence of lines that look like the typical mountain pitches, it has many strong points: a place for "aficionados" far from the standards and confusion of many modern crags. This is a very intricated travertine wall approximately 100 meters long and 35 meters high at the highest point, with some chossy sections. The central area, the most impressive and complex, features a lower quality of the rock with ledges in the middle section and a base of loose rocks that give the cliff an appearance similar to the Dolomites. Climbing is athletic with single hard moves that require strength and allow you to overcome the roofs, but there are technical routes and beautiful continuous pitches as well. This crag has mostly mid-grade routes although the spaced bolts along with sections of poor rock quality and scarce use make climbing far from easy and very cautious. During the winter you can climb well on sunny days and the place is quite sheltered. In the summer you can climb only on the afternoon, after 3pm. The ideal seasons are spring and autumn. Be careful with the approach after prolonged rains!

Discovered in the late 50’s has been used over the 60’s and 70’s as a climbing wall for mountaineering courses of Ascoli mountaineering club (CAI) and probably later by P. Mazzanti and his friends, after that it was abandoned. It was rediscovered and valued in a modern point of view, after a few attempts, only since 2012 by Gianluca Di Benedetto, often self-belaying, or helped by Massimo Monticelli at the beginning and later by Stefano Di Lorenzo, thanks to which the right sector featuring very interesting easier routes was done! The complex work of cleaning up, that is not finished yet, is being continued by Gianluca Di Benedetto and Stefano Di Lorenzo, who has started to upgrade belays by using stainless steel belay stations. The gear has been largely provided by the climbers of S. Egidio alla Vibrata: Simone Nikolai, Pierpaolo Di Matteo, Stefano Marini, Antonio Lepore and others, who have always believed in the potential of this crag. Pay attention to ticks and vipers in the warmer months! It is strongly recommended to wear a helmet and it is advisable to bring pruners for brambles and twigs that could be grown back on the routes because of the scarce use. Most of all we kindly ask you not to leave any waste lying around and respect the wildlife you’ll find in this area.

Approach

• From Teramo SS 81 in the direction of Ascoli to Villa Lempa. Immediately after the village of Villa Lempa, cross a small bridge, turn right and follow the road signs to S. Giacomo - Monte Piselli - Collebigliano (SP 54). Once you have passed Collebigliano turn left to Cerqueto - S. Giacomo - Monte Piselli (SP 54a). Follow this road and pass Cerqueto, then Hydra and finally link up with SP 53. Continue to the right towards San Giacomo. Once you arrived in San Giacomo, pass the square with hotels and go down on the right (SP76) (there’s a fountain at the junction) in the direction of Colle San Marco for about one km. At this point a gap of the guardrail on the right allows you to access to a small parking area with a Memorial stone where you can park your car. About 35 km and at least 45 min from Teramo.
• From Teramo SS81 in the direction of Ascoli to Villa Lempa. Immediately after the village of Villa Lempa turn right and follow the road signals to S. Giacomo - Monte Piselli - Collebigliano (SP 54). Once you have passed Collebigliano, do not turn left to Cerqueto - S. Giacomo - Monte Piselli (SP 54a) but continue straight towards Piano San Pietro e Gabbiano. Continue on the “SP 54”  that becomes “SP Lisciano” for a few kilometers until a clear junction (after a bend to the left) and take the very steep road on the left (signs for Colle - Colle San Marco). Immediately after Santa Maria a Corte follow the signs to Colle to the left or Colle San Marco to the right and after about 2 km turn left (SP76) in the direction of Colle San Marco. Pass the square of Colle San Marco and continue towards San Giacomo. About 1 km before the square with hotels a gap of the guardrail on the left allows you to access to a small parking area with a Memorial stone. About 35 km and at least 50 min from Teramo, but the road is in better conditions (if you could call it that!)
• From Ascoli to Colle San Marco (SP76). Pass the square of Colle San Marco and continue towards San Giacomo. About 1 km before the square with hotels a gap of the guard-rail on the left allows you to access to a small parking area with a Memorial stone where you can park. About 15 km and 25 minutes from Ascoli.