Corsica, France

Rock climbing at Col de Bavella

Challenging multipitch routes through the incredible Corsican Tafoni – in the realm of moufflons, wild boars and turtles.

The most and longest routes in Corsica are east of the Col de Bavella. The climbing covers the whole range from clean trad routes to typically French drilled Plaisir routes.

You climb in an extraordinarily wild atmosphere: The approach through fragrant cedar and pine forests and the partly very dense macchia demands on a certain sense and endurance in finding your way through the impassable terrain in order to reach the desired objective. But the effort is worth it, the Corsican granite is a real dream in terms of variety: you climb on wild structures, gigantic Tafoni (wall structures reminiscent of honeycombs and caves), weathered by salt crystals and wind. But also demanding slab climbing asks for a strong psyche to proceed in the endless sea of the compact walls. In addition, there are also interesting cracks and corners to climb.

Facts

Let’s see where it is:

Climbing gear:

60 m double rope, 1 set of Stoppers, 1-2 sets of C4-Camalots 0.3 – 3, Ball Nuts 1 & 2, many slings

Our route highlights:

Punta di u Corbu, 1157 m:
» Le dos de L’éléphant (280 m, 6b+, 9 pitches)

Punta di u Peru, 842 m:
» u Haddad (240 m, 6b+, 7 pitches)

Punta Chjapponu, 1111 m:
» Variante athlétique pour 2 ours sains (170 m, 6b+, 5 pitches, clean)

Castellucciu d’Ornuccio, 564 m:
» La Perillat (200 m, 5+, 5 pitches)
» Super Picsou Géant (180 m, 5+, 7 pitches, clean)

Caution:

The bilingual (French/English) selection guide “Grandes voies de Corse” is very well researched and reliable. However, the German Topoguide Corsica is not recommended.

Recommended campsite:

East of the Col de Bavella lies the idyllically campsite “U Ponte Grossu” along the river of Solenzara.

» U Ponte Grossu (www.upontegrossu.com)

Culinary recommendation:

You can find many regional Corsican products in the supermarkets. In addition to the legendary Corsican cheese, there are excellent red wines.