Bouldering In Italy

The development of bouldering in Italy has taken off in the past years. There is a huge varity of sites throughtout the country and I have tried to provide a good starter guide to most. I am working on the other sites and if anyone wishes to send me information it is greatly appreciated.

The list below is what I have found to be reconized boulder sites throughout Italy.  As I move forward I will contiune to provide area reports and starter guides.  If anyone has been to a specific area and would like to share their thoughts drop me a line. 

PLEASE READ NOTES ABOUT HOW ROUTES ARE GRADED AND WHAT IS INCLUDED IN GUIDE BOOK.

In the this guide I have chosen to include, what to me, looked like the clear and obvious visible sequence for the route. Since I do not know who established the all the routes I can not say someone else did not see the rock different. So, before you get pissed and upset, accept my apologies in advance, I am trying to provide a good starter guide for individuals to get to an area and start climbing. The joy of the sport is that we can all climb for ourselves and gain our own individual level of success. I have added variations known but I am at this time not marking the rock.

Bouldering ethics should be simple just walk around, find a boulder and top it out! As for myself, eliminations are great for training and playing around but they don't deserve a separate name and grade. This can be compared with variations that comprise an alternative (sit)-start or finish with an obvious and visible sequence. There is, however, no clear distinction between a boulder, a variation and an elimination. Bouldering is essentially about finding the easiest way up a natural boulder face and a variation is when there is an alternative "natural line" with a common start or finish that ads new sequences. If specific information is needed to understand an alternative start or top-out, we are normally talking about an elimination.

Some further notes:

• If you do not need to top out don't. Leave the natural plants and moss in place if possible. Remember they are helping create O2 for us.
• Chipping: What you can't remove with a stiff plastic brush should stay (unless something is very loose and dangerous).
• Leaving tickmarks: When redpointing a boulder it is useful to create a Picasso in order to find the holds and mark your sequence. However, it is very important that your drawings are brushed away as to not confuse other climbers.
• Bolts: If you use bolts when you train on a "boulder" you are actually aiming for soloing not bouldering. For an example, see The fly, a bouldery 9a route.
• Long traverses: Many think that long traverses are just traversing not bouldering and perhaps this should be in a separate climbing category? Therefore I have listed some traverses but have not given a grade.

Grade Comparisons

 The following table attempts to compare the three different bouldering grades described above. The British technical grade has also been included for comparison. All routes listed in guide are US V Grade, please note that all grades may not be exact. If you find a route to be different email me and I will keep for updates.

US V Grade	Peak Bouldering Grade	Font Bouldering Grade	Font Traverse Grade	British Technical Grade
V0-	B0	3		5a
V0	B1	4		5a - 5b
V0+	B1 - B2	4+		5a - 5b
V1	B2	5		5b - 5c
V2	B3	5+		5c - 6a
V3	B4	6a/6a+	7a	6a- 6b
V4	B5	6b/6b+	7a+	6a - 6b
V5	B5 - B6	6c/6c+	7b	6b
V6	B6 - B7	7a	7b+	6b - 6c
V7	B7 - B8	7a+	7c	6b - 6c
V8	B8	7b	7c+	6c
V8+	B9	7b+	8a	6c - 7a
V9	B10	7c	8a+	6c - 7a
V10	B11	7c+	8b	7a
V11	B11 - B12	8a	8b+	7a - 7b
V12	B12	8a+	8c	7a - 7b
V13	B13	8b	8c+	7b
V14	B14	8b+	9a	7b