I’m planning a sport climbing trip to Sicily next March 14-21st (ish, depending on flights). I’ve been before a few years ago, it’s really nice there. There are hundreds of quality routes on a miles-long crag next to the sea (not tidal), with grades right across the spectrum from 4s to 8s with most in the 5-6b region. It’s mostly single-pitch but there are also multipitch routes in the area. The weather is great (I went in January last time and it was nice and warm all week), and being Italian the food and drink are of course excellent!
This is just an initial call for interest so we can work out costs etc.

Destination: San Vito Lo Capo 2

Routes: Here’s 3 just one of several crags in the area just to give an idea. A guidebook 2 is also available.

Accommodation: Depending on numbers, budgets and preferences, there is a choice of a camping village sandwiched between the base of the crag and the beach with caravans and apartments to rent (https://www.elbahira.it/eng/ 2) from around €50 each for the week if you don’t mind sharing rooms, or fancy AirBnBs in the nearby town (closer to nightlife but mostly more expensive and further from the crags).

Transport: Available direct flights (to Palermo) are from Stanstead running Sunday-Sunday (currently £42 return) or from Gatwick running Saturday-Saturday (£61 return). On the other side we’ll need to hire a car to get to and around San Vito which will be around £20-30 each for the week depending on the size of the car and how many are sharing.

Equipment & Experience: You will need your own helmet, harness, rock shoes, belay device, and a sling and a couple of screwgates. The club does have a few helmets and harness to lend out but you’ll likely find your own much more comfortable when hanging around all week. Between us we’ll also need enough ropes and quickdraws and ideally a couple of clip sticks. I’d imagine we’ll have plenty of gear between us but we’ll sort this out when we have firm numbers. Prior experience leading and seconding sport routes isn’t necessary but we can do a session locally before we go if anyone wants to brush up.

Cost: I don’t expect this to be a super-expensive trip. Other than the above, other costs will be getting to and from the airport on this side, fuel in the hire cars, insurance, and food & drink. The accommodation will be self-catering so we can cook together to bring costs down, or alternatively there are lots of restaurants in the nearby town.

The idea is everyone would book their own flights and sort out their own insurance etc, then we’ll sort out accommodation & car hire together when we have firm numbers. It’d be best to book sooner rather than later as there’s not that much accommodation left so I’ll set a deadline of 14th December - if anyone wants to join on after that we can try to sort something out.

BTW, some of my friends from uni are also going so it should be a good-sized group to make it a fun trip!

Any questions,  visit the message board thread
James Burton

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