So just to make sure we are all on the same page, my son, Seth and I, live in Cape Town, South Africa. And he qualified to represent South Africa at his very first ever European Climbing Competition. Due to the time zones and travel the World Climbing allows to South Africans (and other Africans) to compete at the EU Comps to make it more accessible to us. So this was the major reason for our trip to Italy and Switzerland with a few other stops along the way.
GETTING TO CAMPITELLO DI FASSA WAS A WHOLE OTHER EXPEDITION!!!!
We had arrived in Italy and spent our first four days in Milan and did some training at two of the Milanese climbing gyms that were SPECTACULAR (Especially Rock Spot) Check out my precious blog that details our first 4 days in Milan. But soon after arriving in Milan we were told that the train tickets we had booked were going to be useless. Unfortunately a public transport STRIKE had been arranged for Friday when we were supposed to be travelling by train and bus to the competition venue in Campitello di Fassa, high up in the top of the Italian Dolomites.
I immediately sent my friend a message - How does one get to a place 8 hours away with no public transport and now needing to get tickets all over again? Gen immediately jumped on the phone, changed her plans for the weekend and drove her camper van from Liechtenstein to MILAN!!! How incredible is that????!!!!! Gen is a very old friend that I had last seen at my own wedding in 1999, but she had moved away and we had lost contact for 2 ½ decades. But you know how you sometimes have those friends who just pick up where you left off, like no time has passed at all, well Gen is one of those.
On Thursday evening we met Gen for dinner in Milan and a very long catchup. She had booked herself an Airbnb over night and had the whole road trip planned out. We managed to get a good night's sleep ahead of our travel day.
Good bye Milano!
The next morning we were checked out by 9am and getting on the road. Italian roads are a different story - driving on the opposite side of the road, special signage that we didn't understand, and TOLL GATES.
Hello Lake Garda - Id didn't get good photos...sorry.
We decided to make one stop at Lake Garda for a swim, lunch and then the rest of the drive up into the Alps.
Driving with Gen, the Hero!
We passed through Trento (Where we would have changed from a train to a bus) and then up the mountain pass towards the top of the Alps. After many, many windy roads only going up, we eventually arrived in the town of Campitello di Fassa.
Campitello di Fassa is a ski town in Winter, but right now it was mid Summer with no snow in sight. The town is filled with chalets and accommodation and in the middle of the Valley is an outdoor CLIMBING WALL.
We knew that this area would be busy with mountain bikers, trail runners, hikers and climbers, but this wall was something else. We checked in at DaSté Hotel just across from the climbing wall and Gen was allowed to park her camper van in their parking area for the night.
Gen's parking for the night!
We all had a quick dinner and then I made a dash across the river to the climbing wall for the European Cup Technical meeting. My role on this trip was to support my son as his coach and manager and handle all of the logistics. He had never travelled overseas before, so all of this was already a huge experience for him.
Meeting done, we got an early night in preparation for the competition the next morning. The views from our window were spectacular and I loved seeing the mountain bikers and evening hikers returning from their days out in the mountains.
7.30am we were out the door and checking in for the competition. The athletes were allowed to warm up indoors and watch the other competitors climb during the Qualification round. This gave us a chance to figure out how all of this works as it was out first time attending an International competition.
Photo by World Climbing
It was HOT and I was thankful for my sun umbrella which I ended up sharing with the commentator Simone. The photographer managed to get a shot of us watching the competition.
Seth did not do well on his first route and he was super disappointed, but he had to keep himself together for the second route.
Two hours later on his second route he did better. He got about a third up the high wall and safely off the ground. This was not a great result, but for an introduction to International climbing it was a good start. Learning to deal with the nerves is a massive hurdle and we realised that the skill difference was massive. He left that competition encouraged that we could put together a training plan that would lift the overall level of his climbing over the next year.
We watched the Semi finals and Finals and on Sunday we took a bus ride down the valley to find the La Sportiva store in the next village.
The bus system is awesome and our hotel booking included a free transport ticket through the Trentino Province. Always try to book accommodation that is on the Trentino website as it will include a free public transport card for the length of your booking.
Soon our next leg of the trip would begin. We began packing our bags and planning our onward journey. Early Monday morning we got a quick packed breakfast and were on our bus by 7.15am. I had managed to pick up a cold over the weekend so unfortunately as we descended the alps my ears hurt.
It was a solid 2 hours of downhill through beautiful old villages that I can only imagine become a wonder world of snow each winter.
We changed buses in Trento and got on the next one hour bus ride to ARCO.
Follow along for our 5 days spent in ARCO visiting Lake Garda and rock climbing in the mountains.
[//]:# ([//]:# (!worldmappin 46.47668 lat 11.74606 long Campitello di Fassa & Seth's first European Cup Climbing Competition d3scr))
