It was really tricky for me to find a place to work from and climb at during the summer months. In most of Asia, it’s rainy season and in most of Europe, it is either too hot, the place doesn’t have a wifi/work-friendly set-up, you’d need to rent an expensive car or you’d have to have climbing partners arranged prior to going there. I spent many hours trying to decide, where to go, and ended up picking Ulassai – a small village up in the mountains of Sardinia. It was supposed to be a bit cooler and there’s a climbing hostel which is walking distance from the crags. Perfect!
Ulassai is a cute Italian village that still kind of has everything you need. A small supermarket, a weekly fruits & vegetable truck, a couple of restaurants… and of course, lots of great rock around it to climb! Nannai climbing hostel was a perfect place to stay at, offering fast wifi and the possibility to meet climbing partners. In the evenings, the rooftop was a popular place to have dinner, beers and chats.
The climbing itself was really not my style, being all technical face climbing with crimps and lots of small holds, rather than tufas, jugs and knee bars, which I prefer. It took me a bit to get used to the style and I definitely had to start on lower grades than expected. At one point, I decided that I wanted to project a route in the 7s, but couldn’t really find any 7a/+ that was appealing to me. There was a 7b though that I really liked the look of – Snake Eye. Despite struggling my way up it on toprope on my first time on it and the route being super technical, I decided this was going to be it. I definitely could have made it easier for myself and chosen a different route… Like this, it was a loooong process, taking me 3 weeks (with rest days) and a total of 32 times on the route (including projecting and attempts) in order to send it. What a feeling of success and relief though, when I finally did!
Just Booked A Trip 