Climbing Luzzone Dam, Switzerland
Luzzone dam is in South East Switzerland, making it an accessible day trip from Italy. At 165m high, the dam is the highest artificial wall in the world and great fun to climb! It is 100% worth the trip to climb!
The climb consists of 5 pitches and is open from May to October. It costs 20 Swiss francs to climb per person and you can collect the key for climbing from the restaurant at the dam top. Information for booking can be found here :
https://www.ticino.ch/en/commons/details/Sport-climbing-Luzzone-Dam/97179.html
The Drive
At the end of our road trip in Italy (My epic rock climbing adventure in north Italy )we decided for one last epic adventure! It honestly wasn’t that far! To give ourselves enough time to climb we set off from Garda at 5am. It was a 4 hour, very beautiful drive to the dam, although possibly not there best way to prepare ourselves for the long day of climbing. The last hour was the most special with rolling Swiss hills like something out of a postcard.
Climbing Luzzone Dam
Driving to the base of the dam and you get a feel for how high the wall is! We felt tiny and realised the magnitude of the climb, especially as we had never climbed more than 2 pitched before!
This is why you need a key! Collect the key from the restaurant so you can unlock the ladder and reach the first hold!
The belay anchors are well placed and fairly roomy. Reading previous blogs the footholds were described as little more than a thin block of wood. Thankfully, they seemed to have been upgraded and you can rest your feel on the small platform.
We were glad we packed all our warm gear! The morning had started gloriously warm and I had been tempted to strip off into shorts! I was extremely glad I hadn’t as the wind picked up as the day progressed and it became very chilly on the wall, particularly belaying! Remember we are in the Swiss mountains!
While climbing Luzzone dam you get spectacular views down the valley.
Nearly at the top! The pitches are rated 5b, 5c, 6a, 6a+ and 6a+ which seems a fair rating. We found a lot of the difficulty was related to the length of the pitches as they averaged 30m each, plus a slight overhand on the later pitches. The holds themselves were great. We really enjoyed this climb as the climbing wasn’t technically difficulty, meaning we could just enjoy the day and climbing without feeling worried that we wouldn’t be able to complete 5 pitches.
Once we reached the top of the dam we got a stunning view of the other side…even if it was half covered in cloud! Unfortunately, we were so tired and cold by this point we barely appreciated it before retreating into the restaurant for a warm drink! We timed our climb perfectly as seconds later it started pouring!
Written by Eisha
Leave a Reply