Tarzan wall and Marco Savio's new vertical playgrounds

What sustains, apart from my own strength, my constant desire to climb? Stimuli! I've always looked for crags which not only hold particular lines, but which can also be shared with friends. My recent move Montebelluna rekindled the searcher-new router that was within me and so, while placing bolts here and there in Valsugana and the Grappa regione, I returned to Sanzan.

Sanzan is a tiny fraction close to Quero, Belluno where I'd been once before, many, perhaps too many, years ago with tireless Daniel Lira who established dozens of crags in the area and to whom countless climbers over the last thirty years owe their thanks. At times the routes are somewhat "artificial", bolted as they were years ago and to which one must now apply the process of progress climbing has gone through to reach its current status, with its different form of awareness and respect towards the rock, without having to crucify the past.

As to the present, the first routes at the overhanging crag Tarzan wall were put up by Maurizio Felici, then Daniele Lira, Riccardo Scarian and other friends from the Belluno region. The excellent quality Dolomia rock is covered in a thin patina of truly special limestone. Most routes are in the mid and upper grades, both slabby and superbly overhanging up to 35m in height, with a great variety of holds, from furious crimps to slopes, pockets and tufas of all shapes and sizes... plus some artificial "lifting".

Repeating the existing routes, free those that remained unclimbed and, above all, bolting new ones is what stimulates me now. New playgrounds to dream of, hanging off the rope with a drill, days spent suspended between the air and the sun, surrounded by friends and smiles. The works are in progress, they'll be more news soon...

by Marco Savio


TOPO: Tarzan Wall, Sanzan (BL)