PHOTO | Climbing, what a passion, here is the new crag in Lumignano:in Veneto there are 220 streets

The Lumignano crag, on the Berici hills, has been redeveloped and will be inaugurated on Sunday 18 February:it is the first of 15 natural sites dedicated to climbing that the CAI plans to renovate and offer to enthusiasts, both young and old

VENICE – Two hundred and twenty climbing routes have been completely redeveloped, of which 18 are dedicated to children and 30 to beginners, in addition to the creation of new belays and protections on a large part of the routes reserved for the more expert.These are the numbersredevelopment work which the Italian Alpine Club (through the Vicenza Section) concluded on the southern slope of the Lumignano crag (Vicenza), in the heart of the Berici Hills.The intervention is the first to be completed in the whole of Italy, among the 15 that have so far joined the program to enhance the climbing cliffs promoted by the CAI and the Alpine Guides.The objective is to create reference prototypes throughout the national territory natural sites dedicated to rock climbing, with itineraries suitable for different types of users, from children to beginners, up to the more experienced.

The “CAI Project for the creation and management of natural climbing sites” is led by the National Commission for mountaineering, ski mountaineering and free climbing schools of the CAI, in close collaboration with the National College of Italian Alpine Guides.“Lumignano is the first crag in which a project that we as CAI care about is taking shape,” states Cai general president Antonio Montani.“It is in the crags, in fact, that many approach climbing in the environment, a practice that we are promoting with great conviction as the first step towards mountaineering and frequenting high altitudes", he adds.The inauguration is scheduled for next Sunday, February 18th at 11am in the small church of San Maiolo in Lumignano di Longare.

During next Sunday's ceremony, the ribbon cutting of the "Sentiero di Matteo" is scheduled, the new access route to the Minetti sector of the crag dedicated to the 35-year-old CAI Vicenza member Matteo Cazzola, who was swept away in an avalanche in March 2023 during a ski mountaineering trip in Norway.Speakers will include Montani, the president of the Cai Veneto Renato Frigo, the president of the Vicenza Section Giovanni Vaccari, the deputy mayor of Longare Marco Carli, the manager of the Falesia Project and director of the "Umberto Conforto" school of mountaineering, ski mountaineering and free climbing Maurizio Dalla Libera , the manager of the "Dry walls" project of the Cai Vicenza Lisa Iannascoli and the family members of Matteo Cazzola.The day is organized by the CAI Section of Vicenza, with the patronage of the Municipality and the Proloco of Longare.

What is about to be crossed is the finish line at the end of a long journey:once the authorization was obtained from the Provincial Office that follows the Sic "Colli Berici" area, within which the Lumignano crag is located, the CAI Veneto approved the proposal for the redevelopment of the Vicenza section.Which, in close collaboration with the municipal administration of Longare, followed all the provisions set out in the national project:has registered five loan contracts for the safekeeping of the walls with the respective owners, has acquired a detailed geological report to verify the hydrogeological risk and has appointed the mountain guide Dario Segato to provide equipment for the itineraries, according to the specifications provided .
Thanks to the collaboration of several mountaineers and instructors from the Umberto Conforto School, the intervention made it possible to achieve much more than what was required in the notice (15 routes for children, 20 for beginners and twenty for advanced climbers): a total of 220 routes, of which 18 for children, with difficulties up to 4c, and thirty for beginners, with difficulties up to 5b.

At the base of each itinerary, a label shows the name, difficulty and length of the route.While waiting for specific interventions, some prohibition signs have been posted to prevent access to some routes for which the geological report has indicated a risk of rock falls.Thanks to a fundraiser led by a friend of Matteo Cazzola, in recent months the sectional paths commission and a group of volunteers and friends of the young man from Vicenza created the new access path to the crag.The bends of a pre-existing route have been traced, the land has been cleared of brambles and shrubs and the dry retaining walls were recovered and consolidated, under the guidance of the architect Lisa Iannascoli and expert craftsmen who have long collaborated with the CAI Vicenza in the valorisation of this ancient construction technique, protected by UNESCO.The intervention allows us to avoid a rocky cliff present in the Minetti sector, facilitating, in particular, the arrival of the Alpine Rescue in the event of an injury on the wall.