More Italian Fun

The photo below is from Finale (the pics of which were in the last entry). I just thought it was interesting climbing culture. I didn't know this, but in Italy, and I think other European climbing spots, it's the norm to paint or somehow label a route at its base with the route's name. At this particular crag, they got pretty crafty. What do y'all American climbers think of this practice, eh?Ahhhhh, some mellow bouldering in Val di Mello, in the Italian Alps, 1 km from the quaint little villiage of San Martino. I camped out here, under a boulder. I enjoyed rain and one sunny day on which a few good boulders dried off. I also made a wonderful Italian climber-friend who invited me to his house, fixed me gnocchi, and played me some banging techno. What a guy!A view of some of the higher peaks around Val di Mello.Andrea singing up some Italian hospitality on a rainy in day in San Martino/Val di Mello.Below is a friendly party at Giudetta's very modern flat in downtown Genova. Giudetta was an incredibly hospitable professor working for the Clemson program Maggie was a part of. More climbing? Yes please! Andrea invited me to go with him and some friends on a weekend climbing trip to areas around Albenga. Albenga is another giant limestone area, down the road from Finale. Here, Andrea is negotiating the first route of the day (notice the rock to the left of the orange features; unfortunately, this entire wall of top-to-bottom collonettes was wet). Chiocco (pronounced Kee-Ko), a friend of Andrea's, climbing an excellent route.Dinner party after climbing. There was lots of fun, loud talking with big hand gestures and great local food.The (inadequate) Italian breakfast.
The next day we went to a beautiful orange crag with multi-pitch routes. We only went two pitches up, and then climbed other single pitch stuff. This is me on a climb called Alien--que bella!