This weekend we climbed the mountains around Riva del Garda.

Riva is a lovely small town at the north-western end of Lake Garda, surrounded by the cliffs of Mount Rocchetta and Mount Baldo. This is a well known place for sailing and MTBing. We got there on Saturday evening, so we had time to enjoy the place, drink a Spritz in the main square and have a nice salmon trout. There were many tourists, mostly Germans.

The next morning we woke up early so that around 8:30 we were already boots-and-backpack at Pregasina, which is the starting point of our walk, 540 meters above the sea level. From there we took CAI paths 422 bis and 429 up to Scala Santa and Cima Nodice (~900m) where we could enjoy a wonderful view over the lake and Pregasina, giving us satisfaction for the altitude we had climbed so far (very steep!).

Moving ahead, we took path 430 towards the ridge and Cima Al Bal. Again it was a very steep path and I sweared at it. At some point there is a fork and the right path is for expert only. We preferred to take the easier one. Soon after that we found a military fortress that was carved in the rock during WWI. Nowadays it what’s left is a maze of tunnels unfolding inside the mountain (~1100m). Before Al Bal you also get a wonderful and unexpected view over the Ledro Lake valley.

At Cima Al Bal (1260m) you are on the ridge and find yourself walking on a blade-like path unfolding over a spectacularly thin line of rock, completely open on both sides and yet quite easy to follow. At Cima Nara (1376m) we were at the top altitude of our trip. We climbed 840 meters in approximately three hours. From there we followed the ridge to Mount Guil and Guil Greens, where a surreal bench stands right in front of the precipice and you can sit there gazing at the breathtaking landscape.

From Guil Greens, the farthest point in the trip, we took our way back through path 422 to Rocchetta Pass and then 422bis to Malga Palaer. Despite having 3 liters when we started, I was running out of water. Luckily enough there was a fountain (the only one we found in the whole trip) and that convinced me we could continue to Punta Larici where we easily walked to a overhanging rock dominating Limone and the most of the Lake. 422bis finally took us to Pregasina trough as an easy white road.

The whole trip lasted 8 hours and has been very nice.