Right me and my girlfriend are getting married then going on a dream climbing honeymoon around Corsica and Sardinia. We will be partaking in Trad and sport but need to pack light.

She will be travelling with wedding stuff I will be carrying the climbing stuff, with 20 kilo's to last us we to keep the weight down.

so far it all comes in around 15kilo's only leaving 5 for clothing and other holiday necessities.

any tips?

Consider buying clothes when you get there at a second hand store. Have fun!

less cams, more hexes and nutz

Only two sets of clothes each. Wash one in the sink each night (bring a small bottle (less than 3oz if checking your bag) of concentrated clothes washing soap) and hang it to dry overnight and the next day. Make sure to choose clothes that will dry easily. This is basically what my wife and I did for a month long trip to Vietnam where we didn't want to lug around a bunch of stuff. Worked great!

Have fun!

All (or most) clothing goes into carryon. Many airlines are pretty liberal with what you are allowed to take on board. You can take one of those rolley suitcases on board AND a backpack. Everything you can fit goes on the plane, particularly the heavy stuff. I don't think you can take much climbing gear though, maybe harness and shoes, other stuff is risky depending on what airport you're flying into and out of. But like someone else said, you should be planning on buying stuff there (clothing, bathroom stuff, etc).

Unless you are planning on buying lighter climbing gear, just cut it down to a minimal rack. Only take one cordalette (or no cordalette) and use the rope for an anchor. Ditch anything that you don't use every day, maybe guy a 9.4?

If you don't already have a skinny rope you can save a lot of space/weight with that.

I spent a couple weeks climbing in Corsica two years ago. Awesome! Dragged along a trad rack but placed maybe one nut and one cam. Even the supposed "trad" lines had fixed cord to clip. Don't plan on buying gear there either. One lightly stocked store in Ajaccio was all the retail we found. Learn some French. French is already their second language so nobody knows English and they're not just faking it like the mainland French. Oh yeah, and learn to drive like a maniac.
PM me if you want some detailed beta on where to go. rserati at msn dot com

If you fly into Nice you can probably get a rope there pretty cheaply. My wife and I honeymooned in Corsica, it is a great place for climbing but the culture is a bit weird. Some of the touristy areas near the coast are pretty normal, but in the mountains it is tough to communicate. Some people will not speak with you even in French, instead only speaking Corsican. I guess that many people in Corsica want it to be its own country, and feel that tourism is the only thing keeping France from releasing its hold.

The two main areas climbing areas in Corsica are alpine( Col de Bavella and Restonica). Adventure climbing would be a good description as there are few continous crack systems and it is challenging to pick out lines. Some of the approaches are pretty epic too. We went in early Oct and had almost daily rainfall but still managed to climb quite a bit. You can do a lot of climbing with mostly quickdraws. Corsican granite is very course, we toasted a rope in two weeks.

Make sure you have confirmed hotel reservations, our plane landed late and finding a place to stay was epic. I had made online reservations only to get a email a few days before departing saying "So sorry but we don't have a room for you." You also need a rental car, although the island is small it is very mountainous and takes time to get to places.

If I could do it again I would have picked Sardinia....limestone on the beach is more of a honeymoon for most women.


Here are some pics...if you guys are both super gung ho on doing FA's and love climbing in remote areas it will be awesome. If you are looking for a relaxing time on the beach, maybe not so much.

Col De Bavilla Submitted By: Kevin Stricker on Jul 29, 2011

Restonica Submitted By: Kevin Stricker on Jul 29, 2011

In Sardegna there's not much need for a trad rack depending on where your going.....tons of amazing sport climbing and deep-water. You may want to stick to draws and a skinny rope (slings helpful too).
Anyway get ready for some of the sickest climbing anywhere...have fun!