Maltatal
Located in Carinthia province, close to Villach, Maltatal is a sunny valley for both sportclimbing and bouldering. Topo Guru app contains the Maltatal boulder climbing guide with 7 sectors and about 200 boulder problems. The crag is one of the 5 biggest Austrian bouldering crags and it’s becoming more and more popular, thanks to the beautiful landscape and high-quality boulders.
Maltatal bouldering
The rock is good quality granite and the hard boulders are more likely crimpy style, but there are plenty of boulders in the lower grades with more rounded holds. Warm-up routes are easy to find in all of the sectors, and the distances are small between the blocks.
The best sector to start is the obvious La Balance, as this is the closest to the parking lot. Once your fingers are ready for harder boulders, you can go further up on the hillside to the higher sectors, or take a 5 minutes walk to Wrestling sector. Here you can find some of the most famous hard boulders of the valley, such as Petting with an Alligator (8a+), Wrestling with an Alligator (8b) or Power of Goodbye (8b).
If you are looking for boulders in the 7s grade, go to Helicopter sector, where are a lot of nice boulders from 6c-7c, such as Rampa Rampa (7a) or Mein Stein (7a+).
Season
The best period to climb here is spring and autumn, but the summer months can also have good conditions, if you are not trying to push your limits to a new level. In Topo Guru app the crag info sheet contains a Season Graph, where you can check the popular months in this crag, based on ascent statistics.
During early spring and late autumn the sun goes down behind the high mountains around 4 pm, so the temperature can drop down quite fast and the friction is getting better, even in sunlight hours.
Where to stay
As in most parts of Austria, there are plenty of hotels and apartments in the area. Note, that the region is really popular for other outdoor activites, so booking in advance can be a smart decision in the summer months, to find a good price accommodation. If you would like to find an apartment online, you can check Airbnb, Booking.com or tiscover.com, which is a popular accommodation site in the german-speaking countries.
Rest day
As we wrote earlier, this part of the Alpes offers many outdoor opportunities. On the first rest day a really good choice is to visit the amazing Kölnbrein dam at the top of Maltatal valley. The dam is 200 meters high and the tallest in Austria. The road up there is closed at winter, usually opens around 15th of April, depending on the snow situation.
The city of Villach is also nearby, if you would like to do some shopping or have a coffee. Wörthersee is one of the most beautiful lakes in the Alpes and the water surface can reach up to 25 degrees in summer. The water is unbelievably clear and silky, definitely worth a visit. Our secret tip is to visit Restaurant Kleinsasserhof, where the first enter will be a guaranteed surprise :)