Serra Oseli – the Sardinian alpine route

Outdoor sports such as canyoning, abseiling and climbing have become quite widespread all over Sardinia in the past decade. The Sardinian mountain ridges such as Supramonte and Gennargentu among many other minor ones offer a wide range of routes if you are into having fun in the stunning natural sceneries that often combine the sparkling white rocks, the smell of the mediterranean shrubland and the vastness of the deep blue sea.

As for this particular alpine route, I had been dreaming about putting my feet on it for a long time until an unusally warm winter day found the four of us right on the path leading to this imposing white “shark fin” reflecting the early sun rays.

The actual mount we are talking about is called Monte Oseli and you can easily spot it in the middle of the map on the right of the main road called SS125 (which is by the way one of the most spectacular roads in Sardinia). If you take a closer look at the map you’ll see that the paved road right below Monte Oseli becomes a path and that path eventually leads you directly to one of the most iconic Sardinian beaches/coves called Cala Luna. Needless to say this area is truly unique and highly appreciated by climbers as well thanks to its stunning crags and boulder areas.

Climbing on one of the vertical walls of the Serra Oseli crags

But let’s get back to the main attraction of the day: the crest of Serra Oseli!

The crest is the one you can see in the background cut off abruptly by a deep canyon called Gorroppeddu

The reason why they call this an alpine route comes from the fact that the approxiamately 5/6 hours long walk combines climbing passages (up to III/IV grade), exposed spots, route finding difficulties and a few abseils (with anchors already set) as a consequence it is necessary to bring some ropes (we had a pair if 60m twin ropes) and all the gear that is required in such circumstances.

Anyways if you’re here to watch you probably don’t care about anchors and twin ropes, right? If you feel like doing it please make sure that you’ve done some research (in that case I’d be glad to help you get the info)!

Somewhere in the middle
The gateway
Stretching – some of the passages require quite a flexible approach which means that you try to get hold of everything : rock, trees, branches as the Supramonte style demands it!
Can’t stop admiring these beauties that sometimes endure for hundreds of years. Indeed juniper trees are also called “rock trees” due to their stiffness

Path finding might be an issue (or fun) as you have to consider the various options right on the spot
At one of the various peaks looking for an anchor
And when there’s no way to keep on climbing you must abseil
And than you’re back again on the top!
Sequence
I guess the most fascinating aspect of this route is that it never becomes monotonous or unvarying. Sometimes you walk on the very top of the crest where it shrinks into a very narrow path but just then, right around a sort of a pinnacle you can freely walk on this amazing saddle.
So you got time to think about the evening beer
Or about the next palce to go….

5 thoughts on “Serra Oseli – the Sardinian alpine route

  1. Hi!

    I’m very interested in this route. We will be traveling to Sardinia in May and in my research I found tour website. I’m amazed by all the adventures you have posted on here an we are planning to do some of them too. Could you help my find more info on this specific route? I would like to know what maps I would need, how long the abseils are and how hard/easy it is to navugate here. Hope to hear from you!

    Kind regards,
    Job

    1. Hi Job,

      The alpine route of Serra Oseli is one of my favourite in Sardinia so I’m really glad you feel like doing it. Please note that if you decide to do it by yourself you must have some previous experience in route finding and basic alpine manoeuvers as it is quite an exposed route. Having said that I would highly recommend you to use the wikiloc app to have a basic idea of the whole route and the abseils as well.

      This one covers all of it and it also shows the waypoints along the track. There are 6 abseils (calate) altogether (the highest is 23m). Make sure that you save the track on the app so you can use it offline as well as it is likely to lose the signal while you are at it.

      Hope this helps!
      Have fun!!!

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