Rock Master 2026: forty years of climbing in Arco
Three evenings at the Climbing Stadium, free entry with registration, and the legends of climbing back in Arco for the fortieth edition. Programme, how to get in, and how to reach it from Riva without a car.
Rock Master 2026 takes place in Arco on October 2–4, 2026, at the Climbing Stadium, and entry is free: you register on the event’s website and receive a code by email to show at the gate.
This is the fortieth edition of the oldest climbing competition in the world. To mark it, the names that wrote this sport are coming back to Arco — among them Lynn Hill, Yuji Hirayama, Muriel Sarkany, François Legrand, Didier Raboutou and Robyn Erbesfield — alongside today’s athletes.
The programme, evening by evening.
Friday. From eight in the evening, qualification and elimination rounds of the Lead Duel: eight men and eight women go head to head on two identical parallel walls. It is the format that made this competition famous, and from below it reads as a real duel.
Saturday. At three in the afternoon, the FASI Speed Record Hunters. From eight in the evening, the KO Boulder, straight knockout, under the floodlights.
Sunday. In the morning the Fun Bloc, from nine until noon: fourteen problems of varying difficulty on the same wall the professionals used the night before, open to anyone who wants a go. In the afternoon, from half past one, Rock Master’s first youth competition, for under-fifteens.
Around the competitions sits the rest of it: the brands’ expo area, talks with the protagonists, food, and a space for children.
Where to stand to actually see.
The Climbing Stadium is built so that the routes are read from below, and the Duel wall is high enough to be followed from anywhere on the terraces. Competition evenings fill up: if you want a good spot, arrive an hour early, when the lights come on and the wall turns from grey to orange.
Bring something warm. In Arco in October, the moment the sun drops behind the walls the temperature goes with it.
From Riva to Arco without a car.
Arco is six kilometres from Riva del Garda, and on Rock Master evenings the car is the worst of the options.
Trentino trasporti line 332 links the two bus stations in about ten minutes, running into the evening. Buy the ticket before boarding, at a tobacconist or through the app — or don't buy one at all: with the Trentino Guest Card, public transport across the province of Trento is included.
The alternative we suggest to anyone with a bike: the Sarca cycle route, seven flat kilometres along the river, away from traffic. Half an hour of pedalling, and no parking to look for.
And the day after.
People who come for Rock Master usually pack their shoes. The Arco crags are minutes from the stadium, and the first days of October are among the best of the year to climb: dry rock, sun that warms without cooking, and the same oolitic limestone the competitions are fought on.
Back here there is a dry room for the gear, and the sauna in the garden for fingers and shoulders.
Every date in Garda Trentino is in the events calendar.
Common questions.
When is Rock Master 2026 in Arco?
From 2 to 4 October 2026, at the Climbing Stadium in Arco, Garda Trentino. It is the fortieth edition of the oldest sport climbing competition in the world.
Can you watch Rock Master, and what does a ticket cost?
Entry is free. You register on the official event website and receive a code by email to show at the entrance to the Climbing Stadium.
How do you get to Arco from Riva del Garda?
It is six kilometres. Trentino trasporti line 332 links the two bus stations in about ten minutes; buy the ticket before boarding — or travel free with the Trentino Guest Card. By bike, take the cycle route along the river Sarca: seven flat kilometres, half an hour.
Can you climb at Rock Master without competing?
Yes. On Sunday morning the Fun Bloc opens the KO Boulder wall to everyone, with fourteen problems at different grades. And the Arco crags stay open throughout the event.
