UKC

I'm heading to Valle dell' Orco in a few weeks with my wife and will probably spend half the time climbing and half the time hiking/enjoying hut food and drinks. 

Any must-do hikes or areas to check out when not climbing? 

I've also read that there are not too many climbs in easier grades. If anyone has any suggestions for routes or areas with cracks up to 5.9 YSD please let me know. I'll be getting the guidebook but its always helpful to hear from someone that has been there. Thanks!

The drive up to the refuge at the top of the valley is spectacular - really worth doing. The reservoir in Ceresole Reale is also a nice place to chill out (just don't go on a weekend or it'll be full of Turin day trippers). There's a 7.5km hike around the reservoir as well which looked good but can't vouch for it personally

This route is great at 5c https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crags/pietro_filosofale-17835/harry_pott... but in general I didn't notice tons of amenable single pitch cracks

I was there a last year, we drove up the valley and hike around the lakes/reservoir which was fun. 

In terms of routes, check out the 100 crack climbs guide, it's really good, there's a UKC ticklist of that too. 

https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/ticklists/100+_orco_cracks-7475?sort=gr

Already mentioned  is worth doing Harry Potter (5c) - Bolted at 5.8 but could be good gear placing practise route. There's a few other bolted routes at that crag ( Pietro Filosofale) that aren't too hard either, some cracks some not. 

Paperetta Show (aka Mary Poppins) (5c) is about 5.7/5.8

Apogeo (6a) and Cochise 1 (5c) are about 5.9

Incastromania (6a) is incredible and worth seeking out, probably 5.10 but well protected throughout with cams. 

Enjoy!

Pesce d'Aprile (5c) is well worth doing (about 5.8/9) and conveniently close to the village. A good slice of climbing history in it, too.

I was there last August, had a great week. I only climb to about that grade and we found lots to do. If you go through my profile to my logbook, go back to last August and you'll see the type of routes I did. Going up to the Refugio Pontese is beautiful, and about an hours hike from the parking. There are some smaller climbs near the hut then the alpine rock routes doable in a day from the hut. I thought the hut was really nice as well. We stayed a couple of nights.

Thanks all for the information! Will try to check out as many of the climbs suggested here as I can, can't wait!

Cheers! Your Orco tick list are exactly the climbs I'm looking for. Will be to sure to check out Pontese as well. 

Agree with the suggestions above, Harry Potter and Mary Poppins were both good fun when I was there. Some more suggestions for easier cracks:

Fessura Del Tramonto (5c) https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crags/tramonto-19631/fessura_del_tramont... - this has a lovely section with a perfect hand sized crack, a joy to climb.

Paperoga (5c) - has a fun traverse along the crack (very close to Incastromania if you're already checking that out). https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crags/sergent-4114/paperoga-659072 . Pic to do it justice : https://www.planetmountain.com/uploads/img/1/67255.jpg