Week 1 in Val de Fassa, famous for the incredible looking Sella Towers. Was a great sunny week - the downside of which was no opportunity for rest days!
Sassalungo Group emerges from the cloud
Each day was another route - the only setback being getting stuck behind a really slow group climbing Via Steger on the Sella towers and deciding to bail when we couldn't get past them safely. Still - good abseiling practice!
The rest of our days out dodged the hyper-busy towers, with ascents of Rossi and Rampa del Torso on Piz Ciavazes
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| Descent Ledge on Piz |
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| Dave Descending after "Rossi" |
After a few days of face climbing we were lured into a Chimney Line Camino Pederiva on Sas Pordoi, Which entailed some very classic chimney squirming, bridging, back-and-footing and resulted in a crash course in Scottish cursing for the Italian couple sharing in the route with us! Topping out to watch the last cable car disappear however was less satisfying, and the scree bash back down to the base station even less so!
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| Camino Pederiva is the corner/Chimney line centre pic and to right of the deep gully |
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| Different Dolomites View |
After a frantic few days of climbing in the sun, we decided to have a "rest" day and go for a via ferrata ridge walk and chose Bepi Zac - a ridge full of Italian and Austrian WW1 fortifications and look-outs. Can only imagine how miserable it would have been in winter back then for the troops stationed there!
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| WW1 Frontier |
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| 12 man bivouac Carved into the ridge. |
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| Lookout post with a view - tunnelled into the ridgeline |
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| A hollowed out tower used as a lookout position |
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| Nice refuge on the descent for coffee - and cheaper than in the valley!! |
Then came our shift over to Cortina, Dave's mighty Aygo doing sterling work getting us and our tons of gear over the various passes!
Once we were relocated, and met up with Lars, a friend of Dave's joining us from Germany, we struck out for the South Face of Lagazuoi Piccolo, and a combo of Via del bucco bassa and Alta Variants.
Unfortunately we were too slick (?!?!?!!?) and ended up catching with several other teams at a shared belay. Luckily a huge ledge where we could construct our own belay and have lunch while the log jam cleared. Afterwards, an amusing descent down very easy via ferrata with a few more WW1 caves to explore.
Fortunately for our knees, the weather then took a turn for the worse, with unsettled conditions and afternoon storms closed in. this forced us to take a day off as the mountain spirits tried to drown us in the campsite (fortunately we were well fortified by certain Scottish Spirits!), and then limit ourselves to shorter routes snatched before the weather moved in.
A trip to Cinque Torri, followed by another to Monte Popena Basso above Misurina where we climbed Diedro Mazzorana above nicely occupied us with some cracking climbing and views.
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| Belay View from of Misurina |
An ascent of the Excellent Col dei Bos Via ferrata was also a cracking day out
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| Dave and Lars on the Via Ferrata |
We were rewarded by a cracking view of the Tofana too
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| Tofana trying to escape the clouds |
Unfortunately I'd managed to anger the Scottish weather gods by consuming Grappa rather than Whisky the night before, so our descent was in rather too familiar conditions :O(
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| Dave and Lars are in there somewhere..... |
Forecast for the final day was dry and clear so we went to bed with high hopes for another big mountain route, however though the day dawned clear and still, it had also become cold enough for snow to fall down to about 1700m!!
A brief inspection of the bigger faces revealed verglass and frost on the rock and snow on the ledges - prompting another retreat to Cinque Torri! A few easier routes climbed there, some good abseiling experience for Lars and a final beer at the refuge brought the holiday to a close.
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| Approaching Cinque Torri - Torre Grande |
A grand trip, with loads climbed, drunk and eaten!
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| Final Beers on our last day. |
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