In late June my friend Steve and I flew across the pond to climb in the Dolomites of Italy for just over 2 weeks. We based out of Cortina and visited and climbed in the areas circled in this map. We flew into Venice and from there it's only a 2.5 hour drive to Cortina.
After a long layover in London, a late arrival in Venice, we picked up our rental car, arrived in Cortina and checked in, then packed up for our first climbing that afternoon. Despite some sleepy eyes and jet lag, we climbed 2 really fun routes in the Cinque Torre area. Very cool!
Climbing near the top of the Torre Grande our first afternoon.
Great scenery and cool clouds at the Cinque Torre area.
Our next stop was some fun sport climbing at a nice crag over a couple of passes to the northwest.
A view of Cortina, a classic Italian mountain town nestled in a beautiful valley.
Eating lunch at a refugio after hiking around the Tre Cime area about a 45 minute drive from Cortina. The meals at the huts were great and no more expensive than dining in town :-)
Great views from the Passo Pordoi on the way to climb at a formation just below Sella Pass.
Near the top of a very steep 9 pitch 5.11 route with funky weather moving in.
We climbed another day at the Cinque Torre area and to our surprise, the Italian military were also there doing mountain training. What a zoo! Welcome to Europe ;-)
Another day, the best weather day of the trip, we climbed a 14 pitch route up the sun/shade ridge on the right hand third of the huge Tofana formation. Very cool position!
High on the Southeast ridge of the Tofana.
Looking for the best line off the belay ledge high on the Tofana. Awesome exposure.
Steve coming up one of the last pitches on the SE ridge of the Tofana.
WWI trenches and buildings abound in the area. A sobering reminder of war.
Classic ham and cheese sandwich and a beer post climbing at the Falzarego Pass store.
For a rest day we took the lift to the top of the Laguozi and hike around, incredible views!
WWI trenches and outposts near the Cinque Torre area.
Steve coming up a large chossy terrace high up on the Laguozi Piccola west face. The Marmolada, the highest peak in the Dolomites at just about 11,000' lies in the background.
Sitting out a wild rain/hail storm at the Falzarego pass store.
Remnants of a WWI hospital building near Falzarego Pass.
On a summit near lake Misurina. Fantastic views as usual!
The biggest outing of our trip was climbing the Yellow Edge on the Cima Piccola, which is the right hand sky line of this formation. 13 pitches of steep and classic Dolomites climbing with amazing exposure!
At a belay a few pitches up the Yellow Edge.
Steve coming up a pitch high on the Yellow Edge. Note the large Refugio building about 1700' below.
A view southwest from the summit of the Cima Piccola. Some crazy weather moving in...
The descent off the Cima Piccola included some creative routefinding on the side of a huge snow tongue.
While climbing on the Sella Towers another day, we were entertained with the traffic fiascos on Sella Pass. Although the driving can be crowded and a bit crazy in the Dolomites, drivers are well behaved and skillful.
This is an Alpine Chough, a common and curious bird in the mountains of the Dolomites :-)
Steve and I on the summit of the first Sella Tower on our last day of climbing.
For our last day in the area, we took a 3 stage lift to the summit of the Marmolada. This was an incredible and scenic tour! There was even a fantastic WWI museum at the second lift station part way up the mountain.
The view down the first leg of the lift up the Marmolada. Really steep ride!
On our last afternoon before we flew out the next day, we cruised around Venice which was quite a zoo. Here Steve displays our last Italian restaurant beer :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment