[Fultonius]

Do it!  It had some of the best rock of the trip and very varied!

We just trotted down the glacier (25 mins down the ridge, not to crevassed) I wore some goretex lined approach trainers with micro spikes or my "bondage gear" as Neil liked to call it. He wore waterproof socks and Inov8 mudrocs!!!

Then you have the choice of a via feratta back to Malga Ciapella or keep going down the ski runs to the pass. We went the ski runs (dry) and it was ok, a bit tedius gravelly stuff but not too bad. Hitched back round to get the car. There was a nice wee bar just outside Caprille that had numerous snacks on the bar that we devoured over a half pint! Ideal 

[duncan]

Thanks!  We had hoped to do something on the Marmolada last summer but it was under a cloud for 10 days.

Those spikes look the business, how did Neil manage in regular trainers?

I've not been on the Marmolada, so there is probably an obvious reason that I am missing, but why can't you take the Via Ferrata down to Malga Ciapela, since it gets you back to more or less where you started?

[Fultonius]

You can, the guide said it takes about 2 hours after you get to the mid station, whereas straight down was less than an hour. We were pretty tired and going straight down seemed the simpler option...

[Will Hunt]

Had a great time in the Cortina area. Didn't do any of the big routes (made a pathetic attempt at Tofana but was shut down by terrible route start finding and the shits) but did some lovely routes. Found that on the shorter classics the climbs are pretty well described in the Classic Dolomites Climbs book, generally have fixed belay points and quite a lot of fixed protection (still worth taking nuts and some cams and lots of slings for the abundant threads though). Found also that on these climbs the rock is generally pretty well stuck on and we avoided the notorious loose rock almost completely. Mostly the worst was that all the ledges are covered with smaller, loose pebble scree which can generally be made to stay put with careful climbing and rope handling. Near the top of the Piccolo Lagazuoi there were some idiotic Italians loosing this type of scree. Absolutely no reason for it!
Some pics here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34726894@N00/sets/72157630917842596/

Looking forward to getting back with more ambitious objectives.

[Muenchener]

Just got back from my one week trip. Did a couple of shorter routes on the Moiazza to warm up, drove over to San Martino for the Cima della Madonna (fantastic, my first major alpine classic rock tick). Then a long drive (see below) to meet up with friends in Cortina.

A day of shorter easy stuff on the Falzaregio Pass, a rest day then did the Third Pillar on the Tofana. A Grand Day Out. 20 pitches, 800 metres. Some really good climbing but also a fair bit of Walking Up Rubble, so not really a three star route but definitely a three star experience, especially the evening beers at the Giusanni hut on the way down. And the green DMM 4cu that was in situ on one of the stances but came out really easily. Sadly the in situ Totem Cam on the last pitch turned out to be properly in situ.

And to round things off, a rather fine afterthought from my mate and a strong contender in the Dead Good Routes Named After Birds category: Cecilia on the Cason di Formin. We chose this mainly because it is north facing (heatwave) but it turns out to involve really nice climbing, with seven pitches of actual climbing and only one of Walking Up Rubble. It's in a beautiful area, it's peaceful - the only day all week where we were the only team on the route - and it was my first Dolomite VI (and therefore possibly also my first trad E1 since the mid-90s) yyfy.

Things I learned not entirely specific to climbing:

• The Dolomites is a big place and visiting Moiazza, Pala and Cortina all in one week involves hours of strenuous driving over some very windy passes. It ain't like driving from Tremadog to Gogarth via Llanberis, which was kind of how I naively imagined it. Be less geographically ambitious next time
• There isn't that much to go at in the Moaiazza area, but what there is is good. The restaurant at L'Insonnia campsite in Forno di Zoldo is an absolute Must Visit.
• Although Cortina itself is horrible - albeit less horrible than San Martino -  the campsites south of town are fine and it's a great base in term of having lots of climbing options, ranging from Big (Tre Cime, Tofana) to loads of smaller stuff with easy approaches for easier days / iffy weather etc.
• K2 Sports is just about the only good thing in the town of Cortina. Their selection of pegs and aid gear is fascinating; I had no idea just how small small copperheads are, and the thought of trying to hammer one into dolomite without the rock just crumbling away makes my blood run cold
• The one route that every single local we spoke to recommended is the Wiessner/Kees on the Sass d'Ortiga. Get on it, apparently.

New MTG: Get Up Any Dolomites Route Within The Guidebook Time. I'm thinking the West Face of the Little Falzaregio Tower, at four pitches of grade IV, looks feasible.

[Will Hunt]

Sounds like a tasty trip. Re guidebook time, even on the easier routes it is madness. One exception was the South Rib on Mount Averau where we beat guidebook time of something like 3 hours. We did the S face of Little Falzarego and certainly did not beat GT (it was our first route).

[Jerry Morefat]

I'm off to the Dolomites next weekend I was wondering if anyone had any up to date knowledge on conditions, particularly the descents after all of the snow in May/June. Most interested in the routes on the north face of Tre Cime and south face of the Marmolada. According to UKC, the BH got an ascent last week so I'm assuming Tre Cime is fine?

Also, does anyone know if the topoguide.de and the Versante Sud - Marmolada South Face guide are available locally, perhaps in K2 in Cortina? As I'm off in a week, it'll be cutting it a bit fine if I got them shipped to the UK from the continent and the English version of the Marmolada guidebook doesn't seem to be in stock with any UK based retailers.

[Paul B]

Have you checked the webcams (specifically Tre Cime)?

The English guidebook for the Marmolada is a really great guide (I borrowed one from another forum member). Depending on which route you're interested in you can get some topos / pitch info from camp2camp, for instance:

http://www.camptocamp.org/routes/288116/fr/marmolada-d-ombretta-via-don-quixote

[Jerry Morefat]

Cheers Paul. Camp2camp looks like a decent resource. I've had a look at the webcams, and although there doesn't seem to be a great amount of snow at the base of the Tre Cime it's difficult to see how much has accumulated in gullies that may (or may not?) be encountered on descents.

[duncan]

Some general thoughts after our recent trip.

Accommodation: wild camping may not be officially permitted but it is certainly tolerated in some spots to the point of stationing a large refuse bin by a popular venue. Further details on application, or just follow the Czechs! We didn’t fancy the cost or the institutional nature of the official campsites or the heat (August 2013) of the valleys.

Guidebooks. HaeMeS advice above is generally spot-on IMO, so although I didn’t get a chance to buy the guides he recommends I’m confident they will be good. The guys in Amplaz Sport in Canazei (excellent shop) recommended a new Italian guide to ‘modern and sport routes’ which looked good at first glance and is tri-lingual (English, German, Italian) but I can’t find a link to it. Erik Svab’s Tre Cima guide is worth buying even if you only plan to do one or two routes in the massif. Totally inspiring. The Köhler and Memmel guide had some less than clear or accurate information about both the classic routes we did. Ron James’ Alpine Club guides were more accurate despite looking like were designed in the 1950s.

As well as the well-known and well-travelled classics, there are a considerable number of very high-quality modern multi-pitch sport routes that might appeal to the UKB massive. Planet mountain is a good source of topos.

I thought we got our equipment and systems spot on. The second always climbed with a light pack, the leader usually carried his shoes and water bottle except for the hardest pitches. Both French teams above us on the Hasse hauled a light pack but their seconds struggled (vocally!) on the traverses.

Gear: 3 cams, 5 wires and about 16 long quickdraws and slings seemed enough gear for anything we did. Perhaps take a few more draws for the Hasse which has a lot of fixed gear.

I used a pair of Inov8 195s for approaches and descents.  Expensive, wouldn’t last many scree runs, but ideally light.

We carried snacks, water and waterproofs in one of these. 14 litres, 55g., £3.50: perfect for the job.

The Petzl emergency headtorch is handy if the descent turns out to be slower than planned.

We took 750ml water each on the long north-facing routes which was just enough. Some boiled sweets make the throat feel a little less gluey.

[slackline]

Guidebooks. HaeMeS advice above is generally spot-on IMO, so although I didn’t get a chance to buy the guides he recommends I’m confident they will be good. The guys in Amplaz Sport in Canazei (excellent shop) recommended a new Italian guide to ‘modern and sport routes’ which looked good at first glance and is tri-lingual (English, German, Italian) but I can’t find a link to it.

Picked that up myself whilst out there just recently.  Its mainly single pitch sport, but with newer multi-pitch sport routes included.  Its a good guide, well laid out & informative and produced not-for-profit thanks to help from sponsors.

The Köhler and Memmel guide had some less than clear or accurate information about both the classic routes we did. Ron James’ Alpine Club guides were more accurate despite looking like were designed in the 1950s.

Found the same to.  The best guide we used though were the Bernardi ones, of which a new revision is out along with a second volume.

There is also a new, excellent guide to the Brenta that we used in the Rifugio Slivia Agistoni in the Val d'Ambiez.  Available in three languages (Italian/German/English) its up there for clear accurate descriptions and is very well made.  I'll be grabbing this next time as theres tons to go at up there...



Its the first in a new series so more to follow (can't remember what areas though, but they'll cover the rest of the Brenta).

[Fultonius]

Gear: 3 cams, 5 wires and about 16 long quickdraws and slings seemed enough gear for anything we did. Perhaps take a few more draws for the Hasse which has a lot of fixed gear.

We carried snacks, water and waterproofs in one of these. 14 litres, 55g., £3.50: perfect for the job.

I'm impressed with your strict gear ethic!  I seem to struggle to persuade my partners to take less. On O Sole Mio the other day we had full set of wires (until andy dropped my smalls) and around 13 cams. Admittedly there's less fixed gear than the dollies (and if you get off route, like we did for a few pitches, it can be proper trad) but I still think we need to carry less. Considering we mamaged the route fine WITHOUT the small wires and typically had 4-5 cams left at the end of every pitch...

I have a similar second's pack (not quite so cheap!) but it works really well: http://www.trekkinn.com/outdoor-mountain/salewa-vector-ul-15-red/23806/p we did get a comment from a french guide though: "Are you going for a piquenique" 

[tc]

I wonder if that is attributable to the authors of the guide getting it wrong, or those who translated it (or proofed the translation, its was originally published in German). 
[/quote]

Don't blame the translator.

[Muenchener]

I wonder if that is attributable to the authors of the guide getting it wrong, or those who translated it (or proofed the translation, its was originally published in German). 

Assuming your empty quote from Slackers is referring to Kohler & Memmel, it has a dodgy reputation in German too.

[tc]

Oh, good. That makes me feel better. Not being an expert on the Dolomites at the time I just translated what was in front of me.