Mine and Pilar’s first trip to the Dolomites. Home to towering Dolomiti walls as far as the eye can see.
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| Setting up the summit shot - Cinco Torre |
The great thing about the Dollies is there is so much to do and so much variety (single pitch sport, multi-pitch sport, long adventure routes, via ferrata, hiking). The bad thing is the rush thunderstorms that often occur in the afternoon. Getting an early start is advisable to avoid the queues on routes (being first on a route is the ideal way to climb any adventure route).
Day one was spent on the rather small but perfectly formed Cinque Torre. A collection of 5 needles with Torre Grande (which in itself is split into three towers) being the most eye catching.
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| Begs to be climbed |
We first jumped on
Via Olga (V+,100m). Other routes were taken so we were forced to climb on the shady side in utterly freezing weather. It was so cold Pliar’s hands were completely numb and she dropped the rack of wires down the cliff on pitch two. Still once topped out and a bit warmer we descended the huge 50m free hanging abseil through the center cavern and made our way down. The dropped wires were found and pretty buoyed up we jumped on the classic
Via Myriam (V+, 170m). This nearly resulted in an epic as I followed the line of pegs heading up instead of heading left to a belay. Turned out out I was on pitch 4 of Direttissima Scoiattoli. I thought it felt hard. After an age of indecision I slowly picked my way up steep limestone clipping pegs and finally I could traverse leftwards back onto Myriam Pitch 5. We finished the route and made our way down to tick off day one....
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 | Me descending the huge cavern
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 | 3 Abseils plants you here
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 | | Starting out on Myriam |
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Day two was a more relaxed affair. Comici South Arete (V-, 200m) barely has a taxing move on it. Still it was a perfect relaxing route to climb with our friends Robin and Paula.
 | | Pitch 1 of South Arete |
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 | | The line of South Arete |
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 | Approaching the summit
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 | Topping out
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Whilst day three Pilar and I enjoyed Via del Buco Alta Variant (V+, 330m). Apart from some route finding challenges the route was steady but with some outstanding climbing.
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 | The wet corner pitch
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 | Urm..Upside-down
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 | Great positions
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 | Timer selfies on the summit
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Half way through the week we felt warmed up enough to jump on Finlandia (VI+, 140m), a super classic of Cinque Torre the route forges up through the steep wall of Torre Grande’s north pillar. Despite being steep and sustained we were shocked to find so many bolts on the route. This definitely made the route, in an otherwise super exposed situation , feel more amenable. Starting early, we beat the Italian army to the start but had them snapping at our heals the whole way. An Alpine guide was guiding a group of squaddies. Turned out he was completely relaxed and happy to chat to us on belays. A super route of great variety and a weaving line up the most intimidating face.
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 | | An epic section of climbing |
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 | | More wild positions |
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 | | The huge corner of Pitch 2. |
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The following day was spent on an easy via ferrata (Ivano Dibona VF2B). An easy via ferrata giving great views and a super suspension bridge. We continued on a high level walk giving a great day out.....
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 | | Rest day VF |
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 | Pilar emerging among the
vast rock surroundings |
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The next day Pilar and I opted for M. Speciale (V+, 250m). The first half of this route is stunning climbing on pristine limestone with steep rock but some of the biggest holds known to man. Its a fantastic route that is worth waiting for. And we did wait. For an hour in fact as parties ahead of us bottle necked at the first belay. Once on the route it was all fun and dandy. That is until we arrived at the large terrace three quarters of the way up. The parties ahead were no where to be seen and it was clear they had bailed down the easy escape route from this terrace. The sky was looking menacing over the Sella Pass and I was getting nervous. Pilar bold as brass as always urged us to press on. Two rope lengths of scree scrambling led to the next wall of rock. With the guidebook out we searched for the start of the next pitch. Pilar was just about to leave the scree slope and climb when we heard the first crack of thunder! Now we were only two pitches from the top but with an obvious escape route from the large terrace I wasn’t taking any chances. We messed about on the scree slope for 10 minutes trying to get to the walk-able path that would lead to the abseils. The rope was getting snagged on everything. The thunder was still persistent but it didn’t appear to be getting much closer – the large black cloud hung over the Sella Pass 20km away. I began to regret my decision to bail (I say my decision as Pilar wanted to carry on- perhaps rightly). We made it down to the car just as the heavens opened. When it rains in the Dollies it really rains. Made we wonder what it would be like to be caught out in a Dolomite storm..
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 | Hanging stance - Pith 1
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 | The best limestone around
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 | | The quality continues. |
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The next day I decided on an easy day single pitch sport climbing with Robin whilst Pilar did a huge mountain Via Ferrata to the top of Tofana De Rozes! Pretty impressive as the weather was crap and to go up that enormous peak by herself took bottle.
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| An Aperol moment |
On our final day rather than rest and head to the airport early we headed back to Cinque Torre. The obvious crack line on the north wall of Torre Grande was asking us to climb
(Fussura Dimai V+, 140m ). A fantastic end to a wonderful Dolomite experience. The route nearly made us miss our flight (Sunday traffic out of the Dollies is hell), but it was highly worth it...
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Me on the scrappy first pitch
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 | Leaving this stance for me was the crux
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 | Hanging stances the norm on Cinque Torre
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 | A good lead by Pilar
on Pitch two of Dimai |
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We first jumped on Via Olga (V+,100m). Other routes were taken so we were forced to climb on the shady side in utterly freezing weather. It was so cold Pliar’s hands were completely numb and she dropped the rack of wires down the cliff on pitch two. Still once topped out and a bit warmer we descended the huge 50m free hanging abseil through the center cavern and made our way down. The dropped wires were found and pretty buoyed up we jumped on the classic Via Myriam (V+, 170m). This nearly resulted in an epic as I followed the line of pegs heading up instead of heading left to a belay. Turned out out I was on pitch 4 of Direttissima Scoiattoli. I thought it felt hard. After an age of indecision I slowly picked my way up steep limestone clipping pegs and finally I could traverse leftwards back onto Myriam Pitch 5. We finished the route and made our way down to tick off day one....
