07.07.01: Michael and Steve head to Cortina, Kris and Sarah stay in Bolzano
07.08.01: Michael and Steve do a via ferrata, Kris and Sarah head to Castelrotto
07.09.01: Michael and Steve climb, Kris and Sarah go shopping
07.10.01: Our journey home begins, we leave Bolzano
07.11.01: Our return, what a nightmare!
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Notes from Kris:
Woke up, had breakfast.
Drove to town to meet Steve and Sarah. We went to their room and showed
them some slides. After they checked out, we showed them where to buy and
use phone cards (this gave us a lot of trouble!). Sarah totally didn't
believe you just have to dial 001 and the number to call the U.S. Michael
called his mom just to prove that this is all you do, totally forgetting
that it was 2 am in Washington! To her credit, she never let on that it was
so late, instead, she chatted pleasantly until he hung up. Oh brother!
Steve and Michael took our car, and Sarah and I decided to explore Bolzano.
We walked around a bit but quickly found out everything was closed for the
afternoon. We found some shops to come back to on Monday. We ate lunch
at a so-so cafe, then I went back to the Gasthof Kohlern, and Sarah went
to her hotel. Sarah and I had a great dinner at the Gasthof, and took
some sunset pictures. I stayed in a smaller room, since Michael was gone,
but I wished he was there with me!
Notes from Michael:
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The Cinque Torre from Monte Averau
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Steve and I drove quickly to Cortina, eager to get some climbing in and
check the weather forecast. I forgot all the shops would be closed on a
Sunday afternoon, so we headed for the Cinque Torre, and climbed Torre Inglese
to introduce Steve to the rock. A few drops of rain fell from threatening
clouds, so we climbed and rappelled quickly. Steve liked the rock, as I
had promised! We looked across at the massive wall of Tofana di Rozes that
we proposed to climb, and realized that with a grim weather forecast we
shouldn't go up there. We went back to town and bought lightweight ice
axes, planning to do a via ferrata on Tofana that was still "closed" due
to snow. Jeff had told us two swiss guys had climbed it days before, so
we decided to give it a try. We drove to the Rifugio Dibona, on a flank
of the mountain, and had a rather unsatisfactory stay. We shared a crowded
room with 5 (very nice) Italians and endured a greasy dinner. This cost
50 dollars a person, not to mention the fact that they had no potable water.
We had to purchase water for the next days climb. We went for a brisk
hike to look at the routes on the south face of Tofana. With a light rain
falling and waterfalls pouring down fissures in the face, it didn't
look very enticing for technical climbing the next day.
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Michael on via ferrata Lipella
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Continued notes from Michael about Tofana di Rozes:
Thunder, lightning and heavy rain kept us up much of the night. We decided
to get up at 5 am and go outside no matter what. Typical of europeans, our
bunkmates thought getting up early meant 7 am! We got lucky, because we stepped
outside to a vista of stars, fading in a clear sky.
We hiked quickly to the base of the via ferrata Lipella. First we scoped the
start of the Via Commune (an excellent climbing route) for a future attempt.
Lipella begins with an 800 meter long war tunnel, complete with side chambers
and rusting metal. The end of the tunnel had scrambling over wet slabs. We
spent about 30 minutes continuing too high in the tunnel, then out onto
the face for a thrilling, but unnecessary iron path. We descended back
into the tunnel and took an earlier exit that led to hiking on a broad
shoulder. We had to cross a steep, frozen snow slope that would have been
impassable without the axes we purchased. Even with them, it was difficult!
Then we climbed a series of protected rock steps seperated by scenic long
traverses on exposed ledges. This route seemed intent on providing a
full tour of the mountain, crossing an entire face, then doubling back
higher up. For one section, we switched to rock shoes, but in general,
it wasn't necessary to bring them, it just allowed us to choose harder
climbing variations slightly away from the iron cables.
Sadly, we don't have many pictures, since there was confusion about one
roll had 24 or 36 exposures. It was 24, so we had to conserve pictures
greatly. We came to a junction with a via ferrata that came from the other
side of the mountain. Meeting a group of Italians here, we continued together
on the route. We reached a steep and exposed 900 foot high rock step. It
was festooned with people! They had beat us by taking the shorter way from
the other side of the mountain. We fell into line behind them and enjoyed
the scenery. The Italians with us had no protective gear, and were apprehensive
about continuing. As Steve and I climbed, he got a pounding headache. We
were reaching an altitude of 10,000 feet, too high for a fellow just off
the plane!
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Bottleneck on the route
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Near the end of the rock, a member of the guided party ahead took a short
fall. This prompted them to get out a rope and begin knocking rocks off on
us. After a few near misses, I was eager to somehow get around them!
I unhooked from the iron rope, and investigated ways to pass on the right.
The terrain was exposed class 3, fairly loose, but with ledges. Before
I could go far, their guide offered to let Steve and I pass. For some
reason, we didn't think this would be forthcoming, but they were very
nice, and I'm sorry I didn't just ask earlier. Moving ahead, we came
to a high shoulder, and the end of the iron way. Snow slopes led several
hundred feet to the summit. A mass of about 15 people was piled up
on the shoulder, evidently waiting for someone to kick steps to the summit!
Obligingly, Steve and I started up. He was pretty unhappy due to the
headache, and general feeling of nausea. Again, the ice axes came in
handy as we climbed the steepening snow, and after a long interval, we
were walking to the iron cross, seemingly present on every mountain
of importance here! Steve took a picture of me climbing on the cross,
that is something I probably shouldn't have done. I felt a little
embarassed, I hope I didn't defile a sacred object!
As we started down, we met a very happy man, thanking us for making
steps, and a little emotional about the joy of reaching the summit. His
attitude was infectious, and we parted very warmly despite being total
strangers. I stomped down the snow and waited for Steve at the shoulder.
I was surprised at how long he was taking, since usually he is a whiz
on snow, down at the ground while I'm still scrabbling and cursing.
His hiking boots made poorer purchase than my own, and the altitude
was having an affect on him. Eager to lose altitude, I started down
the standard way, which consisted of shelves of crumbly rock mixed
with snow slopes. Keeping Steve in sight was a challenge, as he
came very slowly and rested often on easy terrain. Only then did I
see how powerfully the altitude had hit him. I kept closer and began
thinking of what we might do should we need help. As I waited, I
convinced a Czech couple without gloves or ice axes to turn around.
They were slipping on icy slopes, hands red and raw from touching
the snow.
We made some standing glissades, sliding joyfully down the slopes.
Steve improved markedly - he had been having trouble breathing. At the
hut, we ate Apfel Struedel and drank orange soda. The walls of the hut
were plastered with articles and pictures of climbing on Tofana di Rozes.
What a cool place! We quickly hiked down to Rifugio Dibona and
our car.
We found a room at a cheap but very nice Gasthaus. I took a shower with only
shaving cream to function as soap and shampoo! Later the shops opened at
we ate at the Pizzeria Cinque Torri and went to bed. We checked the town
bulliten board for a message from Mat, but they had left.
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The Visigoth Defiler!
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Monte Averau's Southwest face
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Steve and I had decided on a climb of Monte Averau, via the Southwest Face,
first climbed in 1945. The grade was about 5.6, and there were 7 pitches.
We had some hope of climbing this, then going over for the Hexenstein in the
afternoon. Waking at 5, we drove to Passu Giau. As we left the car, Steve
locked the keys in the trunk! Oh boy. Rather than worry about this problem,
we decided to climb and enjoy ourselves, and later figure out a solution!
The guidebook had some great text for this route, really going into overdrive
to sell it: It is not particularly big. It is not particularly impressive.
But the Averau, perched on a rise between the Falzarego Pass and Passo Giau,
will tempt you onto its sunny Southwest face with an utterly worthwhile route
where the grade IV climber is king for the day!...A small route, but
perfectly formed -- and guaranteed to hold your attention! Naturally, we
were excited. It took a bit over an hour to hike to the base of the route,
and we roped up for some 4th class climbing in the loose approach gully.
This route did turn out to be really fun, but I must say it is the most
indistinct route of the trip. The guidebook describes the start this way:
Start on the rubble-strewn ledge at a chimney, just left of an ill-defined
arete. The words "ill-defined" and "vague" occur repeatedly in the
route topo! Anyway, we believe we identified the start, mainly because of
an old piton. Steve took the first lead, with a difficult bouldering start.
The rock was still very cold. From his constructed belay, I continued
up a chimney to a saddle, then climbed right up a series of face and
chimney moves. I reached a bolt station on a long ledge that traversed
the face, completely unsure of my location in regards to the topo.
Steve carefully walked 40 meters to the left on this ledge, identifying
the start of pitch 3. After following the traverse, I belayed Steve up
a hard pitch into the "yellow groove". He brought me up from a piton
belay. The next pitch was pretty interesting, as it was a 50 foot traverse
to the right with some challenging climbing. I found good protection
early on, then a long silent stretch where I tried not to pay too
much attention to the ground far below! Finally, I escaped into a cave
with belay bolts. This cave contained a route register, which we signed
before moving on. The next pitch climbed straight up on vertical rock.
My foot slipped on a greasy hold, but everything else stayed attached!
Then easier wandering left then right led to a sling belay. There was
little protection on this difficult pitch.
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The "terrible traverse"
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High on the route
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Final pitch to the summit
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Pitch 6 turned out to be the crux of the route. It started up a loose,
shattered chimney, protected by tiny nuts. It went left then right again,
where I clipped a fixed sling before a very committing overhang.
There were a few moves of 5.8 to climb the overhang, and I gratefully
clipped a piton above this section. My pack tried to pull me off the
next overhang! But I reached a bolt belay after a short rightward traverse.
We really couldn't make sense of this pitch in regard to the topo, but
it must have been the route since the entire face overhangs in this
area. It was pretty ingenious how the first ascentionists found this
twisting way through very forbidding terrain! Steve was glad I had
that lead, and he took us to the summit on an easy but loose traverse.
We took some pictures and hiked down, eventually coming to a short but
fun via ferrata. We just used climbing slings to attach to the iron,
knowing full well that a real fall would break them. Consequently, we
climbed down very conservatively, always ready to hang on the sling
rather than risk a fall. We met a couple who had climbed the Punta
Anna via ferrata the day before. It's too bad we didn't have time to
do that one, as it is quite long and hard. Once down, we hiked back
to Passu Giau, and Steve paid a mechanic 25 dollars to come up from
town and open the car. What a great price! It was fairly late, so
we started our drive back to Bolzano. We took a new route down and
up to magnificent Pordoi Pass. Here we got out and hiked a while.
Then on to Sella Pass and Val Gardena. Steve was getting his first
chance to drive on Italian mountain roads, and took to it well.
Before dark we triumphantly arrived at the Gasthof Kollern, meeting
Kris and Sarah for dinner. We each had plenty to say about our day!
Stuff about buying artwork from Salvatore and shipping it then driving to Verona. Stuff
about going to Milan. We return the car.
Stuff about the trip back home - 23 hours?
