The Dolomites with Felix

Felix and I headed back to the Alps after a hectic mid-July week in Oberursel - packing, painting, unpacking, cleaning, unpacking, cleaning...

We first attempted to do the Königsjodler, a famous klettersteig in northern Austria, but were rained out, so we continued south until it stopped raining and ended up in Sillian, a bit north of Cortina. We biked up to Leckfeldalm, about 1000m vertical climb.

We found this paraglider launchpad at the top, overlooking Sillian- reminds me of my brother!

Taking a break on the Pursteinwand Klettersteig in Sand in Taufus (there wasn't really any sand that I could see). It was a fun face climb with a picnic table built into the rock partway up and a deck of cards stashed in a metal box!

Gin rummy...with a view!

One of my favorite rivers just north of Cortina. I love the glacial color of the water. We were once again rained out of the E. Bovero kletterstig here (after getting caught in a hail storm midway-though the Tolmezzo klettersteig at Plöckenpass the day before) and decided to retreat south to better weather...back to Gardasee area.

Felix and I climbed a really wonderful klettersteig, Rino Pizetta, on the right face of the same wall in Sarche Hannah and I sport climbed a few weeks ago. The guide book said it was a "touchstone for real experts". I guess now we are real experts.

A couple we met on the Rino Pizetta told us of another very long great climb, the Che Guevara Klettersteig, on the next rock face down from Sarche. So we climbed that the next day.

Felix on the Che Guevara Klettersteig overlooking Lago di Cavedine.

Che Guevara Klettersteig near Sarche, Italy.

Quiet camp spot on Lago di Cavindine - the Italian authorities prohibit camping almost everywhere and told us that camping in a van qualifies as hanging clothing from the outside of your van. As long as the towels are hanging on the inside, you are just sleeping in your vehicle. Go figure.

We took a wonderful bike trip up some very steep trails with Gardasee in the background.

The Gardasee area is a mecca for mountain biking. Funny to see so many guys on fancy full-suspension bikes and full-body spandex, all the latest gear, biking through such quaint little villages.

We camped on Lago di Ledro for a few nights, a spectacular little lake with deep aqua water, surrounded by mountains. We stayed on this little rocky beach and woke up early every morning to run around the lake.

Hooked on fresh pasta with homemade sauce! We cooked up a big batch almost every night and I looked forward to it all day.

When the weather improved, we headed back to the Dolomites, to Passo Pordi, for a long alpine klettersteig. (I know, the weather doesn't look "improved").

Morning sun on Passo Pordoi.

Felix on the Piazetta klettersteig with Marmolada in the background.

Piazetta Klettersteig.

Piazetta Klettersteig.

The Piazette Klettersteig ended at a little hut on a peak called Piz Boe (3152m). We passed a long line of hikers on our downclimb, like ants up a tree, beginning at the gondola and trailing all the way to Piz Boe. I thought maybe there was a rip curl outlet sale going on up there...no idea. They seemed to be congregating for a big event, I think maybe it's just high-tourist season.

Passo Falzarego with Tofana in the background.

One of the most beautiful places I have ever been is the Tofana mountains at Passo Falzarego pass, just west of Cortina. We came here last summer and came back again to do another klettersteig in the area, Tomaselli. We also explored the Lagazuoi tunnel which was built by the Italians in WWI beneith the Austrians, who had control of the peak. They built the tunnel over the course of 6 months with the objective of blowing up the peak, destorying the Austrians, and gaining control of the area. It worked!...what a nightmare!

The bad weather broke on the last day of our trip and we headed back to the Königsjodler.

We had heard so much about this 11-hour klettersteig which follows the serrated edge of Hochkönig that we had to check it out. Here is a little video to get the idea(not ours):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vOsw86f8XE

Lots of rocky pillars to climb.

Felix walks the line.

This is the same picture of Felix, zoomed out, so you can see where he is climbing. He is standing on the left side of the first peak to the right which is attached to the main line. It was a great climb up, but a crazy 3-hour descent with very poor security and lots of loose rocks!

Hannah and Liza go to Italy

Hannah and I spent 10 days in Italy in July, climbing, biking, and doing klettersteige. Felix let us borrow his van and we loaded up our bikes, climbing gear, and food, and followed the weather.

Our first stop was in Süd Tirol, the Dolomites in Northern Italy. We climbed the Ferrata d'Trincee, a klettersteig just east of Canazei on the Fedaia Stausee. This is a veiw of the lake.

Hannah on the Ferrata d'Trincee

Hannah on the Ferrata d'Trincee

Marmolada, the region's tallest mountain, still has snow in the background.

Our second klettersteig in the area was the Oliveri Klettersteig just west of Cortina. Felix and I had done this klettersteig last summer, but heavy fog and rain prevented us from seeing the view - much better this time (and less scary - no lightning!).

A ladder on the Olivieri klettersteig, up high on a fin.

We ran into an unexpected snowfield, but a group of Slovakians who were taking the same route had crampons and ropes and we were able to cross safely with them, roped into the middle.

Hannah on the Olivieri klettersteig.

Summit of the Olivieri klettersteig, overlooking the grand and beautiful Tofana peaks.

The weather turned lame at that point (this summer a giant cloud loomed over the entire alps, forecast for weeks of rain over the whole mountain range) so we headed down to the Gardasee, just south of Torino. Famous for biking, wind surfing, and climbing. Instant sunshine and summer heat! The northern end of the lake is a mecca for climbing, with Arco being the main jumping off point. Many big faces to climb, multipitch trad as well as sport. Also lots of smaller walls and bouldering. This is a mutipitch sport route, Colodri, on Rupe Secca East - "Aspettando Martino" just north of Arco. Nice limestone rock, somewhat polished from so many climbers.

Hannah filling her water on our hike down at an interesting hut made out of a giant bolder.

Camping is discouraged around Arco, but we found a nice site in an olive orchard in a hanging valley just out of town to park the van for a few days.

We also climbed a multipitch sport route in Sarche, about 20 min north of Arco. Hannah is pointing to the route we took, along the left edge of the face. We climbed with a group of older Italian men from Venice who were very nice, spoke a few words of English, and liked to pile up on the ledges - sometimes 4 of us were balancing off one tiny belay spot. Sketchy hike down!

The week that we were in Arco just happened to be the Climbing World Championships! The town was filled with buff climbers, serious athletes. We watched the semi-finals and finals of the bouldering competition. Wow! Adam Ondra from the Czech Republic, on the left, took second overall.

A fantastic biking path leads from Riva, on Gardasee, up to Lago di Ledro, following an old road that winds along the side of a mountain towering over the east side of the Gardasee. The road is now closed to cars and passes through many tunnels and sleepy little villages, a great day ride.