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.
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!
