Dolomiti – Part I – Punta Fiames

Say 'cheese'-- no, better yet, say 'honeymoon.' Christy smiles big nearing the top of the 5th class VF Tomaselli. Some Euros are following down below. If they didn't smoke so many cigarettes they may have caught us. Click all photos to enlarge.

The wedding was awesome. Afterwards, in need of some serious rest and unwinding, Christy and I headed to Europe, Italy to be exact. I know what you’re thinking, how romantic it must have been to cruise around the canals of Venice by gondola, the cliche honeymoon, right?

Not quite. In full disclosure we did eventually find ourselves in Venice, but it was only for a night at the very end of the trip. Instead, Christy and I threw the conventional honeymoon advice aside and headed to the mountains, choosing to relax in our own style. A two hour drive from Venice Airport put us in Cortina D’Ampezzo, in the heart of the Dolomites, where we went climbing.

More specifically, we were climbing “via ferrata.” Loosely translated into “the iron way,” this uniquely European concept began back in the WWI era and has since evolved into a climbing discipline in itself. Back then, in an effort to gain strategic positions on the high peaks of the Dolomites, the Austrians strung up cables and built iron ladders up mountainsides to recon and track movements of the approaching Italian forces, even launching attacks on them from high above. The summits of this region and the passes between them became critical fronts in the war between the then native Austrians and the Italians. With the help of these climbing aids, soldiers could quickly and safely gain these offensive positions and vantage points, on peaks that by today’s standards would require fifth class climbing with huge exposure.

Now, nearly a century later, of course with many of the cables replaced and anchors reinforced, these historical routes can be climbed on your own, even on a honeymoon. For us it was pretty cool. With a modern via ferrata(VF) setup added to your standard climbing harness, a basic description of which is two long load-dispersing runners with locking or equivalent carabiners at the ends– you can zip up the cables of these otherwise very exposed solo climbs or time consuming multipitch leads, and be down easily in time for your proscuitto panini late lunch and beer. And with a Italian restaurant dinner and a cush hotel as camp to finish the day, it pretty much counted as a comfortable getaway when compared to other “vacations” of ours. We hit several VF’s of varying difficulty and loved every one. Here are the pics from the first day:

Passing an anchor with Cortina out behind. These shots are all from the 1st VF we did on Punta Fiames named VF Michielli Strobel, a third class route we used to get accustomed to it all.

An old ladder connects one stretch of cable to the next one.

Choose your style-- climb the rock(good) or hang on the cable(not as good).

The VF rig pretty visible, one clip on the cable, one on the harness ready to pass the next anchor like you would on a fixed rope. Who knows when these old ladder steps were put in.

Passing another anchor.

Up on top, the Cristallo group is out in the distance. A couple of Italiano's climbers in "short-shorts" were up there with us. I missed that golden photo op unfortunately.

On the descent, Christy crams some more from the Italian phrasebook. Anything to help with our pathetic little vocabulary.

The route up VF Strobel as seen from town, and the descent down the scree gully marked to the right.

Next up was the Tofana di Rozes. That would be a good day….