The Dolomites: Part two - The Punta de Fiames Via Ferrata

Bud, Sam, and Michael didn’t want to travel all the way out here without sampling some of what the Dolomites are famous for: the Via Ferrata!

Today we climbed the Punta Fiames – a long and classic Via Ferrata overlooking Cortina. The elevation gain is HUGE! 1300 meters up and down, with no help from any ski lifts! Take a trekking pole and some sturdy shoes for the scree descent – it’s burly.  

The route is modern; it is equipped with strong anchor bolts, newer cables, and plastic caps over the cable attachments so your via Ferrata kit doesn’t get stuck on the bolts. There are no steep, contrived ladders or wild swinging bridges on this route. Italian Via Ferrata routes tend to be more traditional. You need to visit the ultra-modern Via Ferrata routes of Switzerland to find some of the more wild ones. The Italian routes tend to be as scenic as any climbing route could ever be winding majestically up exposed faces that offer a view deep into the heart of the range.

A few photos:

 Sam clipping cables low down on the route.

 The approach to Punta de Fiames

 Michael and Bud near the halfway point

Sam 2/3rds of the way...

On the way down the endless valley of scree

The Dolomites: Part one

Cortina, Italy: This is a guide’s paradise… Hell this could be anyone's paradise!

The food is good, the scenery is amazing, the prices are much lower than they are in Switzerland, and I get to nurse my appreciation for James Bond films: The winter scenes of “for your eyes only” were shot here – with Roger Moore and his famous Olin Mark IV skis!

This week I’m here with fellow guide Michael Silitch. We’re guiding the father and son team of Bud and Sam. This duo have climbed together with Michael in numerous locales over the last few years, and I’m the hired gun brought on so that Bud and Sam can each climb their own routes at their own speeds at the best safety margin possible.

As I’ve been told, and as I discovered in late June, one of the best places to warm up to a week of climbing in the Dolomites is in the Cinque Torri. The approach is almost non-existent, the rock is super solid, and the descents – if any - are easy.

On our second day we climbed the via ferrata Alpini near the Col dei Bos, near the Paso Falzarego . Paso Falzarego  was the scene of some spectacular but horrific warefare between Italian and Austrian/German forces during the first world war. On Pico Lagazuoi, many months of trench-warfare between the two armies led to an impassed. The opposing sides decided to take the war underground. The Austrians dug tunnels through the mountain, with spurs leading to a cliff face where gun ports were hacked out of the rock hundreds of feet off the ground. From here, the Austrians tried to snipe at the Italians. In the winter, they intentionally triggered avalanches which were far more lethal  for the Italian forces than bullets or artillery shrapnel. In response, the Italian “Alpini” forces began their own tunneling campaign – aiming to build tunnels and caverns directly below the Austrian Kaiserjaeger. They would then aim to fill the tunnels with explosives, and blow them up. Though the battles were bloody, no side was able to gain much ground against the opposition. Now the tunnels exist as sort of an outdoor, alpine museum.

Today we’ve gone back to the Cinque Torri to climb a few multi-pitch routes. Even thought the area is called the “Cinque Torri” (five towers), there are more than 5. It seems more like 7-8 towers. At this point, we’ve now done almost all the towers (there are far more than “five”). Each tower has bomber rap stations and a paucity of loose rock. It defines “pleasant” alpine climbing.