UKC

Hi,
Thinking of going to the Dolomites in a month or two and I'm looking for a visitors guide book in English that covers a reasonable spread of routes both trad and sport (we need trad to HVS and sport to F6b).

I prefer topo style guides and for the first visit I'd rather have a guide that has less routes better described (including more information about approach, descent and conditions) also covering a wider region. That said if the advice comes back that I'd be better getting a guide for a more specific region in the Dolomites I'd be happy to do that too

Cheers,
Stevo

In reply to CurlyStevo: Easily the best guidebooks we found were the English Translations of the Western Dolomites books vols. 1 & 2, think there is a newly published volume in the same series for the Brenta group too. They don't cover the entire range, but have loads to go at and focus on Trad climbs of between about UK Severe and E2.
Ivan
www.climb-europe.com/RockClimbingShop/Western-Dolomites-One-Rock-Climbing-Guidebook.html
www.climb-europe.com/RockClimbingShop/Western-Dolomites-Two-Rock-Climbing-Guidebook.html

In reply to CurlyStevo:
Hopefully active links this time...
http://www.climb-europe.com/RockClimbingShop/Western-Dolomites-One-Rock-Cli...
http://www.climb-europe.com/RockClimbingShop/Western-Dolomites-Two-Rock-Cli...

In reply to The Ivanator:
Do these include the tre cime area?

In reply to CurlyStevo: Kohler and Memmel, Classic rock climbs in the Dolomites is OK. It includes the Comici but not the Hasse, for instance.

In reply to The Ivanator:

They look expensive comparted to...

http://www.needlesports.com/Catalogue/Books-Maps-DVDs/Foreign-Climbing-Guid...

...are they a big improvement?

In reply to JLS:

That's the one. And all the more enjoyable because its published by Ken Wilson.

In reply to JLS: We had Classic Dolomite Climbs with us too, and yes the Western Dolomites Volumes are much better, colour photo topos rather than sketches, good pitch descriptions and detailed descent/approach advice.
Don't think Western Dolomites books cover Tre Cime area (we were based in Canazei and mostly climbed on the Sella group and Piz Ciavazes), Classic Dolomite Climbs has a few selected routes in the Tre Cime area. The Western Dolomites books include some less travelled lines and give an opportunity to avoid the most polished routes.

In reply to JLS:
I must admit I'd rather get a general book, its more to get a feel for the area and weigh up going there over Cham / Bregaglia.

In reply to CurlyStevo:

Books, pah, that's what the internet is for.

What's the weather like this morning?

www.umbriameteo.com/webcam/trecime/

Lovely!

In reply to Mike Highbury:

"Books, pah, that's what the internet is for."

Do you have any links for comprehensive English based (or at least understandable by English only readers) internet guides ?

I'd rather not start a general debate on this thread of the relative merits of the internet and guide books on this thread please.

Thanks,
Stevo

In reply to CurlyStevo:

08:59 - Reading and comprehension aren't your strong points are they? Or do you need all of your references in blue type?

In reply to CurlyStevo:

Classic Dolomite Climbs may be the best bet then, Don't bother with the dated and hard to follow Alpine Club Volumes. Although Tre Cime seems to be omitted the Western Dolomite volumes do cover a pretty broad area and on the hill they are the business.

In reply to Mike Highbury:
Yeah I could see you were fishing for an argument from the off, would you mind going elsewhere for that so I can actually gain some useful information on this thread.

Thanks.

In reply to The Ivanator:
cheers, does the Classic Dolomite Climbs contain many photo topos? needle sports says its a "Beautiful topo guide" which I assumed meant it was mostly photos.

In reply to CurlyStevo:

There is a new set of guides, 10 books covering the whole Dolomites, published in 2012 for sport and multi-pitch climbing. We bought 3 of the books covering the area close to where we were staying. Well illustrated, clear access and route descriptions etc.

The minus following OPs original question, they are in Italian and German but we coped despite speaking neither language well. I enclose a link below:

http://www.bergzeit.de/sportler-sportclimbing-guides-1-passeier-vinschgau.h...

In reply to CurlyStevo:

Oh you poor thing. Let's skirt around the truth and focus on you feelings because you are a little sensitive this morning.

Nah, f*ck it. I post the first reference to the book that everyone else agrees is OK. I say it's good for the most popular route on the Tre Cima, but not the harder stuff. I stick up the web-cam that shows how the snow is clearing.

But you cannot read and get upset.

In reply to sam1971:
I can read a little French but thats it! no Italian or German at all, so I guess maybe not that guidebook.

In reply to CurlyStevo: CDC does not include photo topos, the format is sketch topos for every route employing a range of symbols, we did some climbs from the CDC that were not in our Western Dolomites volumes and found the topos reasonably easy to follow. There are some landscape/action photos in CDC and a decent overview map on the endpaper.

In reply to The Ivanator:
I noted on the needle sports site there is some photo topos in CDC but more useful identifying the bit of the mountain than the actual route per se.

In reply to CurlyStevo: There's a section of colour photos in the middle of CDC, and yes these can be useful, but they're emphatically NOT photo topos - more general shots of climbing/scenery.

In reply to ripper:
theres a black and white topo photo here for example
http://www.needlesports.com/imagecache/2407f1b6-70d8-4c2c-9403-9eff01073986...

In reply to ripper:

Including a high proportion of bumshots. Not much use, sadly.

In reply to The Ivanator:

I'd agree with this.

The faces are generally too large to benefit from photo topos that won't show every minuate in detail anyway and for which the ability to discern features will be dependent on the time of day and location from which the picture is taken. Simple descriptions such as these describing the major features of the climb are more than enough to get you up the climbs.

In reply to slacky:

I'm not sure I agree with this. Look at the Snow ice and mixed climbs books to the Mt Blanc range for example, that said I would prefer more text in those. Anyway thanks for the input.

In reply to CurlyStevo:

Yep, there are a number of those B & W shots with lines on, kind of discounted them as they are really no use once you are on the route, although they can help identify features on the face whilst approaching. The colour photo topos in the Western Dolomites books are excellent however and we found them decidedly superior to the sketch topos in CDC, though these are certainly usable.

In reply to CurlyStevo:

I'll generally second the opinions here. CDC is ok and gives a reasonable selection for the whole of the Dolomites in one volume. The Western Dolomites books are way better but the Eastern volumes are so far only available in Italian.

In reply to CurlyStevo:

Don't have that guide I'm afraid, if I remember (unlikely) I'll take a peak next time I'm in a shop that stocks it.

I used the Alpine Clubs Dolomites guide (two volumes one for east and west) in conjunction with Classic Dolomites Climbs two years ago in the Dolomites.

The photo topos in the former were pretty useless. Ok they may not be the highest quality of diagram available but guide books shouldn't be huge tombs (I know you can photo copy relevant pages to take on the climbs themselves, we opted to take copies of the CDC topos and text from both and will be doing the same in a month).

Its not like you can get shots similar to say Stanage where you are relatively close and can see the whole route with most features* for a +400m route in the Dolomites.


We just disagree.


* These also suffer from the caveat of lighting/time of day not showing all features clearly.

In reply to AlanLittle: One for the Brenta in the same series has just been published in English:
http://www.climb-europe.com/RockClimbingShop/Brenta-Dolomites-Volume-One-Ro...
Not sure that those saying that photo topos don't work for long routes have seen the topos in the Western Dolomites volumes, they are surprisingly good with belays and pitches identified, along with detailed written descriptions of approach/climb/descent, very user friendly.

In reply to The Ivanator:

Worth knowing, I've never made it to the Brenta yet. I'm a little intimidated by descriptions I've read that make it sound considerably less user-friendly than the "main" Dolomites (?)

In reply to AlanLittle: I've only done a week of Via Ferrata in the Brenta, but it is a fantastic area with a great network of huts. Definitely top of the list for my next rock trip abroad, I've just ordered the guide, the Fehrmann corner on the Campanile Basso has been on my wishlist since we saw that incredible cigar of rock on our VF trip back in 2007.