UKC

Fiiinaly getting there this July

Just a couple of questions
-Any ideas where i can get OS type maps for the regions?
-Via Ferrata kit or rope/carabiners

Any other tips?

In reply to apg:

Maps from themapshop in Upton on Severn - mail order and cheaper than Stanfords

Get the proper via ferrata gear, don't hire it and don't wing it with slings and Krabs. The dynamic load either snaps the sling or it snaps you. Hired gear - like would you hire a rope?

In reply to apg:

There is no exact equivalent of the OS in Italy, but obviously there are maps.
You can get them in my local co-op grocer. Not sure where in the UK though.

One serious word of advice, don't but Kompass maps which are really so bad as to be seriously misleading at times. The Tobacco maps are quite good, as are some of the recent additons like 4Land, who won some sort of international prize recently for map quality.

Same applies for via ferrata kit, you would be better to buy it here (in the Dolomites) where it costs much less and you have more choice.

In reply to apg:

If you are going anywhere near Cortina then you can get everything in the cooperative there, and I mean everything! Maps, vf kit, food, local guidebooks.

If you aren't going there then I second the map shop recommendation, and the suggestions that you take your own VF kit.

In reply to apg:

Read up about the history of the Via Ferrata built during the wars. Visit some of the tunnels. Awesome.

In reply to apg:

Bit of people watching in Cortina on a wet day.