UKC

I'm off to the dolomites tomorrow !! Wohooo !!
Down side however is that the weather isn't looking amazing. .boooo!
So my meticulous toilet planned itinerary has been flushed down the proverbial!
My question to the great sages of ukc is. ... what are my options? In thinking low level climbing, easier via ferrata...travelling south ?
Any help welcomed.
Thanks !

In reply to afshapes:
Where does everyone get their forecast for the Dolomites? Saw a post on here a few days ago that said pack lots of layers it's supposed to be cold (has been 30 degrees at 3000m the last few days with not a cloud in the sky).

The forecast is currently good with the exception of Wednesday: http://www.arpa.veneto.it/previsioni/it/html/meteo_dolomiti.php

If there are storms in the afternoon start earlier. If the weather is mixed go sport climbing.

Have a good trip!

In reply to James Rushforth:

Just what I wanted to hear James !! Thanks !!

In reply to afshapes:

If there is a risk of lightning best to avoid via feratta unless you are certain you can be well off them by the time the storm arrives.

In reply to afshapes:

When I went out a month ago the weather forecast was crap. Ended up climbing every day in the sun and only had one sport climbing day, and only one roll of thunder despite it being forecast every day. Win!

In reply to afshapes:

The forecasts for the Dolomites are not impressive. I see that the BBC has ditched the Met Office as provider of their forecasts. Expect similarly inaccurate forecasts on the Beeb in future.

In reply to afshapes:
Just go for it. There are always risks of afternoon storms, often fulfilled. So you get caught. So what? You'll never get anything serious done in the Dolies if you await perfect weather. True, you don't go out when there is a serious risk of bad conditions, but learning to weather a storm is part of the game there. I have hardly ever done a serious route without getting caught by something at some stage.

In reply to digby:

Amen to that. Even the Arpa forecast James linked to above seem pretty rubbish. Basically go out expecting the worst. If the temps in venice are in the mid 30's expect afternoon rain at least. When it's like that then get up early and be home early. Whilst you can weather storms, drinking beer in the house whilst it's raining is far more pleasurable than shitting your pants in a storm. And whilst what JCW says is right - that you have to stick your head in the clouds to see what the weather will do, you want to try telling that to the people who got killed in a summer storm on marmolada this year...

Especially around the western Dolomites, there are several good low-altitude sport climbing crags ("klettergarten"), several good low-altitude (but not easy) via ferrata routes, and at least two decent indoor climbing gyms -- within two hours car-driving range (around the Adige river valley).

Sometimes the weather is dryer in Tirol on the north side of the Italy/Austria frontier mountains.

. (and often when it's wet in the Dolomites, it's dry in Marseille, or Briancon) .

Ken