UKC

Hi - thinking ahead to next year - does anyone have any recommendations for a base and maybe some routes suitable for nippers. Mine are 10 and 8.

Cheers in advance

Rob

In reply to RobE:

Briancon - some in the park in centre of town, and loads round about surrounding area, cracking walking and bike trails as well if that is of interest to you
Not far to travel for climbing as well if you have a car

In reply to RobE:

Hiya.

Just come back from a week in the Italian Dolomites. Had a large-ish group of people to cater for, with 3 climbers and 5 non-climbers, and age range from 7 to adult.

My daughter, the 7 year old, is a keen climber, as am I, so really enjoyed the VF routes we chose. I was unfamiliar with the grading system (as used in the Cicerone and Rockfax guides, 1A-5C) so started easy with a couple of 2A/2B routes, and a couple of us found a good 3B to finish on.

If we had more time I would have sought out something a bit more challenging, but these suited the abilities of the group well.

We were based in Corvara, near Cortina, and were hosted by Collett's, who's staff were mostly climbers, and were really great in providing lots of local knowledge, maps, route suggestions, etc.

The Cicerone guidebook (Via Ferratas of the Italian Dolomites: Volume 1) is good, with longer descriptions of the approaches and routes, but I would also recommend the latest Rockfax Dolomites book, which although a bit larger, has very good topos, and covers climbing in the area too. The Cicerone book also includes a few extra VF routes not included in the Rockfax book.

Hope that helps.

In reply to RobE:

Can't go wrong with Rolands suggestion. Corvara is a great base with:

Grand Cir (1A)
Cirspitz (2A)
Tridentina (3B)
Piz da Lech (3B)

All on the doorstep.

Have fun wherever you end up!

In reply to James Rushforth:

James

How early/late in the season are these navigable?

Martin

In reply to RobE:

I'd highly recommend this one for being suitable for kids. You may want to rope (moving together) them on some of the path down

http://old.saas-fee.ch/en/page.cfm/m-sport-en/abenteuer/via-ferrata/guided-...

"Mittaghorn via ferrata. Climb up the 3143m high Mittagshorn! A mild to moderate via ferrata, which is also recommended to newcomers. Arriving on top offers a breathtaking panoramic view on the surrounding 4000 metre peaks"

In reply to Martin not maisie:

Hi Martin,

They are generally best between the end of June and the end of September. Though some snow can't be ruled out at either end. A quick check with the guides office in Corvara will let you know if they are in condition.

If you have suitable experience all of the above can be done year round and certainly Piz da Lech and Cir Spitz make for great ski descents

In reply to James Rushforth:

Thanks for the reply. In truth, I'm sitting here at work half-planning a trip between Easter and half term: I may be a month too early. Not a massive problem - if I go at half term, the eldest child will probably come with.

In reply to RobE:

Luz St Sauver perhaps - lots of low grade climbing at Heas as well as the via ferrata on the bridge documented here:

youtube.com/watch?v=JDkzmMX8_Bk&

In reply to RobE: just as a word of warning, nearly all VF kits are constructed to deploy correctly for an 80kg person, not someone who is 20-30kgs. Rather counter intuitively the impact force experienced by a small climber is huge, in the case of someone who is 20 kg its four times the impact experienced by an 80 kg adult. If you have ANY doubt that your child will not be able to climb through a section you MUST belay with a rope. It's easy enough to do, just carry a short rope in your bag flaked in a stuff sack with a locker clipped into a fig eight so you can deploy it at a moments notice. sorry if I'm teaching you to suck eggs and all that, but it's really rather serious!

In reply to herbe_rouge:

if you're in that area this was great - lovely spot
Via Ferrata - Chaos de Coumély (VF4A)

In reply to beardy mike:

2nd that - I looked and couldn't find VF kit for kids a few years ago, sorry to be kill joy, pitching the vertical stuff

In reply to John Kelly:

This is the only one I know of, and it has small biners for kids hands too.

http://www.skylotec-sports.com/klettersteigsets/e_246600

In reply to beardy mike:

thanks
john

In reply to RobE:
Hi,

James Rushforth knows his VF onions!

My wife and I went to Corvara last year and did three of the ones on James's list:

Piz da Lech
Cir Spitz
Via Tridentina

All are close by and, I would think, perfectly doable by an adventurous child with a resilient parent. Mine did that kind of thing at that age. They would be the source of memories to be treasured for years to come. Cir Spitz is the easiest and was, for us, the most crowded, which I didn't like. However, actual children were spotted doing it. Piz da Lech takes in a couple of cable car/lifts, which a child would enjoy (but your wallet won't!). Tridentina has the longest walk back. All downhill mind!

In reply to RobE:
There's one aimed specifically at kids near Alagna ( Italian side of Monte Rosa.) Haven't seen it, not having any kids around at the time!

In reply to beardy mike:


Adding my own voice to the above in full agreement. It's one of these things that's not sufficiently well known.

We struggled a lot to get safe VF kit which would work for my girlfriend, who only weighs 40Kg. In the end we went for the Edelrid Cable Vario (http://www.edelrid.de/en/sports/cable-vario-oasis-night.html) which allows you to adjust the breaking resistance to the user's weight.

I hope that helps!

In reply to mbh:



You can say that again! We made the mistake of not keeping our VF gear on, and once on the cables couldn't be arsed to get them out of our rucksacks. Probably not the wisest of decisions and definitely a bad one if we had been with kids! But we weren't.

I'm not certain how young kids would cope with the steep upper wall of Tridentina? Almost overhanging in places and quite reachy.

In reply to Juan S:

I hadn't seen that one. To be honest, every time I see those Edelrid carabiners I break out in a cold sweat - just don't like the principle that all you have to do to open them is depress the not that hard to depress black lever. Very convenient, but with a messy VF fall? I can't imagine it would be that difficult to land with the spine of the carabiner pushed against rock or a steel rung and load it gate open...

In reply to RobE:

+1 for Corvara (and Collets for that matter)

We stayed there for a week last year and did:

Piz de Lech (It was August and snowed half-way up!)
Brigata Tridentina (Agree about the walk out - its *very* steep)

Our kids were 12 and 14 at the time and coped fine with both of these, though we had been on a route the year before with a guide. Since then we've done several more in France and Austria.

My only real note of caution is that some of the popular ones get very busy, so get there early.

LR

In reply to Pids:

+1 for Brian¢on. There's probably not as many routes as the Dolomites but there was plenty to keep us occupied for a week, the routes were all pretty quiet and you can (just) drive there from the UK in a day.

We did a few of the Savoie ones this year - they're good but fairly spread out so ended up doing quite a bit of driving round down there.

In reply to RobE:

I just reread your post, take a look at my profile and you will find I run www.casa-alfredino.co.uk , some accommodation I have in the centre of the Dolomites near Marmolada. We have three apartments in a quiet village with all the necessary conveniences and a short travel time to get there from Venice or Treviso. Let me know if I can help you - they are really comfortable apartments, one design for couples, one for climbers and one for families. We also have a facebook page which actually has better photo's - we're in the process of updating the website to bring it up to date.

Cheers,

Mike

In reply to robhorton:


That comment is total guff, the UK is a large place and driving from anywhere other than the south cost to Briancon in one day does not make for a pleasant start to a holiday.

In reply to RobE:

+1 for Briancon area. I have stayed in Vallouise for the last 2 years, a lovely village in a perfect mountain location. VFs, easy single pitch crags, great walking, rafting, mountain biking and lake swimming. Have done all of these with my 3 kids, ages 6, 8 and 10. Enough VFs to keep you going for 3 weeks. A friend joined us for a week this year with his kids. He drove there and back in one day.

In reply to RobE:

Thanks all for the advice and apols for the late reply.

The safety / kit elements are particularly useful - I had no idea...