UKC

Am looking forward to a week's holiday with the girlfriend, and we're thinking of going to Italy, but aren't sure where to head for.

Have done a fair bit of climbing and mountaineering including alpine, but am a bit rusty, and the g/f has only climbed indoors (to about French 6a).

So ideally we'd like a mix of a one or two night trek with wild camping, some scrambling done in a day, and some rock climbing for a nice summer holiday, and Italy seems a good place to go (nice people, nice food, not expensive!). And a good campsite to use in the valley. We can hire a car, so lots of options!

Some of the alps behind Turin look quite interesting. I've also ice-climbed in Cogne in winter and loved it, but I get the impression there may be better places for rock climbing.

The area covered by this guide looks quite interesting: http://www.needlesports.com/Catalogue/Books-Maps-DVDs/Foreign-Climbing-Guid...

But I'd welcome any advice or thoughts people have.

In reply to Lightweight:

Dolomites ?

In reply to Lightweight: The Dolomites does have short single pitch climbs as well as more serious stuff. There's plenty of walking and via ferrata to satisfy your scrambling needs.

In reply to Lightweight: I don't think wild camping is an option in the Dollies (national park rules), but the huts are so good there's no point anyway. Base yourselves in Cortina or Arco - good campsites in both, plenty of sport, walking and VF around. Arco may suffer polish on the easier routes (hence my other thread).

In reply to Lightweight: Friuli is nice. Plenty of uncluttered sports crags and also hills to the north (Carnic Alps) which are like a mini-Dolomites with a couple of ferrata and hut to hut walks. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnic_Alps

Used a nice campsite N of Tollmezzo when I was out there.

In reply to Andy Say:

First time I have ever heard a non-Italian reference to that area.
It is a bit of a semi-secret venue with a lot of new routes being climbed in recent years and some very impressive ice climbing developments (it is a very cold zone, like Slovenia, despite not being particularly high). Positioned in between the Dolomites and Slovenia it has mostly been left out of foreign tourism. Technically it is not really a mini Dolomites becuse the rock is mostly limestone rather than Dolomite (according to my book, at least). Some huge walls but not much info around, even in Italian, although there is a reasonably modern CAI guidebook (where my info comes from rather than first hand knowledge - I hardly know the area).

In reply to Lightweight: Val d aosta has lots of sports crags, courmayeur and cogne are good bases for treks. From cogne you can trek to one of the bivi huts in upper valnontey. We tried gran paradiso from this way over tribulation glacier...never seen anyone for 3 days (never made the summit due to falling off 50m from the top , followed by epic retreat!). it'a a very nice place, lots of wildlife.

In reply to Lightweight:

Big thanks. Though interesting that people mention the dolomites, but nobody mentions the western piedmont valleys. Maybe nobody British goes there?

In reply to Lightweight:

Have a look at the Brenta Dolomites, with Madonna di Campiglio as a possible base. The village is at the far western end of the Dolomites, so on one side of the valley you have the dramatic limestone scenery typical of the Dolomites, with plenty of opportunities for via ferrata, rock climbing, etc. On the other, the rock type changes and the landscape is more typical of the Austrian alps, with forests, glaciers, and high rocky summits (up to approx 3500m), ideal for easier alpine treks. I don't know about the campsites as we rented an apartment when we were there, but I'm sure there are plenty around; there are also lots of mountain huts. It's a beautiful part of the world, the scenery is fantastic.

In reply to Lightweight:
Between Eastern and Western Alps why not the Central ones? If you land in Bergamo Airport you could go to Mello's valley and camp there. You'll find great boulders and some sport routes next to the camping; a great valley famous for its granite trad routes and, with 1-2 hours of walking, mountain routes in val masino, mainly trad but some of them bolted.
The campsite
http://www.campingsassoremenno.com/valmasinoENG.html

Warner