UKC

The peaks of the Dolomites are characteristically steep, with huge faces and towering summits often breaching 3000m in altitude.

The limestone rock-faces are some of the largest and most accessible in Europe, yet they retain that wild, backcountry atmosphere which has been lost in some busy mountain playgrounds such as Chamonix...

James Rushforth gives us the full low down on The Dolomites

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=2708

In reply to UKC Articles:
Excellant article - even better than than mine !

You're right about the difficulties of being veggie, but I found it was more of a problem in the German speaking areas rather than the Italians. One particulary annoying meal was at the Cinque Torre Hut, where a mushroom and cheese crostini came sprinkled with dried horse flesh !

On the other hand there's a hut just above Arraba (below the pinnacles) that does a great pasta dish - tortelloni in brown butter.

Not that this has much to do with the climbing !

In reply to UKC Articles: Great stuff, the Dolomites is an amazing place,
I know any list of best routes is a personal thing, I would add:

North West Corner ("Dallago") MVS (4c) Cima Cason
and
Torre Barancio North Face - Via Ignazio Dibona IV+ Cinque Torre

onto the must do list, can't wait to go back sometime.

In reply to UKC Articles: Nice one James - great pair of articles.

Cheers,

Jack

In reply to UKC Articles:
Having used the dolomites west and east guidebooks, I would probably disagree with the suggestion of just getting the classics guidebook. It is a brilliant book. Also it does contain topos for main crags and the end of the day if you can't use a guidebook without a topo what are you actually doing in the dolomites.

In reply to UKC Articles:

The big trad/pegged routes in the dolomites are among the best long free routes in Europe, and hard to recommend more highly. But I've been very underwhelmed by much of the sport routes. Cogoi in particular I thought was awful - massively drilled and polished - despite being in a beautiful location and literally minutes from the road. Seemed like an outdoor climbing wall.

We did find some reasonable sport crags (Cinque Torre is much better) but I'm sure there are far better places to go in Italy for good sport climbing. Besides which it seems a shame to go to these impressive walls and spend all your time on the first pitch!

In reply to Sankey: I'm ashamed to say Ive not done any of those. Will get them tried though

In reply to Jack Geldard - Editor - UKC: Thanks Jack, a pleasure! Thanks for turning my ramblings into something cohesive

In reply to James Rushforth:

Nice article.

But an observation.
It is a well established tradition in GB climbing to talk about "The Dolomites" as a singularity. This is reflected in the tradition of selected guidebooks and the idea that you should travel around between areas and tick classics. However, if you consider that the Mont Blanc Alps are covered by two (admittedly fat) comprehensive guidebooks, but "The Dolomites" in the same series (Italian Alpine Club - possibly the best guidebooks in the world) include at least 12 volumes then you realize just how much climbing there is, extending over an enormous area. Your article doesn't even mention my local Dolomites, the Brenta, which is a huge group with enough routes and wild forgotten corners to keep you going for a lifetime.
This massive geographic extension takes in two major cultural groups ("Tyrollean" and Italian) and various minor groups (some with independent languages), so any comments about food and hospitality are enormously generalized.

So what is my point?
I suggest that information should be more place specific. What is interesting to know about a single valley or group?
And I think it's time to move away from the age old tradition of going to the Sella Pass and climbing on the Sella Towers - just as everyone in Britain goes to Chamonix and climbs the Cosmiques Arete. This is particularly daft in the Dolomites where there are so many places that are at least as good.

In reply to Gavin Taylor:

So next time...... Why don't you write the article yourself then if you know so much?!

In reply to GirlieEyes:

Fair comment - however, since I write all day every day, writing articles is not what springs to mind when I am free.

In reply to Gavin Taylor: A fair comment. But as I stated the article was never meant to be a definitive guide (that's what guidebooks are for). Rather it is a short summary of what I feel is some of the best climbing. Personal favourite climbs / areas are always of course subjective.

If I listed all of the best climbs in the Dolomites ranging into the Brenta, Pala, Rosengarten regions it would be a very long read. For the same reason some generalisations have to be made. Two pages on local cultures and dialects though very interesting wouldn’t have got the point I wanted across.

If someone who had never been to the Dolomites wanted a week away climbing this is the area I would recommend. You might recommend somewhere different, and that is the beauty of climbing . The Brenta Dolomites are a lovely quiet region, I'm sure UKC would appreciate an article written on them...

Also consider unlike yourself I am not a writer by trade. I was simply trying to provide a constructive article on a region that I love and I hope others will enjoy.

In reply to Gavin Taylor:
I've been to "The Dolomites" half a dozen times, but each of those visits has been to Arabba/Contina area

You are quite right that people don't think of the Brenta area when they think of the Dolomites and I doubt it deserves such neglect. So do what James and I have both done - write an article about it!

In reply to James Rushforth:

Yes, and you did a nice job, too. No criticism as such - keep up the good work.

What I was vaguely moaning about is that it's all stuff we have possibly heard before or could read somewhere else. Since you live in the area I'm sure you could give detailed info and a wee bit of local culture just for your immediate area, stuff that is not documented anywhere else in English. Dig your hands into the leaf litter and get close ups on bugs and reptiles, rather than swooping over the forest canopy, if you see what I mean.

All that stuff I wrote about the Dolomites being such a big area was just to suggest a need to break it up into holiday sized chunks - I mean you wouldn't go for a one week rock climbing trip to "Britain". You would go to North Wales, or Cornwall (not the Peaks, of course).
Perhaps a different title would have made it clear that this (very nice but rather busy) area of the Dolomites is a great holiday venue.

A general article about the Dolomites that would be (I think) really interesting would be a scheme to break it up into sections with descriptions of what characterizes each area to help folk choose according to their peculiar karma.

In reply to Chris the Tall:

It's much more fun moaning about other people's articles .... but of course you are right.