UKC

Hi , am heading out to the dolomites late next week and am wondering whether anyone has experience or advice on camping up in the mountains rather than staying at huts? One area we would like to visit in particular is the Brenta. Can you pitch near huts such as the Agostini, Pedrotti or Brentei?

Brian

In reply to brianrunner:
Wild camping is not allowed within the Brenta Adamello Natural Park (which means nowhere in the Brenta). This also applies to most popular Dolomite areas.
However, there is an accepted tradition of bivouacking overnight. Exactly whether you are allowed to bivouac beside a hut is a grey area, as is putting up a tent.
People do this occasionally (put up a tent in the evening, take it down in the morning) and it seems to be accepted by and large. Leaving a tent pitched stationary will lead to you being told to move on, if anybody notices it and can be bothered.

There are parts of the Brenta where you could camp for a week and never see a soul, but those are the same areas that bears roam. Also, if you were spotted in such places (say from a helicopter) the authorities might get genuinely alarmed thinking you are poaching or up to something bad, and send in the rangers. At that point you really are risking a fine.

You are allowed (obviously) to sleep in bivouac shelters and these are generally quite comfortable. Not so many in the Brenta but certainly a few.
In the wilder corners of the Dolomites these are the only option, typically good, and again you could live in them for a while and hardly see a soul.

In reply to Erstwhile:
thanks for that. I guess we might be best trying a hut at least on a first trip up there!

In reply to brianrunner:

If you have Alpine Club (or equivalent) membership, which often goes with insurance, then the overnight stay in Italian huts is reasonably cheap. If you are srict and carry your own food and stove (no discount on grub) and don't go bonkers buying beer and wine, then huts are almost as cheap as camping (at a campsite, obviously). You are allowed to cook your own food in Italian Alpine Club huts (which means most of them). Private huts might not be so keen, since they make all their money on food. In all cases hut grub in the Dolomites is generally delicious and pretty good value for money. You are free to leave gear in huts while you are out climbing for a day (or more) without charge.

In reply to Erstwhile:
yes we have austrian alpine club membership this year so that should give us the discount on huts. We can easily carry cooking gear up to the hut to keep the price down.

I am keen to climb a route on the Basso in the Brenta as it looks so striking. Have you been up in the area to climb?

In reply to brianrunner:

We are heading out that way in a couple of weeks, any idea on the snow conditions ? heard there is a lot more than usual for this time of year.

In reply to sarahkeast:
Beware of descent gullies that are in the shade! As we discovered when abbing into a snowfield leading to a rather choice descent.

In reply to sarahkeast:
no idea about snow other than previous posts in uk climbing of more than normal. I think we will just have a look at snow amounts when out there. We are taking lightweight boots and crampons though.

In reply to sarahkeast:

We're in the Cortina area right now. We bailed on a via ferrata (Francesco Berti) yesterday as we'd already done 3.5 hours of walking, kicking steps up snow fields and there was yet more snow ahead. It might have been the last of it but as there were no signs anyone had been up there this year we opted to retreat.

If you have them, then prob worth taking axe/crampons with you. Below about 2100/2200m you'll likely be fine but if your route is facing N or NW then you might be in for a surprise.

In reply to brianrunner:


A friend guided it last week and said it was "almost winter conditions", but they got up and down OK.

Since there is so much snow and not much ice you can "probably" do without crampons (each has his own ideas of minimum safety, obviously) and get away with at least one axe per party for chopping steps and "leading" snow sections if required.
Ferrata people really need to carry a rope (half rope, at least forty metres) and a few slings (and again at least one axe per party) in addition to normal gear.
More important than anything else is that at least one person should be experienced on easy winter climbs, and able to look after those with less experience.

If you pass these minimum criteria then this is a great time to visit the Brenta because you will have a brilliant mountineering experience with very few people around (compared to normal mid summers).

Oh yes - for goodness sake take gaiters that tie down under your boots or you will end up (like me) with completely sopping wet feet as you plod through shin deep snow.

In reply to Erstwhile:
Thanks some interesting thoughts there! Perhaps this is a good time to do the VF classic in the Brenta hut to hut - especially if the snow puts others off going up there. I never normally take gaitors (running shoes and rock boots are my normal footware) but it would be an idea for us to take them along I think with our mountaineering boots.

Should be fun though and as we are out there for 3 weeks and the weather has been reportedly very hot in the dollies (low 30s the last few days)it should be thawing pretty rapidly?