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Dolomites Via Ferrata recommendations

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 Nicola 05 Jun 2014
Last year a small group of us did the Via Ferrata's around Lake Garda/Arco. We did 5 fantastic routes in 4 days. We are going back this July, flying into Milan Bergamo on a Friday morning and flying back the following Monday late evening. So effectively we have 2 short days and 2 full days. Can anyone recommend which area to head for to make the best use of time. We'd like to do 3's and 4's and preferably A's and B's.

Thanks
 d_b 05 Jun 2014
In reply to Nicola:

Throw a rock

Oh all right. I have done some good stuff in the Sella group, and in the Cortina area.

There is an excellent trilingual guidebook available in the cooperativa in Cortina, which made my life easier last time I visited.

Sella is great too, and you can easily put together a 3-4 day hut to hut tour.

Lots of other good areas, but they are the two I have first hand experience of.
 sarahjk 05 Jun 2014
In reply to Nicola:

Bochetta Way is amazing, easy to book huts online too [with google translate]
 stevieb 05 Jun 2014
In reply to Nicola:

Have you worked out where you are staying? I've stayed in Canazei, Arabba and Cortina. All are good, or Corvara may be an even better option.
The Tschierspitze routes could be good for a short day. They could be on the way to Corvara, one is a short 2, the other is a nice walk with a short cable.
The good and hugely popular Tridentina is in the same area. There is a really good newer hardish 3 at Passo Falzarego, don't know the name though.

The Trincee (4) near Arabba/canazei is very good and on a WW1 ridge. The Colac (3) near Canazei is very good, but quite an intimidating location.
 BruceM 06 Jun 2014
In reply to Nicola:

It takes a while to drive in and out from there. So you might have 1-2 very short days and 2 full days. So best use of time is prob not to go as far as Cortina area. Stick to Canazei Sella Falzerago maybe. There is plenty there. The weather will dictate everything. Sneak in a shorty before the storms hit or after. Or good wx go for a big day. Tridentina is very very busy, but not if you do in a nice afternoon/evening after everyone goes home. Take torch for long walk down. That's in your grade range. Colac mentioned is a biggish day or afternoon evening. If it rains, do the tunnels at Falzerago (day or night). I like Punta Anna and the extension over the Tofanas as a brilliant big mountain day out if weather is good. But think grade is higher than your target. Shouldn't really matter though. Depends what you want to do: climby style, mountaineering, or historical? But the location is prob critical given your timing. Get the little Blue British book (Vol 1) and anything in there above grade 3 is guaranteed to be good.
 groovejunkie 06 Jun 2014
In reply to Nicola:

It's got to be the via del bochetta - it's brilliant! There's a couple of pics on my gallery too if you want a quick flavour of it.
 The Ivanator 06 Jun 2014
In reply to groovejunkie:

Another vote for the Bochette Way in the Brenta group. The Central and Alte sections are the highlight if you can't do it all (we did both these in one long day).
 Toerag 06 Jun 2014
In reply to Nicola:

Probably the most useful resource on VF is here:-
https://alavigne.net/Outdoors/FeatureReports/ViaFerrata/

If you do the Bochette then see if you can take some sort of small crampons, there will be permasnow which is tricky first thing in the morning.
 digby 06 Jun 2014
In reply to Nicola:

From the campsite at Fiames just above Cortina you can warm up on the short day Ettore Bovero. Another shortish day might be the Michielli Strobel, which dominates the campsite on the other side of the river. A quick return from it is a long scree run southwards, or a longer walk through forests northwards. As someone else mentioned, Punta Anna followed by Gianni Aglio to the summit of the Tofana is an amazing full day out. There's quite a lot choice for another full day… maybe the Lagazoi tunnels from the Passo Falzarego and the hardish Cesco Tomaselli descending to another scree run, or the long easy Ivano Dibona with its many WW1 remains.
Brilliant area with much to do. You can use buses to get to the farther away ones. Or hire bikes, though it is a bit hilly!
OP Nicola 07 Jun 2014
In reply to digby:

Thanks for all the replies. Will look into those suggestions.
 Null 09 Jun 2014
In reply to groovejunkie:

> It's got to be the via del bochetta

Indeed, considering it matches your time window and it is by far the closest to your airport. Your only issue is organizing transport back to your car. There are busses up and down the valleys, but not every fifteen minutes.
 kenr 30 Jun 2014
VF Monte Albano is way south by Lake Garda at the town of Mori (not so far from Arco). See on map: https://goo.gl/maps/n19Ex
It's popular. I think one of the first "sport" via ferratas (deliberately designed to have strenuous moves). Key news ...

VF Monte Albano is now open - (It had been closed for about three years) - equipment in good condition. Sharon and I had been planning to do one of the Dolomites high-mountain VF routes today, but when we looked into the Sella group in the morning, there was lots of obvious fresh snow. And it was a cool day, so we decided to try a valley VF -- chose Mt A because neither of us had done it before.

I find it to have interesting moves for a "cable-hauling" style VF (as opposed to the kind where you make lots of moves with both hands in contact with the rock). And it did have the expected strenuous moves, including some brief overhanging sections. We were both glad that we'd brought a short cow's trail leash so we could just hand and rest when we felt we needed to.

I liked that the route was not over-equipped with steel rungs -- where possible, they still left places to place your feet onto the rock where. Those places were mostly highly polished (which the maintainers had tried to address by chiseling texture in the rock surface).

One notable place with polished rock (even worse with some mud on your shoes) was the first five meters of the route -- with a sequence at difficulty around Euro sport 3, just to reach the first metal rung, and then pull past it.

I then discovered that now they've also designed a way to avoid that slippery tricky starting sequence, as follows: When reach the starting cable with wooden benches, continue hiking on a dirt trail (somewhat overgrown) to the right (NorthEast), then up and up with some zig-zags, until reach a steel cable for via ferrata. Clip VF kit into that and follow it up, finishing diagonal left to a flat platform. Walk West across to the platform to a vertical ladder rungs, and there rejoin the normal VF route.

Bottom start of VF route: GPS latitude longitude approx
(N45.8583 E10.9808) -- See on map [ https://goo.gl/maps/n19Ex ]

Ken

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