UKC

I am looking for some advice... myself and my climbing partner are heading out to the Dolomites in August. I wondered if there are any famous lists/groups of routes that we could set a goal to complete, for example the joe brown and don whillans climbs in the UK. We have found books with classic routes etc but there are about 100 routes which we won't be able to complete in the amount of time we have. I guess we are probably looking for more like 10-20 routes. Any advice would be really appreciated. Many thanks.

In reply to Emma84:

This sort of question gets asked regularly on these forums and is generally not answered well. The reason, I believe, is because the question in itself is based on a misconception. For example: "What is the best rock climb in Britain?" Of course one could give an answer, but how much would it be worth, considering the variables involved (length, setting, rock type, difficulty, history, etc.), and then one has to ask, how many people could possibly be qualified to answer?

What I mean is that talking about the whole of the Dolomites in a sweep is meaningless. If I asked my local Dolomite mates, who have been rock climbing since they could walk and work as mountain guides, they would just look glazed at even trying to make such a list. There are huge areas where they have never climbed, areas they have never even seen. The Dolomites is a massive geographical area with very marked local differences, and more or less infinite climbable rock.

So my advice is to rephrase your question with a geographical limit (like "around Cortina", or ""in the Pale"), a grade bracket, and an inclination either towards sporty or mountaineering. That way you might find somebody who actually knows what they are talking about and get a useful response. (I have been living here for over 10 years and I would only feel qualified to answer for the Sarca Valley, and up to what today are considered "medium grades".)

This is perhaps not what you wanted to hear, but I hope it is useful ...

In reply to Emma84:

Messners FA´s.

In reply to Emma84:

Thank you guys

In reply to jimtitt:


That's a bit harsh Jim. Do you really want to send innocent strangers up a runout trad 7a that Mariacher failed (or struggled, I forget which) to repeat?

In reply to Emma84:

I completely agree with everything Erstwhile said, but nevertheless will chip in with the one route that was recommended to me by pretty much every local I spoke to in the Dolomites, which was the Wiessner-Kees on the Sass d'Ortiga. Looks like rather a long day out though.

In reply to Emma84:

I am definitely after long days out, so again, thank you.

In reply to Erstwhile:


Perla Nera is very much on my to do list, but sounds like it might be quite the adventure

In reply to Emma84:

Worth saying that the obvious starting point, 100 classic climbs in the Dolomites, while good routes does lead to honeypotting.

If you are there are a popular time (late July/ August), in a popular area and looking for routes at an amenable grade, I'd positively go out of my way to avoid the 'classics'. Easily done by walking further from the parking.

In reply to Max factor:

Diverging from the original question a little, but we headed there in peak season a couple of years ago and didn't have any problems at all with crowds on the classics. The tactic we used most of the time was to take a tent up the mountain and wild camp close to the routes, or close to the approach. Our body clocks adjusted to making a dawn start every day and going to bed when the sun went down. There was no-one walking by late at night on the way back from the pub like you get in campsites, so you had a good night's sleep. It was dirt cheap, and we avoided the (daily) afternoon thunderstorms because we were off the mountain before they arrived.

We managed 11 classic mountain routes in different areas in 14 days. Most were long routes in the 'Classic Dolomite Climbs' book. We went there in mid-July 2013. We did try using our bivi bags on the first night, but gave up on that idea after getting completely drenched in a thunderstorm! Wild camping in small tents seemed like the best approach.

Anyway my main tip would be get on the routes early!

In reply to AlanLittle:


Didn´t want to assume my own miserable climbing standard related to the OP´s unstated abilities, she probably onsights 8b like everyone else seems to these days.

In reply to Erstwhile:


Please can you point out to me where I have wrote this!!!! If you are trying to insinuate that I am making some kind of sexual reference then you are seriously misguided. Well done in discouraging someone from using this forum. I don't think I'll be bothering to ask for any advice here again.

In reply to Chris Sansum:

Fantastic and useful response. Thank you very much. I will be on my bike and camping so will be sleeping as close to the crags as possible.

In reply to Emma84:
I'd recommend the classic climbs in the dolomites book, and special mention to Preuss Chimney and Fiames Arete in the East and Funf finger spitzen in the West. Great days out.

He did make a sexual innuendo, but I suggest a better response than being offended is to offend as much as possible. It's not as if you know each other. Something along the lines of "long and hard is obviously on your mind, not mine."

In reply to Max factor:


Also Dolomites : Classic Climbs and Via Ferrata - http://www.rockfax.com/climbing-guides/books/the-dolomites-rock-climbs-and-...

.... probably has most of those 100 climbs, plus loads of sport routes, plus more than 30 VFs, is in the familiar Rockfax style and sales of it help support this web site.

Alan

In reply to Chris Sansum:

Regarding early starts, even when we though we were getting up early on holiday (say leaving the campsite before 7am), there were always people there before us, sometimes crowds.

Must have been you ;P

In reply to Max factor:

7am leaving the campsite was a lot later than we were doing - we were always up by dawn and at the mountain already!

In reply to Max factor:

Should be halfway up the route by 7pm

Already some good advice here. Start early is the most important as the routes often take longer than you think and thunderstorms are common in the afternoon. As Erstwhile says the Dolomites are huge, you couldn't get close to completing all the routes in several lifetimes. Pick an area and work through the 3 star routes in that area and you won't go far wrong.

As Alan says the Rockfax contains all of the routes found in the 100 classic climbs that aren't in the Brenta or Pala Dolomites plus another 200 more, sport routes and via ferrata.

Have a good trip!

In reply to Emma84:

My implication was that you were possibly trolling and having people on, anything "sexual" was entirely in the eyes of the beholder (just by the way, is this 2015 or 1915 ? I get confused sometimes). Apart from that I was genuinely aiming to help - never mind. "But the dry wind of the desert blew back the words of the prophet and they were forever lost amongs the rocks and stones."