UKC

Hey,

I'm heading to this area in early July with my gf for 2 weeks. I'm an experienced climber / mountaineer, though very much in the lower grades. She's much newer to it all but keen to explore!

We want to do some nice walking, via ferrata, single and multi-pitch sport and an easy alpine peak.

We're driving, so thinking of basing ourselves around Bormio, as opposed to continuing on to the 'full Dolomites' to save a bit of travel. 

A few questions:

Is this a good choice of area for all of the above?

If so, where is nice to stay? I don't want to end up in a ski resort / apartment, would prefer something a bit more authentic. 

Any other thoughts / suggestions / recommendations?

Thanks muchly!

Richard

I've spent quite a bit of time and just got back from Prato on the other side of the Stelvio Pass. I like that for it's access to amongst other things it's access to Sulden and the Ortler. Both the normal way up and the Hintergat are good days out from their respective huts and the via feratta to the hut on the normals route and some on the other side of the valley were all worthwhile. I'm concious that the Stelvio might still be shut at that time of year (especially sine the Giro doesn't go over it this year) so might be impractical if you are based in Bormio. Happy to give you more ideas/details if you want. 

Rob, really appreciate this. Let me check in with my other half and might come back to you with a few more questions. Prato sounds like a nice base?

The pool in Bormio is great Bormioterme worth checking out. Guidebooks wise check out versante sud as there is a good guide to Valtellina and also Presenella. The hochtouren german guide is also good for mountaineering routes. 

Good single and multi pitch climbing not sure about VF around Bormio. 

Fab, thank you!

The obvious tour screaming to be done if you spent some time in Bormio is the circuit of the Val Forno. You can traverse the ridge line for >20km never once dropping below 3000m:

Start from the Branca hut up towards Cevedale, then traverse towards Palon de la Mare, and continue clockwise for as far as you like. There are a bunch of bivy huts as well as the Rifugio Mantova below the Vioz summit. The normal end point is the Punta San Matteo, but you can even add another couple of 3k summits after that before dropping back to the Forno valley.