Finally we got back to Italy and this time for a winter holiday. Early spring in the Dolomites is not necessarily the best season for ice climbing or skiing on powder but as usual we got lucky. During the last weeks the weather has been great and it has been snowing some fresh powder too.
Our 1st target was to go to Serrai di Sottoguda which is a perfect place for easy to approach ice climbing. It is probably the most visited site in the region too. We started our trip with guide friend Alessandro from Mountime to get our skills polished and to gain some knowledge from the local ice falls and their conditions at this time of a year.Deep valley at Serrai di Sottoguda is nicely in the shadows. This shady valley lets the ice falls last longer during the sping and gives an opportunity to climb relatively safely even during mid March. Some of the routes like Excalibur starts on top of a small creek but even then the access of the routes is super easy.
Valley has a nice set of different ice falls in length and difficulties. During the climbing it is a good to remember that the path at the valley is also a popular skiing path so beware of skiers. Over the day we got lots of skiers watching our climbs and they even wanted to take photos with us. I didn't knew that few amateur ice climbers and a guide can attract more than 15 people just watching!
During the first day we climbed several single pitches and 3 pitches of la Diagonale and 1st 40 meter pitch of the Excalibur. It was also nice to see that most of the routes have also bolted anchors.
 |
| Skiers looking at the climbers! |
 |
| Mika's WI4 top pitch at the Diagonale |
 |
| Climber's view on WI4 top pitch at the Diagonale |
 |
| Top view over the canyon. |
See all photos:
 |
| Serrai di Sottoguda,15.3.2016 |
0 kommenttia:
Lähetä kommentti