Fresh snow at Val di Fassa - Ciampac - Buffaure

Spring and fresh snow is not a guaranteed combination in the southern alps and Dolomites. But for some reason we have been lucky with the snow conditions for several times in a row. Our first snowboarding day at the Val di Fassa was blessed with good snow and a perfect weather to enjoy it! 

Val di Fassa is part of the huge Dolomite Super Ski resort but it is a nice and a big resort as is! Resort offers enough pistes for a 4-6 days of skiing or snowboarding.

The skiing resorts at the Dolomite mountains seem to share the same slope characteristics. Lots of good red lines and just few black ones with plenty of easy access off piste skiing for all skill levels. And the facilities in general are very good starting from the beginner slopes, snow parks and ending up to the lifts and restaurants.The specialty at the Dolomite Super Ski is the six days ski tour over the Dolomite mountains or if that is too long then you can always take the one day tour over the Val di Fassa.

We didn't took the ski tour today but instead of that we found lots of easy to access off-piste routes with untouched snow. Great day in a beautiful mountain scenery!

See more photos:

Val di Fassa and Ciampac - Buffaure, 17.3.2016

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Moon bears on the wall of Limarò in Sarche

If you just want to see the photos then click here

Looking for a great 9 pitches 1/2 day climb on a nice environment and with a 5 minutes approach. Well you have it. Piccolo Dain and the wall of Limarò in Sarche offers several great 9-11 pitch routes for a relaxed multipitch adventure.

We have been climbing at the wall before. Two years ago our crew topped Amazzonia (5c, 2005) and Orizzonti Dolomitici (5b, 2003). We liked the wall back then and so we decided to climb the Moon Bears route (5c, 2011).

Route is relatively new, it has been bolted between autumn 2010 and spring 2011 by Ermanno Salvaterra and Michel Ghezzi. It has total of 9 pitches and 2 of them are 5c. What makes this route special is the long dihedral-crack where the 5c pitches are. This dihedral makes the line logical and easy to follow and enjoyable to climb.

Bolting is good standard for multipitch routes but there are still few harder clips at the 5c pitches. All the anchor stands are also big enough for enjoyable belaying  which shows excellent design of the route.

Overall rock quality is good and the route is not polished. Few holds at the crux pitches are slightly polished but that doesn't make the climb any harder. First two easy 3a and 4a pitches are obviously more polished because the Amazzonia and Orizzonti Dolomitici share the first two pitches with Moon Bears.

Exit from the Moon Bears goes via traversing path through the woods towards easterly direction. Some parts of the path has via ferrata which helps with the narrow steps leading down to the Sarche.

Easy access, well thought line and a decent exit makes this route an excellent and relaxed to climb. Just try to avoid during the hot summer days when the wall is facing the sun most of the time. Recommended during cloudy summer days of during spring and autumn.

Crag grade: 4/5
Rock quality: 4/5
Bolting: 4/5
Surroundings/view: 4/5
Approach: 5/5
Exit: 3/5

See all photos:

Moon Bears, Piccolo Dain, 22.6.2015

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Great views over Garda at Fausto Susatti Ferrata

View down to Riva and Arco from Cima Capi.

Trail starts from via Ponale.

As a last adventure for this summer we decided to summit Cima Capi (907 meters) by climbing F. Susatti Ferrata. Our day started slightly late and because of that the temperature was already around 34 celcius degrees, which is hot for a long ascent.

Actual route starts from Riva and goes along via Ponale. The first half an hour goes exactly at the same road that we pedaled to the secret spot to Punta dei Larici. While walking the old road it is easy to spot fortresses, tunnels and barrack on the sides. Old Ponale road has a long history. It been built already 1860 to protect the lake, Garda, the road and the Sperone aqueduct supplying Riva.

Sign at the Ponale road pointing
towards Cima Capi.

After the 30 minutes walk at the old war road we arrived to the point where the path number 405 heads towads via ferrata and Cima Capi. From this point forward the road gets more steep and is covered with loose rock. It takes a bit over an hour to get to the starting point of the ferrata from the crossroads.

Soon after the start the path heads towards a steep and open mountain meadows that were extremely hot during our ascent and only few parts ware nicely in the shadow. For us the ascent was one of the hottest that we have completed during the years that we have spent at Lake Garda. Having enough water and some snack was essential. Personally I reserved four liters of water for the day.

Steep ascent.

Exhausted traveller.

Views towards the lake and nearby peaks are magnificent and were getting even better after every step. The price for views is the demanding approach walk up to the starting point of the ferrata. Once we arrived to the ferrata luckily the wind was starting to cool the air and we didn't felt tired anymore.

The ferrata itself is easy and suitable for all who can walk to the starting point. It is not exposed so climbing should be easy for anyone. Ferrata is also split into several parts and it continues even for the descent path towards Bastione.

From the peak the ascent path is obvious to follow. But the ferrata, ascent and the route is not yet over. Soon after the peak descent is partially exposed at the ridge. Then after that ascent has several ferrata parts traversing on the edge of the mountain. Trail back to Riva follows first the path number 405 and then the path number 404 which goest via Bastione at the end. For us the ascent took about 2 and half hours so it was a good idea to have some additional water for the ascent. Our total time for the ascent, ferrata and descent was about 5 and half hours (including the time we spent for photographing).

At ferrata.

Summit.

Yet again we got a great adventure but sadly it was our last for this year. I'm still happy that I had the opportunity to do most of the planned activities. For this year we had to skip the more demanding via ferrata Ottorino Marangoni at Monte Albano that seemed to be closed for some reason. We also had to skip few of our planned alpine multipitch routes and we missed the local freerider's weekly ride at the Skull route. But three weeks is only three weeks. I gues that we have to come back again next year. We'll see.

Heading down.

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King Tremalzo

Our transportation arrived to Tremalzo.

If I would have to ride only one mountainbike trail at Lake Garda it would be Tremalzo trail down to Riva. Ride starts from top of the Tremalzo at 1800 meters and descends down to 80 meters. Length of the route varies slightly between different paths but it is around 30 kilometers long.

Bike shuttle started from Torbole at 10:00 and arrived to Tremalzo 50 minutes later. The trip wasn't boring because shuttle driver had prepared a karaoke session for passengers. Definitely a right attitude for the day. Karaoke song was Litfiba's Tex. I didn't understood too much of the lyrics, but the main message was clear, lonely cowboy riding alone in the desert. That fits pretty well for the day's theme. And of course our shuttle driver was the loudest singer, bravo Luca!

Preparation for the ride started with coffee at the Rifugio Garda at 1686 meters. During the final check we noticed that Jarkko's bike wasn't in a proper shape. Several spokes were badly loose and because of that the whole rim was risky for a long ride. Luckily Sami had a proper tool to fix the rim. After half an hour Sami managed to tighten the spokes and to rebalance the rim. It seems that bike rentals do not check the rims at all between customers.

Starting tunnel at Tremalzo on 1800 meters.

At twelve we finally started to head towards the starting point of the trail. Approach took about 15 minutes from the reataurant and we had to climb additional 120 meters up to 1800 meters. The fun part starts just after the tunnel. Initial part of the Tremalzo trail  goes on an old World War I road. Story tells that prisoners of the war built the road during World War I.

Rocky road is easy to ride and for us that meant a high speed. Still we had to use breaks a lot on the steep curves to avoid sliding and falling out of the way. The road is mostly covered with loose rock and is thus demanding to ride fast on tight curves.

Old war road ended to the Passo Nota at 1205 meters and first part of the trail was completed. From Passo Nota we headed towards Bocca dei Fortini (1243 meters) by following the trail number 421. Here some pedaling was required to ride few steep uphills. Next we headed to Passo Guil (1209 meters) by following again the trail number 421. From Passo Guil we continued to Passo Rocchetta (1159 meters) switching to the trail number 422.

Trail map.

At Passo Rocchetta we continued on the 422 wich is long, fast and enjoyable to ride. There is also more technical alternative 422bis. I have done it once. Still I wouldn't recommend it. It is great for experienced and technical trail riders but 422bis is it's own kind of a "fun" and majority of the riders do not enjoy it.

After the trail ended to a rock road we had a small planning break for the rest of the day. During the recent years I have chosen the rocky and dry riverbed that is crossing the 422bis pedaling route (see our trip to the secret spot). It is enjoyable and fast trail that crosses the 422bis few times until it joins to the main route 422bis.

Freeriding path 422 nearby Passo Rocchetta.

This year was different. We chose the 422 trail that ends nearby Pregasina. It is more demanding  and steeper than the earlier part. This trail requires good control on a loose rock, on steep turns and on sudden drops. Final part of the trail runs on a very loose rock road. From that part forward the path continues to on an asphalt road and then via old Ponale road down to Riva.

Tremalzo trail has shown it's greatness again. It is a nice combination of easy scenery roads, technical trails and demanding and steep descents. We had a great reason to enjoy ice cream at  Riva!

Videos will be available afterwards once we get a better Internet access.

See our photos from the Tremalzo trail.

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