I thought I would spin up a trip report of climbing in the Dolomites this summer to give some Euro flair to the TR tab 😊 Although I had climbed low down in the Dolos back in ’95 for a couple of days on a business trip, this was my first dedicated trip to the Dolomites. My friend and climbing partner Steve was keen to go and get this bucket list item checked off, so we left Boulder on June 21 for a summer solstice treat!

A quick map pic to show the areas we travelled to. We flew into Venice which is easy and it’s only a 2.5 hour drive to Cortina, where we based for our 17 days in Dolo land.

After the usual long flight across the pond and an 8 hour layover in London, we eventually got to Venice very late at night, woke up early the next morning, drove to Cortina, checked in, grabbed our gear and with much jet lag on board went up to the very convenient Cinque Torre area our first afternoon.

We had nice although cool and windy weather and were able to get in two 4 pitch routes on the Torre Grande, a fun 5.10a and an easy 5.6 romp. Very different rock, amazing views and twiddling around with various options for protection woke us up a bit!
We did a second day at Cinque Torre with more fun routes and cool/windy conditions and also checked out the open air WWI museum areas.

The next day we headed over a couple of passes to the Sass Dahlcia formation for some sport wanking. Fun routes, good rock and great views as usual. The weather was a bit unstable as would be the theme for most of our trip, so it was a good low commitment destination.

Our first rest day, we joined the hoards and hiked around the amazing Tre Cime area after waiting in line and paying our 30 Euro entry fee.
Incredible formations to share with 300 of your closest friends, and this was the slow season!
We had the Cime Grande on the list, but the weather was too cold and unstable for us, so unfortunately we were never able to check off that puppy… but the refugio food was excellent!

Another day we opted for a 9 pitch 5.11 called Roberta 83 on Pia Ciaveces. This turned out to be a pretty good adventure for a sport climb as the bolts seem to space out more and more the higher you go (hint: take a thin rack).
That combined with sketchy weather made for a fine adventure! Very steep, continuous and exposed with the usual amazing views and motorcycles rat racing up the pass road below us.

Yes, red wine is good and cheap in the Dolos 😊

Another twitchy weather day found us again at the Cinque Torre area for more convenient climbing, complete with the Italian army joining in the fun. It was kinda crazy with all the soldiers climbing, rappelling, yelling along with the multiple warship choppers all over the place. Only in Euro land!

The weather was looking better for another day, so we opted for the SE Arete of the Tofana di Roses (Primo Spigolo). This is a very cool 14 pitch 5.8 old school route with great position and exposure. Some of the pitches look like they are held together with caulk or something, but the terrain was surprisingly solid. It’s only about a 35 minute hike to the base, but the descent is fairly long and incredibly exposed in places!

A partially stable weather day prompted us to choose a 7 pitch 11b sport route called Ultima Thule on the Sass De Stria formation. This was a fun route with modern bolting which wasn’t a bad thing after some of the other protection scenarios we had experienced so far (it doesn’t get any more old school than the old routes in the Dolomites!) During the climb, a huge citizens bike race went by below with thousands of riders as well as lots of accordion playing and wine drinking!

We took a cable car up to the summit of the Laguozi for a rest day, wandered around through tunnels and clouds and enjoyed a summit refugio meal before a wicked storm moved in that afternoon.

Climbing on the Laguozi Picollo West Face the next day gave us our first experience with extensive threads for protection and a little higher than normal choss factor. Great views again, especially across to the war tunnels and parts of the summit via ferrata including a cool bridge.

Via en Codise on the Col D Bos near Falzarego Pass was a pretty cool 10 pitch 5.8 that was a good choice for an unstable day. It was a surprise to find about 500’ of mandatory 5th class scrambling after the route proper was over to meet up with the via ferrata that leads to the exit ledges and trail. Lots of people on the via ferrata despite the sketchy weather.
The old WWI hospital on the approach hike was interesting and sobering. So much history in this area!

We tried to climb at a new area almost every day out, so next we decided to do the Comici NW corner on the Punta Col de Varda near lake Misurina. A pleasant 10 minute lift ride saves 1500’ of wear and tear on the knees and gives way to a quick 25 minute approach to the 7 pitch 5.7ish route. A classic direct line with variable climbing and interesting protection and route finding, classic Dolomites. Windy and cool but it didn’t cut loose until after we enjoyed cake and coffee post climbing at the refugio 😊

The coolest climb we did was up next, the Yellow Edge on the Cima Piccola in the Tre Cime area. This is an incredibly exposed 13 pitch 5.9+/5.10a. This is a popular route, so we opted for a second shift approach. After our usual coffee laden hotel breakfast we headed up to the formation where 2 parties were already on route, but after a short wait we got on the route and had a dose of history and exposure.
We were the last to summit that day with our late start and got a bit of a storm on the summit which thankfully quickly abated to intermittent drizzle as we did the 8 rappels and snow tongue descent, which of course leads to a dinner at the refugio shortly thereafter!

Our last climbing day we did the historic (1920?) Trenker Crack on the first Sella Tower. A classic and polished 5 pitch 5.8 loaded with the usual soft iron pins and great views.

Overall we climbed 13 of 17 days while in the area with 106 pitches of classic Dolomites climbing. Everything from well protected obvious climbing to where the hell am I and where is the frikkin gear type climbing. The area is spectacular, the food is great, the driving is somewhat maniacal. Make sure to put it on your list if you haven’t already been!!!