On To Venice

Our last day of touristing and we had to get to our hotel in Venice for an early flight the next day.

After checking out of Hotel Miralena we thought we might go have a look at a route graded 1A which meant that we wouldn’t need the KISAs that we had returned to the hire shop (instead of touristing Venice). The route was between us and Cortina where the road takes you directly into Venice.

In order to get to the route we decided to go over Passo Giau which those following carefully will recognise as the road we had to turn back on the day it snowed on us. After so many warm days we were sure the road would be open but weren’t sure we wouldn’t make it snow again while we were going up. Coming from Arabba meant that we were going in the opposite direction from the other day and found that we had turned around still a few kilometres from the pass so the poor Panda would never have made it. (Mind you, I did spot a 4WD Panda in the car park – mmm…I wonder…)

 

The walk left from Rifugio Dibona which was up a skinny road that becomes a ski trail in winter. When we got there the peaks next to the peak with the route on it we had planned to do were shrouded in fog, so we had some lunch and a (good) coffee in the rifugio while we waited to see what happened. The rifugio was quaint on the inside and obviously had been there for some time. It contained a lot of history of the via ferrata in the region and climbers ascending the peaks behind it.

The fog was drifting across to where we wanted to be and, based on the fact that fog turned to rain yesterday, we didn’t want to get wet and then sit in the car for two hours to Venice. So we cut our losses with the weather and headed for our hotel in Venice.

The hotel was right on the bus route between the airport and Venice so we returned the Panda and went into Venice by bus. Just to prove that I did go here are some pictures…

 

We walked around Venice for about two hours and it never looked like the Venice I knew. I was expecting gondolas with opera singers and St Marks Square to be a bit smaller – just like the Venetian in Las Vegas :)

After being harassed by waiters in the various squares, just like they do in Lygon St, we had dinner at a cafe/bar with seats on the banks of a canal. At least I can now say that I saw Venice but I would rather visit natural wonders like the Dolomites in Italy and the Picos in Spain.

Our plane left San Marcos airport at 7am (Anni’s at 10-ish from Treviso) so Sylvia and Anni organised bus tickets (while in Venice) to take us from the bus stop outside our hotel to the airports. Ours was the first bus (at he ridiculous time of 4:50am). Sylvia and I were at the bus stop in plenty of time and made ourselves visible. We saw the bus come around the corner and accelerate. Despite jumping up and down and shouting at the driver he didn’t stop! After thumbing for half an hour, and despite there being plenty of cars on the way to the airport, we still didn’t have a lift. Finally a limo driver returning from the airport (that probably saw us when he took someone to the airport) stopped and offered to take us. Cost us 15 euros but the peace of mind was worth it.

I am writing this on the plane over Australia – 3 hours to go! We will have been on the go for around 32 hours by the time we touch down! We’ll stay at Matt and Erin’s before driving back to Halls Gap today tomorrow – not sure what day it is now so lets call it – Tuesday.

Piz da Lech (or Where’s the View?)

With the weather not looking rainy for our last via ferrata we decided on Piz da Lech – graded 3B with 350m of ascent. One of its attractive features was that you can get to the start quite easily by catching a funicular then a chairlift. Both of these are normally used by skiers but are opened over summer so people can take in the views – or do the via ferrata. The funicular takes around 15 minutes and goes up a long way providing views over Corvara and the Sassenhof that overlooks it. The chairlift takes you to what is obviously the top of some ski runs and the start of some walks. From there is was a 15 minute easy walk to the start.

People with too much time on their hands had made words out of stones in the valley approaching the climb. You can see them behind Sylvia at the start of the via ferrata.

Turns out that probably the hardest part of the whole climb was the move off the ground. Didn’t fill us with a lot of confidence given that yesterday’s via ferrata was also graded 3B but there was nothing that hard.

The higher we got the foggier it got – or perhaps we were just hitting the low cloud layer. For a time the fog hid the last part of the via ferrata from Anni. This consisted of two ladders up a sheer face of rock, the second of which has a reputation for pushing you backwards as the exit is over a bulge. It was also a bit disconcerting to see two people being belayed up the ladders We caught up to them later to discover that they were two Americans being guided but one of them had an artificial leg. We saw him struggling over the bulge but maybe he had an excuse. (That’s them in the background of our group shot.)

After the ladders it is a steep walk to the top of Piz da Lech. It was while doing this walk that Anni threw a “hissy fit”. Went something like:

Anni: How much ascent was on this climb?
Frank: 350m
Anni: But I’ve already walked 200m and there is no sign of the top!
Frank: But we have only ascended 250m since we started
Anni: I’m sorry but I have walked 250m up here and 100m will not get me to the top!!
Frank: The 350m is measured vertically
Anni: So you’re telling me that the 350m is not how far we have to walk!! Well why don’t they tell you that it is more than 350m walking!!!
Frank: Because that is not important, it is how high you have to climb…

…and so on! I swear that she stamped her feet in there somewhere too. I guess we can forgive her because yesterday was quite a big walk – or perhaps the rarified atmosphere at 3,000m made her delirious.

Apparently the view from the top is quite impressive, even down to the rifugio we finished at yesterday. As you can see the weather managed to beat us (again) and the fog never lifted.

The walk down from the cross back to where we started was not too long at all, around an hour or so, and much less strenuous than yesterday. It was shades of the Coast to Coast again while we were on the chairlift as it started raining when we were five minutes from the transfer to the funicular – got wet 30 minutes from the end!

Another great climb that, although graded the same as yesterday’s, is definitely more technical from a rock climbing perspective. There were a number of moves that required techniques learnt while rock climbing – especially the one off the ground!

Brigata Tridentina (or Check the Views)

There was limited opportunity to take photos of each other during the via ferrata so I ended up taking pictures of the views. Following are some of the better ones…

Brigata Tridentina (or Coffee with Frederico)

The weather forecast looked promising and with time rapidly running out we decided to do number two on the tick list – Brigata Tridentina (Pisciadu Climbing Path), graded 3B with 400m of via ferrata. It is a very popular via ferrata and I am just really glad we didn’t try to do it in August (peak season) as it was pretty busy as it was. As we were getting ready to set off a guy by himself appeared and so we asked him if he would like to go in front of us and if he could take a photo of the three of us. Turns out his name was Frederico and he bought us all a coffee at the top – at a Rifugio we found open!!

The via ferrata was quite a long one. It had a short-ish first “pitch” that took us to a wide shelf that we walked along for around 5 minutes. This took us to a large waterfall that thankfully we didn’t have to cross. From the waterfall the via ferrata was a long stretch through interesting and varied rock. A lot of the moves were made more challenging by the wet patches that were still to dry after the previous days’ rain. And there were the hoardes of fellow “ferrata-ists” following us – probably around 20 or so.

The end of the via ferrata crosses a bridge that joins a pillar and an enormous massif. The following pictures shows Frank on the bridge and the second picture shows the two bits of rock. If you zoom into the top of gap between the two you can see the bridge.

The end of the climb is in a large bowl between massifs with a steep drop off one side into the valley we climbed up. There is (what we assume to be ) a pretty glacial lake in the bowl (see second post for photo).

After our very nice coffee with Frederico at Rifugio F Cavazza al Pisciadu the descent leaves the refugio and takes you into a deep cleft that has cable inside to prevent you disappearing down the scree. It is a long walk through gullies and over scree [it drew lots of complaints from Sylvia and Anni – Frank].

Just before getting back to the car we got a good look at Piz da Cir – our first via ferrata. It is the far left hand peak in range behind us.

After much scrambling [and cries of “are we there yet” – Frank] we arrived back at the car. It ended up being quite a long day but we all agreed it was a great experience and (despite the long walk out) was something to be remembered.

BTW – there were a number of scenic shots taken during the climb that will appear in another post – soon!

Another wet and foggy day

The weather forecast was far from good and so we decided to go do a small via ferrata that could be done without gear – Sass de Rocia. It included 2 sets of metal steps and 2 cute bridges. Despite the rain and fog we had some good views, including the one below right of the very acute hairpin bend we had driven up.

Photo left of the village of Ronche. Photo right of Anni and I pouting because there was no view from the high point, AND I had had to step over a void to get there.

The “bivouac” with “veranda” was occupied by a group of Scotsmen so we didn’t lunch there.

First bridge, with Anni and I descending towards the Madonna on the right. Frank was overtaken by the Scotsmen who were fully kitted out with Via Ferrata gear, and not afraid to use it (except for the chap who realised  Anni and I had climbed down unclipped and so tossed his crabs over his left shoulder, whacking himself in the head as he did so, just after he had left them dangling nearly tripping himself up!).

Lunch in the shelter near Rifugio Migon. Frank takes us to all the best places for lunch! Not much sign of life in the Rifugio – yet again. Frank insists that we pose in the rain next to a statue of a soldier. (I draw the line at including the photo of me standing next to the plaster of Paris bird statue).