Getting to your limit

We find ourselves in the middle of nowhere, not a bad thing!

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So Dora has had her fill of electricity and we wake to a less moody day weather wise. But we are now many kilometres from our intended next climbs which are on the other side of Lake Garda. Traipsing back all that way doesn’t fill either of us with glee, so I start re-looking at our guides to see what is available.  There are a couple north of Riva, on the way to our next destination, but one looks a bit to long and the other ‘not after a wet day’. We are back to square one.

On the off chance I have a look around the area we are in. We hadn’t considered this bit of Italy before, it is right at the end of our guide and the one I am looking at is the last route in our book.

It is also twenty odd kilometres further south and oh, it is a grades harder than we have tried so far.

But yesterday, with all those ladders, we coped with them really well. Upping the difficulty another notch, surely we can handle that.

So we both agree, our next route will be;

 

Cicerone Guide: Via Ferratas of the Italian  Dolomites: Volume 2

Rover7: Ferrata Delle Taccole

Grade: 4A

Ascent: 700m

Descent: 700m

VF: 150m

Time: 4.5 hrs

We set off in earnest, keen to find the start of the route.

We are a valley over from Lake Garda and you could be on a different planet. No tourists around here, just greenery and mountains.

We have a bit of a scare when a road gives us a height limit which would be detrimental to Dora and our bedroom, we have to turn off and hope we can get back on the right road.

We do, and just as the guide says, a kilometre from the village a layby. We squeeze into the last available place, put together all of our stuff, including some lunch and we set off on the walk to the start of the climb.

We continue to be impressed by the landscape of Italy and to date have yet to find a part that is not stunning. The weather, on the other hand has been less than reliable. We thought that we had caught a couple of bad months when we passed through back in March and April, but here we are in the middle of summer and it is still little better than the UK. OK it is warmer, but with perpetual showers, it isn’t nice.

Especially when your plan to enjoy this country is being outdoors. SM

Still, we always try and make the best of it.

This is not a true mountain, more of a long grassy ridge, although it still gets to an impressive 2155m and in winter would be covered in snow,

in fact there has been skiing infrastructure on many of the hills around here.

And it isn’t too long before we are getting up close to the crest of that ridge, we some impressive rocky features.

It is only when we get to the high level path do we start meeting some other people, although they soon depart, heading for a nearby refuge.

We continue along the path until a small break. Looking back we can see the refuge, down below us a jumble of rocks and scree. We hate scree.

This is particularly bad. A very steep and long walk down to the start of the climb. I fear I may use up all my energy before I even start! SM

We work our way carefully down it, only now can we see back across to Lake Garda. The scree continues down, but a couple of red arrows or some nearby rocks indicate this is the start of our climb.

Straight away we realise this is a more serious affair, more vertical, less artificial help, which is spread further apart. This is much more like traditional climbing, except you are using a wire rather than a rope.

I start up the first section, some bits require a great deal of effort and remember those climbing moves of yesteryear, balance, move the weight (more now than when I was younger).

I wonder how Susana will cope, she is vertically challenged, hasn’t got the same reach, a bit of a disadvantage in climbing.

I get worried when I hear Gary saying: “this is going to be very hard for you”. What’s best to do? Telling him to come down and forget about the whole thing, or getting on with it? The problem with the latter is that, sometimes, once you’ve decided to go ahead, you are pretty much committed and turning back is no longer an option; sometimes it is more dangerous to turn back than to keep going. SM

But she makes up for this in her lightness, strength and skill.

She is soon standing besides me, grinning, she is really enjoying this.

I am pleased it is not as hard as it looks. Some of the protection is out of my reach, I need to find extra footholds to get a bit higher. Moving quick is key here, if you hang around too much on the rock you use up some precious energy so badly needed to finish the climb. SM

Only then can we once again admire the view. Riva seems such a long way from here.

We look up at the next pitch. More vertical than the last, and with even less bits secured to the rock to assist. They have cemented some rocks into the crack, so they might be useful  for the feet.

I get to the next sage ledge, quite out of breath with all the effort, still wondering how Susana will reach some of the holds.

But somehow she does, she never ceases to amaze me.

The climb has been made a little more difficult as it has started to rain a little, not heavy, but enough to make the rock the cables and the supports a little slippery, we wonder whether this is really a higher grade as a result.

We occasionally hear voices. Is someone else starting the climb. More likely they are carrying across from the distant refuge.

The next pitch doesn’t look quite as bad as the last, and follows up this wide crack. Once again I start, Susana lets me get up a couple of sections of cable and then also starts.

Half way up I complete an energetic move, pull up onto the stemple, but something is pulling me back, I have forgotten to unclip and have reached a secure point.

I need to down climb enough so that I can unclip, but the cable and rock are really slippery. Down climbing is always more tricky than going up.

I wedge myself in the crack and call for assistance from Susana, hopefully she will be able to unclip and re-clip me from below.

My saviour, I am released and can continue up.

No such mistakes from Susana!

I’ve learnt from his. SM

She seems to be handling the crack much better than I did.

We reach a ledge and hope that things get a little bit easier from here.

This via ferrata has been much closer to the first one we tried, more like traditional climbing, and in that way it has been a lot more enjoyable. It has also tested us a lot more than the others so far. We have had to use those old climbing skills which, for the previous via ferrata, were not necessary.

Our surrounds are quite bleak, which matches the weather conditions. There is no one around. This climbing is quite a lonely affair, just the pair of us and this rock face.

And it is one of the feelings, when you are putting in all that effort, quite futile really, to drag yourself up a rock face, for no other purpose than it is there, because you can, at that time you wonder why. Only after the event, when it is over, complete, does the satisfaction set in and you look back at the event with fond memories and start planning the next one.

Looking down at the scree slope we gently slid down. It looks much steeper from here and you can hardly see the route which we took.

Susana has completed the last part of the climb, no problems. She joins me at the top of the climb. We should have just a brief scramble and walk up the top of this hill.

And for our efforts we get rand views of the lake far below us.

The rocky and grassy mound that is this summit is not up to much. We have been on more dramatic summits, but this one brings with it a deep sense of satisfaction, this has been our hardest via ferrata to date, by a long way.

And because of that will be indelible etched into our memories.

When we go through such challenging situations, I feel I grow up a bit more as a person. It may be to do with that strong feeling of satisfaction; or may be with the fact that you have got to know yourself a little bit better, that you are a little braver than you think you are. This increases your self-esteem and it is a very nice feeling indeed. SM

We walk back to the main path, once again glancing down at that horrible scree slope.

It is just crazy. SM

And some insignia that has been attached to the rock face by some climbing group.

The weather isn’t moving up here on the hillside. It will be good to get off, get back to Dora and head off to a new place.

We walk into the misty gloom, passing just a few people on the way, I bet they haven’t had such climbing successes.

Soon the summit is shrouded in cloud, barely visible, now just a memory for us.

But perhaps across the valley there is a bit of  brightness. We head off to find it.

That evening we find a quiet layby near some vineyards. We, at last, have a sunny part of the day. The vines are so different than when we were doing all of our vineyard tours back in Autumn.

Now in full leaf, with largish bunches of rapes hanging down, they create a complete canopy across the whole field.

Beautiful plants.

8.4 kms

4 hrs

GDR