Alta Via 2. Marmolada Ascent. Via Ferrata. A Walk on the Wild Side.

                                                  ALL PHOTOS CLICK FULL SCREEN

The rest of our time on the Alta Via 2, after the first 4 days of mist, cold mornings,  and frequent showers, reverted back to sunshine, great clear views and steady heat. The scenery was very varied. This is looking over the horse meadows towards yet another high mountain range- The Pale di San Martino group- which in the preferred style of the Alta Via 2- we guessed we would be tackling head on- straight up one side- straight down the other.... and so it proved.

I'm calling these the horse meadows due to the fact I've never seen so many horses left to roam completely free in one place. I was slightly hesitant about crossing this open space, having been pursued by a stallion in Spain years ago in a similar open mountain meadow- only avoiding its determined and unfriendly looking advances by heading into a patch of rough, uneven, stone filled ground where it was reluctant to follow. Something about the weird way it looked up, seen my approach from a long way off, then immediately headed at speed in my direction made me think this wasn't going to be a pleasant encounter so I made sure to avoid it just in case... but Paul assured me these particular horses would be different....

And so they were. Gentle Palominos? Haflinger ? which were happy to see us and enjoyed being petted.

This was a lovely stage of the trip- very green and lush with, just for a change, an easy flat path to follow with no severe up and down sections to negotiate.

Yet more Palominos?...  Haflingers?.....Pale horses in the 'Pale Mountains'.

A rest stop at the top of a high road pass which the Alta Via 2 crosses. We descended to get here but the sculpture commemorates the achievement of cyclists reaching this point after a long twisting climb- good training for Tour de France/Italy/Spain winners... or other pro cycling events requiring extreme uphill stamina. Also a wartime memorial by the looks of it as fierce WW1 fighting took place in the Dolomites between Austrian/German and Italian troops. Imagine fighting a full scale war on these vertical peaks in the depths of winter where more soldiers died in avalanches and falls from cliffs than in actual fighting.

At other times the sheer beauty and majestic scale of the Dolomites took the breath away. A surreal stone forest constantly unfolding every day of impossibly high, wildly romantic savage peaks- some of the highest vertical limestone walls in the world rest here, apparently.

We also found time to climb the highest, most celebrated peak in the Dolomites. The mighty Marmolada. 3,343 metres or 10,968 feet high. We viewed it first from this lower peak with an afternoon thunderstorm building slowly over it then climbed it the next day when it was less electric. I'm ashamed to say I do not have any photos or many memories of the summit trudge up the glacier to the large cross at the apex. In fact I had to look it up online to remember I'd actually done the summit so it must have been just an easy snow plod. Unlike the beautiful Paradiso or scary Monte Pelmo the Marmolada was one summit ascent that was something of an anti-climax. I never took a single decent photo from the summit itself, just like Mont Blanc in that respect, but flat, grey skies that day didn't help. We had a few big thunderstorms here, including one monster that forced us off the peaks, but nothing like the relentless afternoon/evening onslaught we experienced almost daily in the Pyrenees. With climate change increasing the amount of energy available in the clouds, I'd imagine they might get worse but a full blown Alpine/ Pyrenean  thunderstorm is one of nature's great spectacles... as long as you are in a place of safety to enjoy it without getting hit by lightning, of course.

It is a spectacular peak with fine ridges and large areas of bare exposed rock but not the way we climbed it which was the usual tourist route that anyone can do ( there's even a chairlift taking you near the summit- which we didn't use)  so it did not have that feeling of true mountaineering achievement on it at any point. Just a high point tourist tick.

A bit busy and commercialized with a few late summer skiers climbing the summit then skiing back down the glacier to the chairlift. The steep ridge here is not the actual summit which is reached across the crevasse free glacier. Scott and Julian had a much more memorable ascent as they climbed one of the classic via ferrata routes on the mountain to get to the top, using ladders, rungs and wires and a different long approach. As this involved ropes?, climbing helmets, and full via ferrata kit, which they'd carried throughout this trip the rest of us missed it out. This mountain wasn't part of the Alta Via 2 but having read various online accounts  about the comparisons between the AV 1 and the AV 2 everyone seems to think the AV 2 is more challenging and strenuous than the AV 1 which is certainly true as AV 2 does go up and down a lot more.

They also say there's far more via ferrata to negotiate on the AV 2 but I honestly do not remember any interesting via ferrata sections of note other than this one.. Everyone is wearing helmets and clipping in here but it's easy stuff and I just bombed along it to take this photo. It's my only via ferrata photo on the AV 2 so there couldn't have been much or I'd have captured it as well.

This was a spectacular section across an elevated limestone table top with huge vertical drops and jagged stone towers sticking up.

We could see via ferrata routes taking improbable lines up vertical walls, as seen here with climbers on a rock tower and a thin bridge crossing the gap just visible but the AV 2 itself avoided any serious difficulties where possible and I do not remember any real scrambling or dangerous exposure anywhere.

The scenery was incredible however with so much bare white limestone it dazzled the eyes and also dazzled the camera when the sun was out.

Amazing to think all this stunning verticality formed out of coral growing slowly, millennium after millennium, in an ancient shallow sea. Piz Boe' summit here, at 3,152 metres, 10,341 feet, the highest peak in the Sella Group and an easy popular summit to climb.

A hut in the dolomites on the AV 2.

I feel I have to stick up for the AV 1 here though which is also a stunning two week hike through spectacular scenery and I do remember incredible via ferrata routes on that trip. You can also do, as we did, spend a few days in Cortina d' Ampezzo, which is a major hub for excellent via ferrata routes in every direction from easy to hard.... or do a low level pastoral circuit of Monte Pelmo. Exploring  'God's Throne' from every angle... a classic valley day hike round the bottom of the sheer cliffs..

Also on our first full day on the Alta Via 1 we ascended from the town of Belluno up a deep gorge, passed the 7th alpini hut, then stopped below the vertical walls of the Schiara and Pelf. According to our guide book you can do a harder variation of the AV1 here which climbs these 800 metre soaring towers via an improbable line of vertical ladders, steel cables up chimneys and gullies, and horizontal unprotected ledge walks- taking you into places even rock climbers would think twice about.

And I've found that very route here.

Normally I would never post a 24 minute video as no-one would take the time to watch it but this is an exception. You should watch it full screen without skipping any bits or fast forwarding anything. This is truly 'a walk among the angels' and a route we followed with large, bulky multi day rucksacks weighing around 24 kg or 4 stone, heaving them up vertical ladders and chimneys with great effort.

In our via ferrata guide book a quarter of the way up this vast cliff  the route splits into two... we went right continuing up metal ladders, cables and scrambling ridges to the high gap between the Schiara and the Pelf. This is the AV 1 variation route, which was desperate enough. Thank God we never took the left hand line as, carrying heavy packs, we would have really struggled on it.

I say again this is worth watching all the way through. The best mountain day out I've ever seen captured on video and done by ordinary guys not super-fit young rock climbers. Even saying that...you need serious balls to climb in the Dolomites. We could have done this left hand route in our prime but only with light day sacks. Even then it would be an epic adventure you would never forget. This video is amazing! And the higher up it climbs.... the more improbable it gets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w17OkcllpNg

Alta Via 2. Backpacking across Italy's Great Rollercoaster Route. Part One.

Around 10 years after doing Italy's Alta Via 1 with John and Brian I had the opportunity to do the Alta Via 2, this time with a larger group from the mountaineering club- consisting of Scott, Julian, Graham and Paul. Unlike the Alta Via 1, which once it gains elevation tries its best to stick to a level height throughout, weaving past, under, or through the various massifs it encounters ( like a mouse finding the easiest line between tall shoe boxes) the Alta Via 2 takes great delight in tackling any large mountain it encounters head on- straight up one side then straight down the other. This means a lot of extra effort and a roller coaster hike overall. Two weeks to walk 160km or around 100 miles in length, walking North to South, from near the Austrian Tyrol border at Bressanone/Brixen to Croce d' Aune, near Feltre. Close to a total ascent for the trip of 40,000 feet with a similar descent- almost 80,000 feet combined of knee grinding effort during this hike... as we climbed the Marmolada, highest peak in the Dolomites, as well.

Mountain cabins in the Dolomites. For this reason, and being the oldest in the group by 5 or 6 years, into my frisky 40s by now, I decided to strip the backpack weight right down. No gortex rain jacket, ( too heavy) no expensive via ferrata kit or climbing harness, just three lightweight slings and three lightweight screw-gate carabiners to fashion a DIY harness and V.F.kit myself, no rope, no helmet, ( I would either solo everything or just avoid any obstacles in the way, (hopefully), confident now as an Alpine and Dollies veteran I could do that.)

This is typical of the Alta Via 2- a brutal ascent up a mountain massif from the hairpin bends road pass, which in itself climbs to an impressive height. Then a short level walk through amazing mountain scenery...

then straight back down the other side. These photos are not in strict order as after 20 odd years to match them precisely as to when they occurred on the trip is asking too much from my memory but I've tried to place them roughly in sequence as a beginning, a middle, and an end.

I remember the first few days we had on this trip did not match my expectations of a sunny Dolomites. Glasgow fair fortnight again so mid July and we got similar weather here to a Scottish summer in the high mountains. A real mixed bag of elements.  Mist at all levels, glimpses of mountains, really cold mornings, sticky, humid afternoons, always damp, frequent showers. I began to regret leaving my waterproofs behind, using a black bin liner instead, but it was so uncharacteristically cold it was the extra heat of a thick jacket I was missing rather than for any rain protection.

As usual we were camping and cooking ourselves,  but usually near a mountain hut where we could head every evening to relax inside or on the veranda and get a few pleasant beers. It was a saving of around £200 doing it this way... but we also just preferred the camping life, being Scottish and used to it.

This was the height of luxury and comfort for us... a picnic table for breakfast in a valley campsite on the Alta Via 2. A low level blip in an otherwise high level hike. Time to wash clothes and socks, get showers, stock up on supplies for the next section.

Then back up into the mountains again. Still cold- still misty up here.

No idea what mountain this is... even at the time we didn't really know, summits just glimpsed occasionally and guessed at in a sea of swirling cloud.

Early morning mist in the Dolomites.

Scott spots some Alpine Ibex and takes a photo.

And then a few days into our trip the miracle we had been praying for finally happened... it cleared up... and the sun came out...

Makes all the difference when you can see the landscapes you are travelling through. And in the Dolomites they are always fantastic.        To be continued......

As we didn't really see much on the first four days of our trip here's a link to a brilliant short video of the route.

I picked this one as it highlights the fun and sheer enthusiasm of being young, having adventures together in a group, and feeling invincible and immortal at that age. You tend to forget you were ever like that when you get older and the world gets less fresh and intense to your eyes and senses.... so this is a joyful window to that past age in any human life story. Your younger self.

Link here. (In a new window for Carol)   Best watched full screen. There is no other area like the Dolomites.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mDirSKzIl4

Gran Paradiso. Epinel. Cogne. Two weeks in Italy's Great Paradise.

Another post from the archives going back to the late 1980s period. A two week trip to Italy's Gran Paradiso National Park. We stayed at a pleasant flat grassy campsite in a side valley just off the main Valle d'Aosta in a hamlet called Epinel which had a small supermarket, a couple of hotels/bar... a campsite.... and very little else.

                                                     ALL PHOTOS CLICK FULL SCREEN

This did not matter in the slightest as the local supermarket in Epinel had nearly everything we required food and drink wise, and the larger village of Cogne, with its own campsite, green meadows, a wider range of shops, bars, and an open air market for local produce was 5 mins in a car or a half hour walk away along a traffic free leafy back trail. Cogne can feel busy and hectic though, filled with climbers and tourists, whereas Epinel is much quieter, so probably better for families with younger children to keep an eye on them in a nice open camping ground of short meadow grass.

Tiny person on a rock tower here surrounded by the beauty and majesty of  Paradiso National Park. We were here to explore and Epinel was ideal for that with a handful of  easy 10,000 foot rock peaks directly above the campsite, free from snow in mid July; (Glasgow Fair trip again) several higher 12,000 foot snow peaks, yet still remarkably easy to ascend from the campsite, and soaring high above them all... the  undisputed Queen of the Graian Alps, Gran Paradiso itself at 4,061 metres or 13,323 feet high. ( Mont Blanc, The Matterhorn, 'called Cervino in Italy', and Monte Rosa, all share a border with France or Switzerland whereas the Paradiso range lies slightly separated and isolated on a detached spur wholly within Italian soil making it the highest single mountain completely within Italy. No part of it touching another country.

It's one of the easiest of the 4,000 metre peaks in the Alps, just a long pleasant snow plod but the shattered rocky arete of the steep summit ridge lends it plenty of interest with a massive drop on the other side and fantastic views in every direction. Note the tall rock pillar just right of the summit.

This is me standing on the top of said rock pillar with the lower 12,000 foot Frontier Range of the French/ Italian border spread out below. It looked an easy if vertical scramble so I just went for it although looking at other photos of this pillar online I'm amazed it's still standing as it's only just attached to the rest of the ridge by a thin band of shattered rock. Most of it hangs over the abyss like a natural version of the leaning tower of Piza. An angle not seen in this photo, where it looks straight. I must have been taking my bravery pills that day.

Unlike Mont Blanc the view from Gran Paradiso was absolutely stunning. No pounding headache, altitude sickness, freezing cold wind, or exhaustion either. Just exhilarating, warm, and fresh so we could enjoy it in style.  A night time thunderstorm had battered our tents, pitched halfway up the mountain, but the next morning dawned calm, clear, and magnificent with cloud in all the valleys but blue sky over all the high snow peaks. No wind on this mountain at all- sunny enough to sunbathe on the summit and that summed up this trip. It's a perfect area for beginners to explore the Alps. Interesting history, castles and small towns scattered across the Vale d' Aosta area; cosmopolitan Turin around an hour's drive away; loads of scenic balcony trails and a mind boggling number of wildflower meadows, (the best I've ever seen anywhere)

One of our rest days exploring Turin. Even with 3 or 4 sightseeing days during our trip when it was flat walking we still managed to clock up 30,000 feet of ascent and descent during our holiday here. Every non rest day saw us ascending at least 3000 to 4000 feet to do one of the rock peaks or a 12,000 foot snow peak, where we camped out overnight before tackling it in the early morning.

Alpine Ibex. The Paradiso National Park and the adjoining Vanoise National Park ( see separate entry on that park a few posts ago) were set up to save the Alpine Ibex, seen here, as they were almost hunted to extinction and down to the last 60 or 70 animals. The herds wander across the Frontier Range and back so both parks protect this huge tract of mountain upland and it really does feel like a 'Great Paradise' as every other animal in this vast region benefits as well. Alpine Ibex now number close to 1000 in this region. Magnificent creatures you can get fairly close to if quiet and patient and don't spook them away.

Smaller cousins- a family of Chamois here looking down at us.

Descending the glacier on Gran Paradiso... The entire world spread out below our feet. It's not often a human feels like a demi- god but it certainly happened to me here. A truly magical place.

Punta Fenilla ridge walk in the background. A rock peak reached from Epinel.. You could not design a better set of peaks for hill-walkers than these.

This is Punta Trensenta. Both peaks, not far apart, had a long easy ramp of perfect scrambling up slabs. Nothing too hard - just glorious indulgence- like fine Italian ice cream....trust your balance and the friction of the rock, being the key.

Then it got a bit harder and steeper... but still OK... and an easier variation round the side if you required that. Still Punta Trensenta here and a beautiful crack-line of great holds, hopefully leading us to the top. A wonder slab over a 1000 foot long, scrambling every inch of it without a rope, yet never too extreme or threatening. How often does that happen on a slab that length. No guide book or idea of route or prior knowledge of any difficulties ahead. Pure adventure on rock using just hope, toes, and fingers.  Just as well as it would be far harder to reverse it for 1000 feet, but not impossible.

And perfect summits as well. The cross on Punta Fenilla here with a slab scramble to the top. ... Unbelievable climbing... airy, exciting, yet safe and the way down off both was a slightly easier descent.....

Another rock peak traverse high above Epinel completed with easy scrambling. Tiny figures in this photo can be observed walking the ridge with Cogne far below in the valley. This trio of peaks I've never bettered for sheer enjoyment. Each a 10,000 foot stunner but climbed one after another a magical experience. This whole trip was full of them. Magical moments that is.

Easy but spectacular 12,000 foot snow peaks no problem either. Punta Del Rossa here, coming off the steeply inclined summit ridge. Ice axe and crampon territory.

Want something harder? La Grivola, at 3968 metres the other giant of the range but only accessible via a severe snow and ice climb with a stonefall risk thrown in for good measure. Definitely a roped experienced party required for climbing this peak.

Or how about tackling the Mont Blanc Range from the Italian side near Courmayeur, which we also did on this trip. A failed attempt due to severe winds high up but a great day nonetheless.

Above, John on the other side of  La Grivola glacier hanging over its cliff, balanced precariously above an alpine meadow.

More Ibex seen from our tents halfway up Gran Paradiso but looking at two other snow peaks in the range- La Tresenta, 3609 metres and Ciarforon, 3640 metres... so loads to do in this area... we just scratched the surface on our trip. One area I would definitely return to as I loved this region of Italy.

A high balcony trail view of La Grivola/Paradiso range with a thunderstorm just ending. Sunlight hitting some yellow globe flowers.

Our rest day exploring Turin, admiring a typical Italian grand fountain display. A 'rest day' might be a 10 mile walk around a city, as here, but it was relatively flat. Another rest day was up Valnontey from Cogne, a pleasant valley and alpine meadow jaunt in the early morning, then sampling an open air market afternoon of shops in the village centre.

A fantastic trip and well named. It was the Great Paradise for us.... hopefully still is.

A link to a terrific short video of Gran Paradiso and the area in question. Well worth watching as it's brilliantly done and full of interest. Captures the real holiday experience overall within the National Park perfectly. A work of art in its own right.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw1w75sevQk