CragX Index :: Trip Reports :: Vwills does europe, again

ITALY: Ahhhh, sunshine, cheap gelati, warm rock. I managed to climb for 15 of my last 17 days in Europe, only stopped from getting on rock everyday by my climbing partner experiencing a bad case of food or water poisoning, and my fingertips are very grateful for that!

The sun indeed did start to shine the moment I crossed Simplon Pass into Italy. I had a day and a half before I had to meet Rainbow, the new internet date, at Canazei so I decided to avoid the motorway and take the longest, narrowest road I could find with the most hairpins to reach my destination. In soon found myself back in Switzerland, then Italy, then Switzerland before finally entering Italy again near Como. It was extremely scenic but I was too scared to take my eyes off the road. I stopped the first night in a lovely forest clearing off a dirt track high above Mennagio on Lake Como proving that vagrancy was also possible in Italy. The next day I went for an early morning scramble up Mt Grona. As usual I don't get out of bed for less than 1000m elevation gain, and was rewarded with fantastic views of Lakes Como and Lugarno and a little bit of limestone bouldering on the summit cap. The descent featured a goat that tried to headbut me into oblivion from the steep mountain side. I knew a trekking pole had some practical use!

By the time I had bought some groceries, had a quick look around the cobbled streets of Menaggio and enjoyed my first pistachio gelato it was 230pm. Still, it only looked like 250 km to Canazei, and it was...... but I didn't get there until 1030pm which included only one stop for fuel. (It costs 50 euro to fill the tank of a Peugot 206). My knuckles ached and my eyes were strained from concentrating on the tight twisty roads for so long. Rainbow was asleep but I identified the yellow BD tent and camped nearby in the rather expensive Marmolada camp ground which had all the charm of a parking lot.

When we met the next morning Rainbow was as expected- long hair, vegan, into dumpster diving and freebies and of hippy-dope smoking- parent origin. He was a NOLS instructor out of Lander in Wyoming. Fortunately he was usually a safe partner, if a little too textbookish and unwilling to tolerate improvisations or anything that I might suggest. He did manage to irritate me by being unintentionally patronising almost all of the time. Still it was good to have an OK partner who enjoyed long multipitch routes so mostly I just bit my tongue. Although I thought I might scream if I heard "frickin awesome", "Rad", "cool" or "yeehah" one more time to describe the climb or the view. Unfortunately these 4 expressions seemed to be his only descriptors. And after enduring one too many obligatory high fives at the top of a route my facial expression suggested he leave it alone next time. (Yes I know, I'm such a bitch sometimes).

We spent the first day doing single pitch sports routes in the most stunning scenery. It was microcragging- 25 metre routes while 600m of limestone towered overhead. It was a good way to assess each other and to get used to the rock quality. We were happy to embark on the first of 5 big routes the next day- The Kasnakoff route up the second Sella tower, 9 pitches, 250m. It was a good introduction to the big wall routes in the Dolomites- chossy rock- undergraded- difficult route finding and dodgy fixed protection including rusty and broken pitons and faded wooden stakes. It also introduced us to the joys of Dolomite descents- at times tricky down climbing on polished rock. It was great fun, though not exactly sustained, a few moves between scrambles. We got stuck in traffic in the afternoon peak hour return to Canazei. The road is full of tourists, speeding, overtaking on blind corners, dodging tour buses which take up the road, all the while trying to admire the view.

One thing we did agree on was that the campsite in Canazei was unpleasant and we managed to find a nice wooded spot off a dirt track halfway to the pass. This meant we were closer to the climbs, we were 10 minutes walk away from a nice cafe which served "a selection of noble chocolates presented in very exclusive recipes, which combine the fresh energy of ice-cream with the velvet-like sweetness of hot chocolate", it was quiet at night, and it was free. We both liked starting early as well and were usually on the second pitch of a route before any climbers could be heard approaching neighbouring climbs.

We planned to try the Third Sella tower via the Vitazner route the next day and started up the route in fog. At the first belay there were spots of rain, then blue sky, but I could see a rain shadow across the valley. Rainbow decided to head up the second pitch, and then faced a downclimb back to my belay when it started to hail. I certainly didn't want to head up a 13 pitch route in iffy weather so we tried to find a sports crag in the valley, got a bit lost but ended up having a nice walk and sitting out a downpour drinking grappa (well I had a taste- blah).

With the weather still uncertain we headed to the 'boulders" at Passo Sella the next day. These boulders are 12 to 15 metres high, usually with one side overhanging and full of great pockets and fissures and very safely bolted. We did seven pumpy routes. The weather was improving so it was back on the long routes and knowing the way, we had a flying start on the third Sella tower in the morning. The top out of this climb is onto a small plateau like an eagles nest. The route wasn't too difficult but it was still partly wet which added to the alpine feel. The descent again was rugged with a couple of rappels near the end down a gully prone to rockfall. We experienced more rockfall the next day when we started up the Big Micheluzzi on Piz Schiavies, another 13 pitch climb with a famous airy traverse. As I started up the first pitch rocks started to rattle down. There were no other climbers on the wall so it was either a chamois, or some thermal effect as the face started to warm up. It continued for about 40 minutes so we bailed while we could and did a 5 pitch route called Pope John Paul II nearby and then climbed on some lovely pocketed dolomite at Passo Gardner and came back the next day. This is the only time we were beaten to the start of a route- a couple of Brits were above us but kindly let us pass. Unfortunately they also let 2 Italian guys pass and they follwed us so closely they were literally putting there feet on the handholds we needed to use (on the traverse which wanders up and down). They weren't any quicker than us and after it was safe to let them pass they held us up for an hour.

We decided to move to a new area so the next day caught the bus to the Rosengarten-Catinaccio area. We stayed at the Rifugio Vajolet- exceptional value with a NZAC card. Although I was keen to do the 3 Vajolet towers we were running a bit late and opted for the 4 pitch Steger route on the 3rd tower which had decent and sustained climbing. Rainbow took a whipper on the second pitch for reasons I am not sure of, dragging me into the ceiling of the belay cave (I had looked for a low anchor point but there was nothing) and jamming the nut he had fallen on so tightly it took me 15 minutes to chisel out. I really liked this climb- it actually felt like business all the way and I could only marvel at Steger hammering in bits of fence post and wire and climbing on a hemp rope and boots on the first ascent.

The next morning we hit the rock at 6am to climb the 18 pitch 600m East Face of Rosengartenspitz. I got all the crux pitches but Rainbow got 2 nice chimneys which I then had to climb with the pack on. It wasn't so bad- they were very Agammenon like with wall to wall bridging. The route was only marred by the exit pitch- a slimy loose chimney, and then it was a 20 minute scramble to the summit. That night Rainbow got pretty sick and spent most of the time vomiting. We walked out slowly the next morning and I gave him some antiemetics and lots of fluid and drove to Arco. It took him a couple of days to recover but fortunately Arco was hosting Rockmaster that weekend and I sat around and watched some virtuoso climbing displays feeling very weak. Hopefully some of it rubbed off!

Arco is a beautiful town and we stopped in to visit the castle perched on limestone cliffs with views to Lago del Garda. The Arco climbing guide is about the dimensions of a phone book there is so much limestone around. Once Rainbow recovered we visited 2 of the crags Muro del Fassa and Massone. Massone is the most popular crag in the area and was ridiculously hot and noisy. There are some good climbs there, lots of hard stuff including a 9, but I didn't have time to give it a shot, even sporting my new shoes.

I dropped Rainbow at the airport near Milan, drove through Valle d'Aosta (more rock everywhere- maybe next time) and through the Mont Blanc tunnel to reach Chamonix. My Indian visa did not seem to be happening from phone calls over the previous week so I felt I had better show my face in Geneva again. I had arranged to meet Jono Schmidt from Melbourne in Geneva (thanks Carolina) and though it would have been nice to do some alpine routes my need to hang around the visa office limited us to rock. Jono was a breath of fresh air after Rainbow!

After enduring more lectures at the Indian Consulate and "come back Friday with your passport, we will see what we can do" Jono and I headed to Leysin via the crag I had failed to locate before (Yvorne Drappel). Taking the time to get a map from the tourist office meant we found the crag in no time. It wasn't great rock, the lines are a bit contrived and seem to overlap each other. The locals weren't too friendly either. We set up camp in an old quarry above Leysin (a great view) and the next morning walked up to the Sphinx on Tour d'Ai. We did two 5 pitch routes, the second was great although the limestone pockets were finger sized or just under with little razorblades of rock in between and it got increasingly painful as the day progressed.

Friday saw me in Geneva and it seemed if I left my passport there for the day a stamp would magically appear by 5pm despite missing information from Australia. I drove to Le Saleve (Oops it was across the border in France, fortunately no passport checks) but found the rock super polished and rain threatening so we did 2 routes and drove back to collect the damn visa and then on to Chamonix where I was to leave Jono after my last European climb the next day. It would have been good to get to Interlaken, but its probably a good thing that I didn't see the north face of the Eiger. We did another great route at Barberine (Pied au Viper) slightly spoiled by some Euros trying to muscle in on us, but some dastardly pitch linking, tolerating rope drag and running out of quickdraws saw us gain the upper hand!

At the bottom of the climb there is a deep pool fed by a waterfall and as the day had turned hot it was "what the hell, its my last day in Europe" so in I jumped and as quickly jumped out, but only after making sure Jono committed himself to the icy pond.

So it was back to Geneva, a nostalgic farewell to my little Peugot of which I had grown quite fond, and some all night packing for my Passage to India.

Au revoir
Vanessa

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