Many via ferratas were originally built to aid the movements of alpine military units during the First World War, and now they represent one of the major attractions in the Dolomites. They are, in effect, a range of protected routes, with fixed cables, ladders and even gorge-spanning bridges, which aid ascent to places normally reserved for expert rock climbers.
In recent years, old wartime routes have been restored and many new routes added to give a network of routes around the whole Dolomite region. Some of the new ferratas are ‘sport routes’, often technically quite hard, as you will see from our assessment of the grades.
Routes are regularly checked, maintained and waymarked by the Italian Alpine Club, the CAI (Club Alpino Italiano). You will also see reference to SAT (Societa degli Alpinisti Tridentini), which is the CAI’s largest section, with more than 20,000 members in 76 sections. SAT has 39 refuges and 12 bivouacs, and maintains over 6000km of paths, including via ferratas, and thus plays a major role in maintaining the Dolomite environment.
How to use this Guide
This guide departs from the usual convention of listing routes by reference to the geological group in which they lie. Instead routes are grouped according to the best point of access to help you decide where to set up base. This has inevitably involved a few fairly arbitrary judgements, and many of the valley bases are sufficiently close together to enable you to tackle several different groups from a single location. Information is also included on the availability of cable cars and jeep taxis, which can make getting to the start of the route considerably easier and conserve your energies for the climb.
The availability of maps is covered in ‘Map Availability and Place Names’ below. Most via ferratas are indicated on the maps in popular use, although errors in location and naming are not unknown. You should also note that as the Dolomite mountains are characterised by such swooping, vertical faces, maps can only give a fairly diagrammatic impression of topography. This means that it is not always easy to visualise the vertical dimension of a route, especially the gradient to be encountered, nor is it easy to visualise the exposure involved until confronted by it! Even some of the technically easier via ferratas will take you into some extremely exposed situations, as indicated in the route descriptions; this has been taken into account in the assessment of grades.
The lovely town of Arco is dominated by its castle
The route location diagrams for this guide are just that – diagrammatic. Their purpose is simply to help the reader locate the route on the appropriate map. Note that their scale varies, depending on whether it is more helpful to place the route in its wider context or to give more detail. The diagrams are not a substitute for a properly detailed map for use on the hill.
The times given in the guide assume a reasonable level of fitness on the part of the climber and, just as important, no undue congestion on the route. However, these timings are for guidance only, so whilst a fit and experienced via ferratist will frequently complete a route more quickly than the guide time, it is possible that the busier and more accessible routes will require twice as long as the guide time.
The expression ‘via ferrata’ tends to be used as a generic term relating to any protected route. However, there is other nomenclature used locally which you will come across. ‘Sentiero’, ‘sentiero attrezzato’, ‘sentiero alpinistico’, ‘percoso attrezzato’ and ‘cengia’ (Italian for ‘ledge’) are some of the other terms in common use. To avoid confusion, this guidebook has adopted the terms used locally. You will, incidentally, often find that routes called ‘sentieros’ are easier than those referred to as via ferrata routes. Whilst some sentieros are fully equipped with cables, ladders and stemples, many are little more than extended traverses of mountainous areas, involving less challenging terrain. Here, the need for protective cables is limited to the more exposed passages encountered. Nonetheless, you should note that even though some of the easier sentieros have limited hands-on climbing, they often have considerable exposure! (Note: while the plural of ‘via ferrata’ is, of couse, ‘vie ferrate’, this guide uses the anglicised form, ‘via ferratas’.)
Route Groupings
Several foreign-language guidebooks exist to via ferrata climbing, using slightly different approaches to grouping routes, although most are based on geological groups. This book, however, organises routes around the most convenient valley bases in which to stay, or from which to approach the routes (although routes are cross-referred to mountain groups in Appendix 3). As with all systems this leads to some anomalies or overlaps. It is important to stress, however, that this is a guidebook: given a map, some local knowledge and, most importantly, some time to spend enjoying the Dolomites, you will work out your own itineraries for your via ferrata days. We hope you have as much fun in the Dolomites as we have, and are sure you will enjoy poring over your maps and working things out for yourselves! For a detailed description of the grading system used in the guide, see the ‘Safety’ section.
When to Go
There is no ideal time to go to the Dolomites, as there are a number of factors to consider; although, as with any mountain area, good luck with the weather is critical.
A number of the routes in this volume are at lower altitudes, especially those around Lake Garda. Consequently many of these routes are climbable at almost any time of the year. They are also easily accessible from several airports to the south (e.g. Venice, Verona, Brescia), making ferrata climbing a short-break (even long weekend) option. Such routes are, however, perhaps best avoided in the heat and crowds of high summer.
Climbers on VF degli Alleghesi, Monte Civetta (AGORD 1 and 2)
The season for via ferrata climbing in the higher mountains is, of course, greatly dependent on the extent of snow fall in the previous winter and the timing of the first snows of autumn. Generally speaking, mid- to late June until the end of September is the period you should consider for your trip. Lower south-facing routes will be in condition for the longest period. Like all mountain areas, though, the weather can be unpredictable, and snow is not unknown even in August.
Rif. Torre di Pisa (see BOLZ 1)
August is an extremely busy month, when all Italians head for the beach or the mountains. On the plus side, all the summer lift services operate in August, as do the bus services. The downside is that the popular via ferratas will be very busy, and the cost of accommodation will be at its highest. Mountain rifugios are also busy, so a phone call to book beds in advance is advisable in high summer.
Travel to the Dolomites
The quickest way to get to Italy is to fly, with Venice, Treviso, Bolzano, Verona, Brescia, Munich and Innsbruck all providing speedy access to the region. Budget operators currently fly into Venice, Treviso and Brescia. Bus services run from all airports into the Dolomites, but frequency is often poor, even non-existent on Sundays (see below, ‘Local Transport’).
While cars can be hired at any airport, rates are cheaper in Germany, so the extra drive from Munich may be worthwhile if time allows. Although not essential for many of the popular via ferratas, a car is certainly very useful in getting around: dependence on public transport takes a sizeable chunk out of your climbing time. The European motorway network is now so good that it is possible to drive from the channel ports into the Dolomites in one long day, although most would choose to break their journey.
The French and Italian motorways are tolled, while use of Austrian motorways requires a ‘vignette’ sticker (valid for 10 days, 2 months or 1 year), which can be bought at border filling stations/shops or at tabacs if entering Austria by non-motorway routes (see www.vignette.at/oe for current prices). The main road into Italy, the Brenner pass, involves an additional fee and can be chaotic in high season. Both the fee and the crowds can be avoided