Mountain Day 2 - Civetta
Grade 4 Seriousness C
Route quality
*****
What attracted us to this route was it's alpine / mountaineering aspect,
something that we really appreciate. The route climbs 1650m and finishes
on the summit of the 5th highest peak in the Dolomites, Monte Civetta. .
We decided to break the route up into two days with an overnight stay at
a Rifugio Coldai. In the end we spent a further night in the Rifugio on the
descent as well.
The route started in the town of Alleghesi Only
the first stage of the 2-stage Alleghesi chairlift was operating so we
had to hike up trails some of the way towards the Col dei Baldi. Trail
556 was followed steeply up the flank of Cima Coldai arriving at the
scenically located Rifugio Coldai in the late afternoon sun.
After a good night in the refuge, trail 557 was
started the next morning, with the route traversing below the towers of the Civetta's northern sub-peaks. The start of the
via ferrata was reached
after about an hour and a half of walking and with fine rain falling a
decision to go up or turn back had to be taken. We decided to set out on
the climb and see what it was like.
The lower route looked quite
steep from a distance, but it was actually not too difficult with plenty of aid throughout.
Even though wet, the rock was extremely grippy. The
crux of the climb was a chimney section towards the top of the initial
face but this was easily scaled in the end.
After 700m of climbing, the main ridge of the Civetta was reached.
From this point on the angle of the route eased. When the mist
cleared, we were treated to good views down the massive sweep of the
1000m West Face of Civetta. The summit was finally reached and the
"visitors" book duly signed. Surprisingly, evidence from the book would
indicated there had been very few British climbers on the summit in
recent months. Unfortunately, views were limited to the western flank
of the mountain by the thick mist.
From the summit, the Via Normale descent route was
followed past the Rifugio Torrani. The mist had really closed in now so it took a considerable time playing "dot to dot" with the
red way
marks to ensure we did not go off route. The route included a
considerable amount of wire assisted descent which was very much
appreciated. After a section of scree, the junction with
trail 557 was reached and at this point we stopped for food. Time
was getting on so it was decided to head back to the refuge and spend
the night there rather than ending up back at the car in Alleghesi at a
very late hour. We traversed below Civetta's peak stunned by the views
of route
we had just completed.
Back at Rifugio Coldai we enjoyed a celebratory drink, had a good meal then crashed out for the night.
The walk out the next day was very pleasant and included a swim in Coldai lake. |
