Saturday
22 July (Diarist: Martin W)
Despite
delivering last night's meal in a somewhat random order, our waiter was good
enough to supply us each with a 'shot' of 'Grappo' (aircraft fuel according to
John). This probably helped us all to sleep well and wake to a fine morning,
rapidly becoming hot. Laurie is a little slow off the mark and has his kit in
total disarray whilst everyone else is neatly packed and ready to go by 8:45 am.
We
pay, have odds and ends to buy in town before taking to the Funivia once more,
this time back up to La Rosetta. An exciting ride, everyone experiencing
difficulty in leaping off the chairlift carrying 20kg sacks in front of them.
After
a delay due to having to make a phone call to confirm their flight home, Martin
B, Dave and John moved off sharpish. I dallied a while, taking photos of
Italian kids playing in the snow (probably quite a rarity for most of them).
[Again today, the pictures are from the 'advance party' and the text is from the 'rear gunner'.]
Suddenly
the dynamic 3 could not be seen. I moved to a vantage point to try and spot
them. I wait a few minutes and Laurie appears. The Guidebook says to follow a
water pipe up to the col where there is a sign, and then descend.
We
don't realise that we have already reached this point because the sign we see
below is pointing in the wrong direction and the pipe continues up the mountain
We therefore climb about 300 metres up Cima di Roda before realising our
mistake and spotting the zigzag path below. One hour and much energy wasted. In
fact, in our defence, it's not easy to see from the map whether the zigzag path
goes up or down.
Finally
back on the right track, we descend maybe 300 metres until the path curves
around the south of Cima di Roda, levelling off on a grassy plateau. We stop for
a quick brew and lunch before moving onto the aided section and pass that
follows.
Roughly
100 metres of steel cable aided a traverse along a steep cliff. A good ledge
was provided most of the way, but one particular section was tricky, requiring
leaning out from the cliff for those with high packs, or perhaps ducking under
the cable and walking between it and the rock for a few feet for those with
packs of reasonable size. I would say that this section was definitely 'airy'!
A
short break was followed by another long cable that was hardly necessary,
leading up a sloping section to within a few minutes climb to the top of the
col, Passo di Ball.
Down
the other side we were in climbers' country proper. Enormous cliffs surrounded
the plateau containing Rifugio Pradidali, and little figures could be seen
clambering about high above and often heard shouting to each other.
A
short stop at the Rifugio (soup for Laurie, cappuccino for me), followed by a
climb up the valley to the north past Lago Pradidali, which was very low.
Bearing
east we then began the ascent up to Forcella di Lede. There was much more of
this than first met the eye. The first blind summit led to a rocky section
where a considerable amount of unaided climbing was in store. I enjoyed this:
plenty of good hand holds in the old pitted limestone, and the route was well
marked with red paint. From high up, this particular valley could be seen to
have a stepped structure - at least three levels were clearly visible. There
must be some clear cut geological reason for such a striking feature (- raised
beaches?).
After
much longer than expected, the 2640 metre col is reached - nearly as high as
the surrounding peaks. Stupendous views are by now becoming commonplace, but they
are there all the same. To the south, a sea of cloud made for some interesting
photos.
Then
a long descent over loose stony paths begins - many photos were finally curtailed by
descending below the cloud. Bits of what appeared to be aeroplane wreckage were
scattered about.
At
about 7 pm we arrive outside the bivouac hut Carlo Minazio.
Some Italians,
one lucky chap wearing a yellow "think pink" sweatshirt (?!), and two
girls point out a cluster of tents below in the mist. It is indeed the dynamic
trio come to rest before Rifugio Treviso. We are quite pleased we don't have to
go any further today.
A lot
of purility on the campsite tonight. Big bully boy Dave rubs sheep poo into Laurie's
hair after cornering the latter in his tent. Revenge for the electric fence
joke? If so, it was not matched in subtlety. However, I believe it was Laurie who
started flicking bits of poo around to start with, and although I cannot be
sure of the train of events, the war probably escalated for some reason. He who
plays with fire...
(Dave
adds: Yes indeed - Laurie flicked sheep shit at my dinner - very puerile -
though my reaction was a little over the top, I think Laurie enjoyed it!)
Initial
calm tonight was followed by rain and blustery wind that died down again by
10:30 pm.
Here's our route - 10 km, with 950 metres of ascent.
Later:
Martin W has kindly provided the following additional images:
Laurie negotiates a wired section
A view from near our campsite
Round-leaved Pennycress
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