Via Ferrata Michielli Strobel to Pte. Fiammes

September 22, 2019

We drove to Hotel Fiammes on a nice morning and found the start of the route fairly easily. A short hike through the woods brought us up into the sub-alpine zone, after which we had a 300 meter climb of loose scree and talus blocks, finally arriving at the base of the Michielli Strobel via ferrata. This was marked by a plaque and a single stemple to get up the first short ledge. We geared up here and as we were just starting further upwards, a couple arrived who we would run into several more times later in the day during the descent.

Looking up at the mountain on the approach.

The route started with some easy unprotected scrambling, where most of the key holds were exposed roots from the sub-alpine bushes. Finally the first wire appeared and it was game time. The climb was quite lovely. Almost all of it was on rock, with only the occasional stemple thrown in once in a while where needed to keep the grade at a reasonable level. Interspersed with the protected climbing was stretches of unprotected easy scrambling, no more than class 3. As we climbed higher, the weather started changing and other peaks around us started to cloud in, so I urged Kat on to finish this before things turned for the worse. Fortunately it never did and we were treated to several view points of Cortina from high above. The final feratta pitch started up an old sketchy ladder which transitioned to a set of stemples up an exposed face to some easier rock pitches above. When the final wire ran out, it was an easy scramble for the last 100 meteres to the top, a pointy summit, complete with a cross and register.

Scrambling before the wire.

Kat topping out one of the steep pitches.

As the guidebook put it... "climb the ladder, which is not a very good ladder".

Summit.

We had a quick lunch up here, and as we were packing up to leave, the other Italian couple arrived. A well trodden path took us around the other peaks of the massif, with one section of protected traverse to the top of a huge scree gully. 500 meters of boot skiing ensued, which was a fast and fun way to lose elevation in a hurry. The Itallian couple caught up to us near the bottom, and we hiked the next bit leap-frogging each other through a maze of paths through the scree and bushes. Eventually we picked up a hiking trail, which took us all the way back down into the valley. The Itallian couple passed us one last time as we stopped for a second lunch along here and that was the last we saw of them. Finally back at the hotel, we went in for a coffee and strudel prior to driving back to San Vito.

Traversing to the descent gully.

The way down.

Old railway building along the new cycle route..

Ascent time: 3.5 hours
Total time: 7 hours

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