If you’re staying somewhere around Vicenza, and you love rock climbing in the mountain, then you must plan a visit to the Piccole Dolomiti. In English you can say “Little Dolomites” as they really look like the Dolomite Mountains, but they’re smaller, and pretty accessible. It’s around 1h drive to Camprogrosso Pass from Vicenza, you get up to1400 meter above…
September is always a good month for mountaineering. A couple of big snowfalls improved significantly the conditions around the glaciers, and many 4000 meter peak turned out to be in very good conditions. A quick getaway with Enrico delivered two fantastic days on the Berner Oberland, where we climbed the Monch and the Jungfrau the day after, both via the…
Climbing the normal route to the top of the Campanile di Val Montanaia is not just a good climbing route, it was an important achievement for the climbing history on one of the most spectacular rocky towers in the Dolomites , also known as the “petrified scream”. The Campanile di Val Montanaia is a 300m tall spire of the Dolomiti…
In my mountain experiences as a climber and mountain guide I never had the chance to climb with a pregnant woman before this last summer. Norie, like me, she made her passion to become a profession, as she is a AMGA certified rock climbing guide in Boulder, Colorado, where she lives with her husband, a guide too. She went through…
It’s been not my good year to climb to the top of Mont Blanc. In the spring we missed the summit due to the strong wind, in July we didn’t go anyfurther the Grand Couloir du Gouter for the crazy wind and the new snow, at the end of August we broke trail to the Tete Rousse Hute and then…
The Cosmiques Arete is what I call the “perfect office” of a Chamonix guide. It is rare to find such a beautiful, all terrain and at the same time short climbing route, with quick access and way out thanks to the Aiguille du Midi cable car. You will find all the different characters and aspects of a high mountain “grand…
After the Matterhorn week I spent with Helen I spent more time in Chamonix for some classic summer alpinism courses. The good weather and heat did not give up, and it was very interesting to me to go back and climb again the traverse of the Aiguille d’Entreves few days after, and see the rapid change on the glacier conditions. As…
Climbing the Matterhorn is not easy, not even via the Hornli Ridge. The mountain needs to be in good shape (read in good condition, without snow below 4000 meters), but above all you have to be ready, up to a big day of 8-9 hours in high altitude where you can count the minutes break on your two hnads fingers….
Despite being pretty far from home, I always like to go climbing on the Odle massif. Its north walls, the ones facing the Funes valley (Reinhold Messner native land) are the most photographed and popular, but not for the climbers as the climbing routes are very demanding and mostly on poor rock; on the other side, where the sun shines,…
Rock climbing on the Piz Ciavazes is something special to me, I climbed there my first multi pitch route in the Dolomites, on the ramp to the right just before the way harder Abram Arete. I always like to come back there to climb, particularly off season when the “MotoGp” on the road passes is over and the tourists are…
To be honest, this is not the right summer to do some alpinism and mountaineering around the glaciers of the Alps, somewhat like in 2003. We had a general dry winter all over the Alps, then in June we were already roasting because of the heat wave that brought the isotherm over 5000 meters. The snow disappeared below 3000 meters…