Extreme Italy

by SM

Mon, 09 Jul 2007
The first week of July 2007 saw intrepid climbers Daniele Fausti and Simon Marquis meeting up in northern Italy for a few days in the Italian Alps. After Simon flew into Bergamo Airport (after yet another Ryanair delay), Daniele and Simon headed first to the hills for a hike up a nearby mountain. After reaching the 2800m summit, the pair were surprised to see snow falling in the summer sun.

The Friday morning started with a 0430am wake-up - oh, but you've got to be dedicated when you're a climber. Daniele and Simon then picked up Giancarlo, reknowned climber and neighbour of Daniele, and headed north-east for a day's climbing in the Dolomites.

The tower of Sella had been chosen for the day's activities: a 360m climb of around ten pitches. The morning started cold, with an Alpine wind forcing the three to don all items of clothing in an effort to keep warm. Giancarlo led on twin ropes, with Simon and Daniele climbing up each pitch together once Giancarlo had them secure. The morning progressed steadily, with the first half of the tower climbed without problem. After reaching a step about half way up, the three had to force an overhang before continuing. The last two pitches increased in difficulty, requiring fine footwork and balls of steel on Giancarlo's part, as he led the route through some tricky route-finding problems.

The second crux of the climb came on the last pitch before the summit, with thin holds and much exposure contributing to a fall on Simon's part. Once back on the wall, Simon and Daniele made one final push for the summit and joined Giancarlo at 2900m on the top of the tower. Of course, that was only the half way point, as the three had to extract themselves from the tower by abseiling and down-climbing, with some spine-tingling drops of hundreds of meters for company.