Cortina Epic Week Part 5: 5 Torri

In the morning of the 5th day of our Cortina Epic Week it was a bit cooler and cloudier. We headed out to 5 Torri for some rockclimbing with our guide Enrico. Although we had practiced a little easy bouldering and indoor climbing in Finland, this was something completely different.

Enrico drove us to Rifugio 5 Torri at 2137m. We hiked about the trail up to about 2300m, above the treeline. From Cortina they look like five towers. When you get closer you can see many more towers. Torre Grande is divided into Cima Sud, Nord and Ovest. Torre Seconda consists of three boulders: Lusy, Barancio and Romana. The third peak is Torre Latina. Torre Quarta (4th) has two separate towers: Quarta Bassa (lower) and Quarta Alta (higher). The Fifth tower has been named Torre Inglese.

There were a wide variety of boulders all around. 5 Torri has about 130 climbing routes. One of them is Via Finlandia on Torre Grande (Cima Nord) by Matti A. Jokinen, a pioneer Finnish climber from our hometown Helsinki. There were lots of people in the area hiking or climbing already. We passed a recently fallen tower. The base remained, but the top had crashed down.

Enrico lead us to Quarta Bassa and told us this would be our first climb today. We were stunned: the tower looked huge when we stood by it. I started to have some doubts whether I could do this, but it was too late to turn back. We put on our harnesses, climbing shoes and helmets. Enrico lead fixing our ropes with quickdraws to the bolts. We simply followed the rope, picking up the quickdraws as we went by.

Soon we were about half-way with a tricky section. First there was a scary traverse under a protruding overhang. The people on the ground looked small as I looked down, searching for the next step. We cleared the horizontal part quite easily, but the next hold up seemed problematic. My son went for it first and made it without issues. I followed and soon we were on the top. I had scratches on my hands already, but felt triumphant as Enrico lowered us to the ground on the other side.

The clouds cleared while we had a relaxing pause between the towers. My iPhone indicated there was a geocache just a few meters away. Enrico had never tried geocaching, so we showed him how to search. The GPS was a bit jumpy between these tall towers. After looking under various rocks we found it.

Then we headed for the tallest tower: 140-meter Torre Grande. Enrico lead us to Cima Ovest (West Peak), assuring us it would be easy. I couldn't help thinking we were about to climb twice the height of Helsinki Olympic Stadium tower.

The climb was divided into three lengths of rope. It was mostly easy, but it was long and high. I could hear people down on the meadows. When I looked down to see what they were doing, they looked small as ants.

Somewhere in the middle section my son shouted that he cannot reach the next hold for his hand. I quickly moved under him and pushed him up. Then we came to a traverse to the right without nothing to stand on. We grabbed the rock hard with our hands and somehow made it. The remaining pitch felt relatively easy, and soon we reached the top of Torre Grande beside smiling Enrico. I felt so exhausted that I had to lie down on my back with my eyes closed for a while. The view was incredible. We felt euphoric while shooting photos.

We were not finished yet. Three pitches up meant three pitches down as well. The safest way down was on the other side. We had to wait for some other climbers to get down before us. We carefully avoided dropping loose rocks. When rappelling down I hit my shin bulging sharp rock and got a nice scratch despite wearing long trousers. There was no pain, thanks to the adrenaline flowing in my veins.

Finally we reached a trail down to the bottom of the tower. We quickly moved away as they were other climbers coming down already. They were perhaps too fast and some rocks rolled down the steep slope. Soon we found our bags and stopped for some drinks and snacks. Then we hiked down to the 5 Torri hut. The restaurant was open so we celebrated with drinks before returning to our hotel in early afternoon.

This was mentally one of the hardest workouts ever. My Suunto Movescount and Strava data are online. This was certainly the most epic day of our epic week!

Cortina Epic Week Part 4: Cascate di Fanes

On the 4th day of our Cortina Epic Week 2016 we chose a slightly different destination: Cascate di Fanes. The word was these waterfalls are simply awesome. Now after the constant daily rain in Dolomites for the whole spring and early summer, the rivers were full of water. In fact this was the first sunny week in Cortina this year. So let's go!

Our guide Paolo drove us to Pian de Loa at 1349m. We hiked a few kilometers to the entrance of Valle di Fanes. We put on our Via Ferrata gear and followed Sentiero dei Canyons e delle Cascate trail on the North side of River Fanes.

Our expectations were high, but so were the waterfalls. The highest were about 100 meters. These were some of the largest waterfalls in the Dolomites. We were almost literally blown away as we went along the wet misty route. We got wet but it was ok, as it was gorgeous sunny day. It was very pleasant to be in the valley that day.

We hiked back the Val de Travenanzes on the South side of the river, crossing Ponte Outo bridge. This was the same trail we ran in Lavaredo Ultra Trail, only in reverse direction. By the time we reached the car we felt tired but happy. My watch said it was 14km with 800m climbing.

Absolutely fantastic and spectacular trip! Definitely the highlight of the week. There are a few exposed and difficult points on slippery (and possibly falling) rocks, so proper Via Ferrata and rain gear is essential for safety. Having said that, we experienced no difficulties as the weather was awesome.

Again, here's a ton of photos. The real thing looks even better, of course. Don't hesitate to visit Fanes Valley if you are visiting this part of the Dolomites in early summer.