MOUNTAINEERING
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25 years later
In the winter 1989 I was in Tenerife and ascended alone the northeastern slope to the top of the mountain Teide, almost 3800 meters high. It was like a rebirth; I could scramble in the mountains again!
The next summer I visited with my wife Tarja the Alps of Berchtesgaden, where we made the ascension of the Watzmann Hocheck. Then in the Dolomites we could climb some other easy routes. At last we drove to the valley of San Martino di Castrozza, where the gigantic yellowish mountain walls hang above the small village. One of the most beautiful tops is Cimon della Pala with its 3200 meters, especially when seen from the Pass of Rolle. It seems to have vertical slopes on all sides.
A cableway took us up to the 'altipiano', where we spent the night in a mountain hut. It was a long march to the eastern saddle of Cimon, where the vertical part began. Tarja took her new 'cats paw' climbing shoes, but I said: 'I prefer these mountain boots even if they are heavy'. As Tarja fastened her harness, I fixed the rope round my chest with a double bulink-knot. And when we made the descent 'abseil', I used the old system of letting the rope glide round my body.
When we returned to the Alps the next year, I had already learned to trust in the new inventions they had made during my 25 years' absence...
Climbing in the fog
In the winter 1991 we flied to the island Mallorca, where there are many wild small mountains and many interesting routes to climb. In summer we found Arco in the northern end of the lake Garda. The vertical walls of the mount Colodri were too much for us, but we found the 350 m high gray slopes of 'Placche Zebrata' very alluring. Unfortunately we started too late in the morning and were nearly roasted to death by the merciless sun.
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Vajolet Towers |
In Catinaccio are the famous Vajolet-towers. We chose the vertical Torre Stabeler, which offered some exciting moments during the ascent and an airy descent. Then we moved to Alagna and took the cableway to the Gnifetti-hut. It was already noon, as we started a short afternoon walk. For all security we took the rope and the ice axes along. On the glacier we met many parties, that were descending. 'Nothing to do, the fog is too dense', they said. We fixed the rope and continued. At the end we had almost reached the 4000 meters level. 'How about trying Piramide Vincent?', I asked. Tarja nodded and we continued. The route along the snow-slope to the top of the white triangle was in sight. Then came the fog, and we could only see a couple of meters ahead of us. Sometimes the veil dispersed away and then came back again. At the end the slope was not steep any more. We were on the top of that 4125-m high mountain.
On the Thumb's top
In the winter 1992 we visited the Spanish Costa Blanca and climbed on the extraordinary mountain Peñon de Ifac, which emerges 300 meters from the sea. And in summer of course it was the turn of the Dolomites. In the pass of Sella the Five Finger Top (Cima delle Cinque Dita) is one of the main attractions. A cableway leads to the hut at the foot of the mountain. We aimed at the 'Thumb', which is not very difficult to climb, but offers good holds and verticality on all sides. After the last rope-length I put a sling round the top and belay Tarja. Rope round the mountain!
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Vajolet 1992 |
The descent begins with two abseils. Then small piles of stone show the way. The slope is not steep in the beginning, but then disappears from sight. I recall one Italian guide saying there is an abseil-route on the left side. There I find a convenient gully leading vertically down. A sling is put round a block and down we go. After the second abseil I begin to doubt if this really is the right way. All around loose blocks and gravel. I belay Tarja, who slowly climbs downwards.
Then the slope is vertical again. I find a block that emerges from the wall and moves if touched. But it seems strong enough, and I put a sling round it. The abseil leads us to a small terrace. At the same time the lightning strikes, the thunder clacks and it begins to rain. Soon we are wet through, and Tarja is freezing horribly. I fix our last good sling on a block and descend as first. We have two 50-m ropes, so we can get really a good amount lower with every abseil. This time I arrive on a steep snow slope. After Tarja has descended successfully, I pull the rope down. It gets stuck somewhere, and I pull and pull. We can not continue without the ropes. At last it comes, and I take a deep suck of relief.
We descend the snow slope and find several pitons and old slings, where the last vertical drop begins. Now at last we are on the right way! When we march to the hut it is almost dark, and the cableway doesn't function any more. So it is a long march to the valley that waits for us.
On the way back home we drive through the Simplon-pass to Switzerland. In Saas Fee the car is put into a big garage, and at 7.30 o'clock in the morning we take the first cableway up. The next leg is with a funicular through an ice tunnel to Mittel-Allalin. There we fix the rope and start for the ascent that leads us to the top of Allalinhorn, over 4000 meters. Before the noon we are back in Mittel-Allalin taking a couple of beers in the rotating restaurant. The alpine scrambles are not always so hard!
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Via Micheluzzi 1994 |
Via Micheluzzi
We start the 1993 campaign with the Claudia-route on the Placche Zebrate. This time we are at the foot of the wall as soon as the day breaks. If we are rapid enough the heat of the sun may be avoided. Also we are high on the wall when the next parties arrive at the foot, and thus there will be no danger of falling stones for us.
However, the ascent of the Micheluzzi on the Piz de Ciavázes south wall is the culmination of this season. We had tried it already the precedent year climbing the four first ropelengths. As the beginning was now familiar, we could clear it without any special difficulties. Then there is the famous 90-m traverse, which is all the time vertical and quite smooth. During these 90 meters there are overhangs over the route and overhangs under the traverse. You just have to progress horizontally to the right without gaining any altitude at all. And the possible descent is more problematic the more you advance.
We climb the route as the first party of the day and there are not any climbers on the heels of us. So we have thus a freedom of movements during the whole ascension.
At last Colodri
This is the year we at last dare to try the difficult wall of Colodri. We make in all order the famous Sommadossi-route and arrive to the summit at noon. A couple of days later we climb also the neighboring Rupe Secca via the Tyskiewicz-route. Both are of the VI degree and contain passages of 6b.
On the Piz de Ciavázes southern bastion we climb the most difficult of the classic routes in the group of Sella, Via Schubert. Already at noon we are drinking a glass of beer in the Hotel Flora and after that looking with others at the parties climbing the Via Micheluzzi.
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Placche Zebrate 1993 |
We returned to the Colodri many times. In 1997 we scrambled up the Renata Rossi -route. And two years later the longest of all, Katia Monte. After having cleared the initial crux rope lengths of 6b difficulty, I thought we had the climb in the pocket. But the last three rope lengths of some 100 m of steep an overhanging rock demanded the last reserves of strength from us.
The cracks of the Katia Monte were often overhanging and there were only a few pitons available. As we had not many Camalots and friends with us, we could not assure our climb very well. Tarja lead the last rope lengths and hard times again and again. I had the rope coming from above, but it did not help much in the overhangs. I could not let my fingers or feet slip as hanging at the end of the rope would have meant severe difficulties for us. In many places we had to clear the crack by layback technique, which means putting the feet against the farther side of the crack and pulling from the near edge which was often round and without grips.
After the Katia Monte we made another difficult climb on the nearby Rupe Secca -wall, Via Stenico. It was shorter, but its key spot was a heavy overhang in the height of some 150 meters.
Then we recalled that this was the year 1999, exactly 40 years after the first ascension of the Via Finlandia route in the Cortina d'Ampezzo Dolomites.
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In a recent topo guide book of the Dolomites, 'Dolomiten Kletterführer' by Anette Köhler-Norbert Memmel, the Via Finlandia route was taken along as one of the best 100 climbs on the Dolomites. 'The route winds itself skillfully through the overhangs in a steep wall. A joy for people who are able to make VII degree climbs'.
I was proud on so much praise and was eager to try the route, which I could not very well recall after 40 years. At the time of the first ascent I was 27 years old and now accordingly 67. We were in the Cinque Torri hut in the evening and started early the next morning. This summer was a bad one on the Eastern Alps, and day awakened chilly and rainy. But I knew that on that wall we would be protected against the rain.
I could find several rusty pitons, which I had hammered in the rock cracks during the first climb. They were in an astounding good condition. The route was more difficult than I could imagine, and I had great pains to clear the fourth rope length. The lightning stroke near by several times, and the voice of the thunder accompanied our climb towards the wet top plateau of the Torre Grande.
In Cortina my old friend Gualtiero Ghedina invited us to his wine cellar and said that he did not know any local climber who would have made a difficult route 40 years after his first.
Image Gallery of Via Finlandia
2000 - First in France
During the summer 2000 (see the image gallery) we have over two months at disposal and it is decided to make a tour along the European sports climbing centres. We begin in France and arrive at Saussois in the end of June. I know this site quite well because I was there twice in the 1950s.
There is a peaceful camp on the other side of the river Yonne, where we drive our camping car. The charge is very decent, in fact this was one of the cheepest camps we met. The hosts did not write down our names when arriving and they disappear always in the late afternoon.
On the eastern side of the river, where the coral rock walls are, there is an excellent parking lot beside the road. You can see it from all the climbing routes and thus can keep an eye on the car all the time.
The route 'La Rech' is not difficult at all, and we start with it. But soon we discover that we must take it seriously: the grips have become like marble during the 40 years since my last visit! The French bring even their minor age kids to the rocks and pull them up with the ropes. This enormous wear and tear has had its effect in almost all routes of Saussois. There is another site quite near, which is called Le parc, where the situation is even worse. Here you have to pay for the trend of the modern times. The popularity of the sports climbing has severe drawbacks. And this is one of them. There are not enough rock climbing walls in the world if the masses are led to them.
In the Finnish climbing circles I have tried to point out that it is not wise tactics to try propagate the climbing as a hobby for the masses. The more there are devotees the more we all have to suffer. The climbing area bans in Germany are a warning example.
The next place is Surgy, where the wild vertical ridges are a challenge. Here the parking area is out of sight, which is especially in France a disadvantage. On the other hand the rock is far more better than in Saussois. Even in the most popular routes it's surface is matt brown, and the friction is always good.
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In the French magazine 'Escalade', number 3 of 1996, some 300 sites of climbing were presented with suberb color photographs. One certain image caught my eye: 'The Organs of Châteuneuf'. It is question of basalt rock with parallel vertical pillars of soft light-brown color. We went to great pains in order to see the site. And at last we found it: amongst the 'mountains' of Haute Auvergne, near the pittoresque old small-town of Riom ès Montagne.
But what a disappointment the Châteauneuf was! It was situated at the end of a small uneven country road, behind an explosed farmhouse. There was a lot of vegetation on the wall and how small the wall was! It is some 10 meters high only. The routes are quite alike, so that once you have made one of them, you have made them all.
The German climbing magazine 'Klettern' had an article about Gorges de la Jonte describing the joint as a suberb one. The scenery is exceptional, vertical mountain chains on both sides of a deep ravine. The walls of the innumerable Eastern peaks looked as ideal targets for sport climbing. But we never got that far.
The municipal camping place was expensive, and the hosts unfriendly and bureaucratic. I recall the author of the Klettern-story praising this site too. But the Germans are probably more accustomed to severe discipline than we. There is another, less costly place just beside it, but there there were no hosts during the day at all! So we could not find any suitable place in the proximity of the climbing rocks in order to leave our precious camping car.
We continued our expedition southwards, and the next important place was Thaurac. Here the municipal camping was the contrary to the previous one, and we enjoyed our stay there. The main Thaurac rock above the 'La Grotte des Demoiselles' looked a lot tamer than the Jonte's wild peaks. On the other hand the car could be left near the grotte and we could keep an eye on it all the time plus the approaching march was very short. We scrambled through the main crag on a grade 4-5 route and had during the 3-4 ropelenghts an amusing climb.
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The city of Sète was the entry to the Mediterranean Sea. From Sète to Cap d'Agde there is a 14 km long narrow isthmus, straight as an arrow, where the road goes. On the seaside of the road there is beach, some 50 meters broad. The sand is fine and clean, what an invitation to swimming. The cities are far away so the water should be clean too. On the roadside during the whole of the distance there were camping cars parked one after another.
When continuing to the South there are two artificial sea resorts named Narbonne-Plage and Gruissant. The winds come from the Pyrenees mountains. During our stay the wind blew from the morning to the late evening. These are great places for the Windsurfers. But also for the climbers. Montagnes de la Clape means several rocky chains well distanced from the sea.
The Domaine de Pierre Droite and its section 'Chants magnesiques', above a large vineyard, was to our taste. An easy route called 'Cupachup' was a really photogenic one, 30 meters of vertical belly. To the right of it were the more difficult areas.
Then to Spain
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What an adventure to traverse Barcelona! The Littoral Highway gave us a good picture of the great city. There would have been so much looking at, that we found it wise to leave for the Sierra de Prades right away. Montblanc, Els Cogullons, Riba, Mont-Ral, La Mussara, Arboli and at last Siurana. Quite an amount of climbing sites near each other. The narrow tarmac road winds its way on the mountain slopes. There are not any railings, and on the valley side the drop is breathtaking. I try to keep on the mountain side, but then a ridge opens up before us. The road mounts heavily upwards, and on both sides the ground disappears behind the road side and comes into sight some 300 metres lower in the valleys. If another car would come towards us, how to back it up with our clumsy vehicle? Fortunately there are very little traffic on those lonely ways, we saw only one other car during a half-days' drive.
Siurana is our choice because there is the only camping place which is near to the climbing rocks. The site is very fresh, it has been opened only for a month earlier. Toni Arbones is the young custode of the place. There is a lot to do as the area is situated on a slope. The wind blows fine sand out of the soil, and the roads are still nonexistent. When entering I forget that our car is not the usual Escort and I drive the heavy Knaus camping car down into the shade of the pinewood trees. Only later on I awake to realise my error. The turning around of the car is already a problem, but how to drive it back to the main road?
We start to construct a runway. Toni's father is a great help with his wheelbarrow. The bumpy ground is filled with stones and gravel and little by little I begin to believe that we have a chance to get off this trap.
From the tiny village of Siurana, where 10 adults are living, a terrace leads in the middle of a vertical wall. Above the terrace there are sports climbing routes close together. The bolts are not at all of the same quality we had been used to in France, but the routes are attractive all the same.
Siurana was the last fortress of the Moors, steep slopes are on all sides but one. The first proper road was constructed for a couple of years ago and opened with ceremonies by the Catalan chief Jordi Pujol. Tens of tourist jeeps arrive every day to enjoy the breathtaking view. Tarja starts making one of her magnificent 360� panorama pictures with the digital camera.
We continue the climbs on different walls, and the weather is always fine with sun shining all day long, as it has done during a month of our stay in France and Spain. But then a hasty wasp stings in my hand, which starts to swell alarmingly. We get ice from the friendly Arbones family, but then it is wiser to descend to the next town in order to get medical care.
And Italy
Everybody warned us of the mosquitos, but this time they were hiding somewhere. The wild (did not look like very wild) white horses and wild (peaceful looking animals too) black bulls could be seen on the pastures near the roadside, if you chose the right roads. Flocks of beautiful flamingos were quietly wading in the shore waters. The Camarque countryside was worth to see � but there were no rocks at all. So we continued towards the North-East.
This village seems to live on climbing. They tell us Orpierre was dying for some 15 years ago, when someone found out the surrounding cliffs are exceptionally suitable for climbing. A camping place was founded and a well equipped climbing magazine started. In the camping place the climbers get a big discount of the fee.
The rocks are inviting indeed. In the routes of the 5th degree there are almost always good handholds available, and I could climb without any extreme struggles high overhanging walls as a leader.
Then came the rains, and we decided to flee towards the East, where they still had some sun. An Italian friend had recommended Ailefroide as a splended climbing site, so there we went. But the rain had invaded the small village in the gorge between high mountain walls. The camping was covered with mud, and damp vapours emerged everywhere.
We crossed the mountains and arrived in Italy. In Arco we found the reliable sun and parked the Knaus in the familiar camping place under the tremendous Eastern wall of Colodri.
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Colodri and Rupe Secca
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At two o�clock in the afternoon the shade arrives on the big wall of Rupe Secca. We were ready in the bushes under the �Aspettando Martino� �route. It is by far the easiest way to climb the steep crag. The most interesting part is a traverse quite high up.
Last year we made the Stenico route, which ends up in the same place as the Martino. Then I did not find the usual way down, which consists of a long complicated traverse to the right and joins the normal �ferrata� descent. Instead I went directly up the troublesome walls to a higher terrasse, where we could traverse with ease to the ferrata.
As last year there were very few climbers on the Colodri walls, which is a fine thing. But I had seen several parties in the Martino route seeking the best way down and followed them with binoculars. One group had at last to abseil down, but another found the right way. With the aid of this knowledge it was quite easy for us to make our own descent.
We took breath for a day and then started marching towards Colodri very early in the morning. The first rope length was easy to find even in twilight, as we had made it so many times. And even the second was familiar to us, as it is common with the Sommadossi route. But then when our way branched off to the left, the difficulties grew up. This was the first diedre of the �White Crack�. In the middle of it is a roof, but Tarja made it quite easily. I followed doing my best, and she restarted again.
In the second diedre we were already high up on the wall, and the belaying places were very airy, as there were scarcely any footholds. There is a second roof here, and when Tarja had passed it and tried to scramble up the vertical crack, hard times began. There were not any bolts or pitons during the following 15 meters, and it was difficult to fix �camalots� here. I could not help in any way, had just to keep the two ropes in my hands and hope for the best.
At last I heard the shout, she had made it! I had to follow the suit, as the card players say and climb up the crack for my part. As there were not any bolts or pitons, I could expect very little help from above. The 8 mm ropes strech a lot and do not offer any pull upwards. So it was a hard fight before I could arrive to the comfortable ledge higher up on the wall.
Then it was my turn to try to find the way out of this crag through the three final rope lengths. In an open coloir the rock was this time extremely brittle, and it was like walking on the eggs when I proceeded further. But at the end we could sit down on the summit of Colodri, in the mid-day sunshine.
