Blog Posts in Category: Dolomites

Col Rodella Paragliding

After muddling up my days and doing a Hike and Fly on the day which ended up being a better XC day than forecast, I was hoping for a repeat of the same today. Unfortunately this was no to be, as the base remained as low and the high cloud came in as forecast. After a very leisurely morning waiting for the day to start, I eventually started to get ready when it seemed that there was a good chance of staying up. Unfortunately as I finished getting ready to launch the wind changed 180 degrees and meant that I had to walk to the other start. Not wanting to repack everything, I just walked with a bunched glider which was just about ok, other than being very warm in all my flying clothes. Arriving at the alternative start, I then had to wait more until this start place started to work, however eventually I was able to launch. The thermals were all very weak, and the challenge was to get high enough to transition to the big cliffs. I came very close to managing to get enough height, but. Read the full article…

Col Pelous Hike&Fly

With the forecast for XC not looking that great, I decided to do a Hike&Fly instead as this would be a more enjoyable day than sitting and hoping for good flying conditions. Although as it turned out, the day was great and I should definitely have gone to do an XC as an hour after I landed I could count over 50 pilots above Marmolada, and as I parked up for the night in the Sella Pass there were another 50 pilots enjoying the evening thermals on Saas Pordoi. I decided to head up Col Pelous as it was a decent walk to the summit, which promised fantastic views, and it certainly delivered. Despite there being no rush on the walk up I endured a pretty fast pace and did the 4.6km walk with 860m of ascent in 1h32m elapsed time, stopping only for a few photos on the way up. Due to the fast ascent I arrived at the summit a sweaty mess, with most of my clothes soaked in sweat. Therefore I decided to enjoy a chilled out lunch on the summit in the sun while everything dried. Read the full article…

Ettore Bovero Via Ferrata

With Becky needing to be in Brixen for an early evening train we needed to have a relatively short day. We ended up choosing the Ettore Bovero Via Ferrata, as we could park overnight at the start of the walk, the climb looked good and it wasn’t too long a day. In the morning when we set off it was very cold, and I misjudged the length of time we would be walking on the flat before we started the ascent to warm us up, which led to a pretty chilly walk down the valley. Thankfully when we got to the start of the ascent we quickly started to warm back up and were soon at the col before the path led us up to the start of the via ferrata. This was a very small path which weaved its way up an improbable looking route around cliffs and old military lookouts. We arrived at the start of the via ferrata in about book time, and quickly geared up to start the route. After the crowds on the day before, it was wonderful to have the entire route to ourselves. Read the full article…

Landscapes around Tre Cime

With the car park located in such a beautiful location, which was so high, it was obvious that I was going to get up for sunrise and head out for sunset, especially as the times were at such a sociable hour given the time of the year. Unfortunately for sunrise I had no plan as we had arrived in dark the previous evening, so I literally just got out of the van and walked 20m to the front of the car park. Given the lack of effort I had to put in I am pleased with the photos I managed to capture, but in hindsight it would definitely have been better to make a short walk to find a even better viewpoint. The sunrise was very short lived, as the sun rose up and went behind a bank of cloud, but before this happened it was really beautiful, and certainly worth the slightly early alarm clock. I had done some research on sunset locations, and ended up with one specific shot in mind, the Tre Cime lit up in the golden hour and reflected in a small lake. However what. Read the full article…