An Austro-Italian Somme

In the UK, France and Germany I suspect WWI conjures up images of the Somme, not here.

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It probably wasn’t our most obvious choice for Via Ferrata, but knowing the history, we were interested to see where their origin truly came from. So we decided to head for Monte Piano.

 

Cicerone Guide: Via Ferratas of the Italian  Dolomites: Volume 1

MISUR: 1 Monte Piano

Grade: 2B

AScent: 1000m

Descent: 1000m

VF: 250m

Time: 6-8 hrs

 

The start is easy enough, shallow paths climbing gently through trees, off to our left, Lago di Landro.

A turquois green carpet of water, the perfect resting spot for Dora.

We climb rapidly and easily. There are few people on the paths this morning, just a couple who are following us up.

The path isn’t changing much, but we are gaining altitude fairly quickly. The sky is overcast, which is good, it is not too warm.

And soon the lake is far below us, no sign of the via ferrata so far, surprisingly the guide doesn’t say how long before the real climb starts.

Even though it is overcast, the views are magnificent, although I think we could be in for a bit of rain. Our impression of Italy is that it is always raining, we left in mid April and it was raining, we return in August and it is still raining, not too different from the UK!

But you don’t get those views in the UK, except on calendars.

And where in the UK can you experience that level of exposure, not even on the Ben.

We are really enjoying the ascent, but are also keen to get out kit on and start some proper climbing.

We come across a memorial and some ruined barracks, just some piles of rotting timer and at last we have reached the via ferrata, but not only the via ferrata, but some serious history. In northern Europe, in the trenches, tens of thousands were senselessly killed, so it was here, but in a less forgiving terrain you cannot possibly imagine. The Italians entered the war in 1915 causing the Austrians to quickly retreat to defensible positions, which happened to be the tops of mountains. There they dug in, creating their own trenches tunnels and barracks. The Italians did the same, so a similar stalemate ensured as that in the Somme.

We are taught of the deplorable conditions of the Somme, but here, these are serious mountains, and the conditions they must have endured, living at above 2000m. And then there was the fighting, dropping by ropes to hurl hand grenades into the consolidated positions, or packing natural fissures in the rocks with explosives to cause massive rock fall. The idiocy of it all, the pointlessness and the skill, tenacity and bravery.

These men hauled everything up this mountain, in all conditions, using less well secured protection than we have today. We just carry ourselves, and a bit of lunch, for a bit of pleasure. And that is the history behind via ferrata, that is why we secure ourselves to bits of wire on a mountainside, climbing ladders and stemples….It all makes sense now, as much sense as war!

 

We have actually followed the Austrian supply route up the mountain. The Italians were on the other side. The battles were fought on top. It is incredible to think of the effort and ingenuity it took to fight a war here, and you have to say the stupidity, but then all war turns out to be pretty stupid.

We put on our stuff as the other couple reach us and then continue onwards on the non via ferrata path, it looks like we will be alone on the climb.

More monuments to those that went before.

The climbing is quite easy, and although we are fairly high, there is no real sense of vertigo, but maybe that is to come.

Lots of nice little ledges, wide enough to feel quite comfortable, especially when you are clipped onto the cable.

I never like it when Susu disappears from view like that, you never know what is around the next corner!

There is however a bit of a problem with via ferrata, quite often your concentration is such that you are oblivious to the view. You only really appreciate it when you download the photos. This is a good thing, you cannot be gawping at the scenery on ledges this narrow.

There are some more challenging bits to this climb, a nice little gully, but with plenty of additional aides to cling on to if need be.

All in all a nice climb, not too taxing.

Pretty effortless really, nice position, always keeping the body in balance.

I think we are both getting used to the technique now, finding it easy to clip and unclip.

And it is really nice to get back into a bit of climbing.

One of those not really appreciated views. Not really, we do take the time to scan the horizon occasionally.

I think we are nearly there, nearly at the top, another via ferrata complete. Now to go and explore the summit.

Somewhere, down there next to the lake, Dora waits patiently, probably thinking ‘my idiot owners, what do they think they are doing up there?’

We could go straight up onto the summit plateau, but there are a few things down here that look interesting.

This whole place is not only considered a memorial to the dead,

But also an open air museum.

It isn’t that anything is really labelled, explained, curated. There isn’t really a need, it is pretty much self explanatory, the odd cave, still filled with bits of rotting timber.

Tunnels, linking different bits of the mountainside.

It is a bit bleak down here, we move up top.

Now that is a decent top.

Time to reflect on the view.

There are some pretty impressive mountains around here.

Susana doing her chicken impression.

Another tunnel, this one looks like it is yet to be finished.

Are these the equivalent of mountain top trenches? I think so. They may not have had mud to deal with, but it is hard to imagine what the winter conditions would have been like up here at 2300m.

It is almost as if they left just yesterday, maybe some of their ghosts still exist.

Up here, amongst the memorials, plenty of visitors are wandering about although we are not sure if many have walked up here, perhaps there is another way to reach this plateau.

We find our path down, and after a little lunch with a beautiful view, we head down.

It is not quite as challenging as the route up,

But nice and relaxing, you need a bit of rest after such an effort. But the rest doesn’t last long, the path is fairly steep and windy, which requires concentration and putting your hamstrings and calves into action. On the positive side, you have now more time to enjoy the views than on the way up. SM

Generally nice wide paths.

Although there are the odd bits of protection, just to make you feel a little more secure. No need for the ferrata kit though.

It doesn’t take long to get back down into the valley.

Although you could quite easily spend months here exploring these mountains.

We were up there!

A final wander around the lake and then we set of south looking for our next Via Ferrata.

It starts to rain.

We don’t care, we have had an amazing day on the mountain.

10.4 kms

6 hrs

GDR