Product Description

The first of a two-volume set of guides to Via Ferratas of the Italian Dolomites, this guide covers the North, Central and Eastern Dolomites, across an area stretching from Val di Fassa to Auronzo, while volume 2 covers the Southern Dolomites, Brenta and Lake Garda. Volume 1 includes areas such as Catinaccio, Marmolada, Sella, Puez Odle, Fanes, Tofane, Cristallo, Sesto, Sorapiss, Marmarole. This guide sets the routes out according to strategic valley bases, with some guidance on the best bases for attacking each of the routes. The authors have had first-hand knowledge of all the routes, and have developed a completely new grading system, which strives to simplify an extremely subjective topic.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #160592 in Books
• Published on: 2004-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Review
'You could never accuse it of shying away from niche sports. In fact Cicerone Press appears to take pride in publishing books that only those already passionate about a specific sport or place are likely to buy. This time, though, it's appealing to a growing fraternity. Via ferratas, especially in the Italian Dolomites, are becoming increasingly popular as walkers push their personal limits in a different mountain playground. That, and the availability of cheap flights to airports feeding the Dolomites, have helped push via ferrata to the fore. For those who haven't experienced the heart-pumping exhilaration of the via ferrata network, they are protected routes in rocky mountain ranges, using fixed cables, ladders and bridges. They allow the walker to access places usually reserved for rock climbers and provide a unique way to enjoy the breath-taking beauty and exposure of the mountains. Until now the only decent guidebook has been Cicerone's Scrambles in the Dolomites. This suffered from being out of date (first published in 1982) and translated from German (although this has also helped fill long hours in huts, as people gather round to laugh at the phraseology). Smith and Fletcher's version, covering the North, Central and East Dolomites, gains considerable points by originating in English. It has an excellent introduction with comprehensive information on equipment, weather, maps, accommodation options and so on. In fact, if I'd had this book prior to my first trip to the Dolomites I would have saved a fortune on phone calls to Italy. They've also created a new two-stage grading system incorporating both difficulty of the route and seriousness of the mountain situation. Cross-referencing back to routes that I know, I'd say this is accurate and easy to follow. The book includes 75 routes in a fairly tight geographical area, including Cortina, Marmolada and Val di Fassa. They're well described with good colour photography and clear sketch maps. Some are straight-forward walking routes, others go up to the highest level of via ferrata. But the authors have opted to cluster the routes according to valley base rather than mountain groupings and have not referred to the mountain ranges in either text or maps. An index of mountain groups is some compensation but unless you have a local map in front of you, this isn't much help. Given that there are two identical locator maps in the book showing numbered routes relative to each other, converting one of these to show mountain groups as well as towns would have made things easier to follow. VOLUME TWO will complete the coverage of the Dolomites. It will include the famous Brenta group as well as the southern Dolomites, with the stunning Paia group being particularly well represented. Besides the honeypot via ferrata, this volume will break new ground in covering some of the short-duration, off-beat routes near Lake Garda. These are often real gems, and make this volume essential reading for walkers on a lake-based holiday who need a dose of adrenaline, stunning scenery and physical challenge. (Judy Armstrong, TGO)

About the Author
Graham's love of mountain sports started when, at the age of 14, he was dragged up his first VS by the noted Yorkshire climber, Alan Austin. Climbing remained a major passion until it had to take second place behind a busy professional career, which allowed for little more than annual holidays throughout the alpine regions. However, an unmissable early retirement package saw him move to the west coast of Ireland. Here, living in the midst of the Twelve Bens, he had the opportunity to make up for lost time! However, Graham, and wife Meg, have incurably itchy feet! After Ireland, they moved to the Lake District, but have now settled, perhaps permanently, in Italy. Their home is a little village at the foot of Monte Agner, one of the giants of the southern Dolomites, whilst the view from their front door is of the mighty Civetta-Moiazza group. Graham had begun his exploration of the Dolomites in 1997. He was drawn to climbing via ferratas partly by the sheer audacity of the bigger routes, but also by their historic resonance. Researching the guidebooks revealed the enormous scale and variety of the region, whilst the inclusion of the area round Lake Garda showed that climbing via ferratas could be a year-round activity, not just confined to the summer climbing season. After the demands of researching the guidebooks, Graham now enjoys introducing newcomers to via ferrata climbing. However, he and Meg also make time for other mountain sports, such as biking and skiing, whilst the proximity of historic cities like Venice and Padova allows them to indulge their love of Italian culture and architecture. John Smith has been walking and climbing mountains around the world for about 30 years, but until 1998 had never been to the Dolomites. On his first visit, with Marion, Dave and Deborah, he fell in love with the mountains, culture and via ferratas. In ticking off routes with a growing passion, he recognised the need for an up-to-date English-language guidebook; this first volume is the result of many enjoyable days in the Dolomites.

Customer Reviews

Great book
I bought this book a few years ago for my first trip to the Dolomites; I could only find this and one other Dolomite Via Ferrata book in English. I found this book a Godsend; informative, well laid out with maps, photos, cross reference indexes, useful telephone number and local information.
This made my first Via Ferrata experience so much easier to plan and navigate.
I have since done a couple more trips and this book and Volume 2 have been my guides and are well thumbed.
I would recommend this book to anyone planning a Via Ferrata trip to the Dolomites whether a novice or seasoned ferraterist.

Not very good
The new Ferrata guide is probably the worst guidebook and I have ever tried to use it is extremely hard to follow they have invented their own grading system and it is repetitive. You are better getting the old guide which although it is out of date is much better and easier to follow and the grade can be relied upon.
They state that there are many grading systems in existence but they differ only in minor ways for example using numbers from one to six instead of letters so they are roughly comparable, they have invented a new system and assigned the roots in a seemingly arbitrary fashion I went up one route which my partner looked at would not go near, it were graded two in this book and the Germans told me that in their book it was a three/four l believe the German grader was much nearer the mark having climbed it. I have previously climbed a large number of Ferrata.
They are also somewhat inconsistent in their information for example putting information in about roads that are not accessible to the public and ignoring roads that are accessible to the public for instance it is possible to drive to the Cinqeu torri refuge which is a very useful piece of information and would have saved us time and money.
I have climbed the Ivano Dibona Ferrata on a number of occasions and I did not recognize it from this description I had to refer back to the old book to get any decent concept of what was happening so if you can find the old book by Cyril Davies get it because it will serve you better and I hope that Ciceron return to the normal good form with the next edition.

Very useful book
I have just returned from my 2nd trip to the Dolomites. I used this book on both occasions and found it to be very helpful. We found the descriptions for the routes we did to be very accurate. The timings for us were a little ambitious, though, we found we could only just keep to them on some of the routes, by keeping breaks very short. I like the way they grade the routes, and group them by where you start, rather than mountain group. Although there is an index in the back by mountain group, and grade, so you can refer to those if you're looking for something specific. Otherwise, I think it's useful to go to the section of where youre staying and find all the closest routes together. I thought it would have been helpful if the maps in the book had labelled the trails by number, but then I realised they may have avoided this so that people were not tempted to rely on the book alone and not carry a map, which would not be a good idea.

The book has a very useful section on kit etc at the beginning, and provides enough info for a novice to start climbing from scratch, I would say, as long as you start with easy routes. But if in doubt, get someone to show you the ropes!