When Lightning strikes the Dolomites, Italy

Now as promised here is my writeup for The Dolomites, Italy.

So as I had said before I was helping someone change a tire when he offered to let me stay at his place in Bozan (Bolzano). It was an offer to good to refuse! I had stayed in the town for a day when I decided to head into the mountains even though the weather looked incrimental. I figured I could go in and camp the night and hopefully have a large enough gap to climb a peak and head out. Roberto gave me a ride to the base in a town where, yup once again, I took the tram. The 2 hour run back down Brandjoch in Austria 2 days earlier had made my legs puddy and they had not yet recovered. The pain on each downstep was intense and sometimes I would lose balance just going down stairs! So the tram was inviting. The day was July 3rd and summiting a peak in the Dolomites was going to be my own personal 4th of July celebration. Last year on the 4th of July I was camping at 11,900 feet on the Grand Teton preparing for the climb in the morning. Gotta keep the streak going.

I had chosen a route in town on a ferrata to a hut. I changed mz mind however and decided to go up a peak to the right which didnt have such a long down trek back to a town! The peak I chose was Rotwand Roda de Vael. (9206 ft / 2806 m). Of the 2 large peaks in the photo it is the one on the right.


The peaks of the Dolomites instantly had me in their grasp. The towering walls, the imposing routes. It was astounding!


The rain stopped long enough fo me to get a shot of one of the many towers. I was heading around the corner to Roda de Vael.


This is the huge face of Rotwand Roda de Vael. I stared at this face for a long time sometimes my mind was soloing the face with a rope and gear, sometimes I didnt have anything and was free on the face without fear. The route I would be climbing was around the backside.


That night I had a beautiful view over falling mountain valleys and homes that have been there for a long long time. The rolling hills in front of me were a sharp difference to the massive towers at my back.


I found a great patch of grass which I put the tent up on. I hadnt seen another person since I left the tram area.


And then the incredible view in the morning. I felt like I was in a cloud factory watching the happy cloud makers building their fine achievments, watching the ground as clouds would build and float away to join the others. What an amazing view. The beautiful blue sky almost made me forget that It had been raining and windy all night long. It was my first good feeling about the weather and the peak.


I packed up my gear after seeing the blue sky and headed up into the pass which I had to get to before I could start ascending the peak. The pass itself was making its own weather and left for a very eere climb. The snow that accumulated on the peak, in July, that night was also a bit concerning.


I had used the cables on the last climb in Austria and this time, although I was wearing my helmet and harness, I decided to climb without any aids. So I climbed next to them incase it got real scary and never once needed to use the cables or metal.


I had a few breaks in the clouds when I would be treated with views of the wonderful Dolomites. The weather around me was moving very fast and I knew it could change at any time. If I was lucky I would be able to see it, chances are I wouldnt.


One of the openings. If I die before i come back to the Dolomites and climb with a rope and a partner I will be a very sad ghost.


Alas the summit! Okay now I know my eyes look funky here and ill admit its cause I lightned them in photoshop. I didnt know how much until I looked again heh. Is it how they really look? I dont know, I only lightened them, but I doubt it. On my helmet you can see large crack through the Black Diamond logo. Know how that happened? Yup, you guessed it, baggage handlers. Oh well, better that then an accident!


I was heading down to another ferrate that traversed the ridge called Ferrata Masare. It looked really good and I was getting excited about the growing difficulty. The walls surrounding me were beckoning me, "Stop calling me! I cannot come alone and unprepared. Youll take my life." It is often hard to talk myself out of dangerous situations.


I put a few photos into black and white because of the interesting cloud cover. I think I overdid this one. What do you think?


I was just about to head into this portion of the climb when I got a view of the clouds off in the distance through a giant gully. Wow did they look bad. I was at a perfect spot to run down an easier portion to the hut at the mountain pass. What to do? This portion in front of me looked difficult and definatly fun but could I make it before the weather made it to me? I remembered a story for Siri of the Alaska Rock Gym who once told me "We were climbing in the Dolomites and suddenly we were surrounded by lightning and thunder. We had to rappel really fast." That wasnt an option as I was alone and would most definatly be roped to these portions of cable on such a difficult route. Hmmm....roped to metal in a lightning storm. As odd as it may sound the choice was actually difficult but I started my way down.


I stopped for one more picture and noticed the clouds had come even closer. I began to run down the mountain each step sending a pounding to my already pained legs.


Finally I made it to the hut as it started to rain. I turned to look back over the pass and the clouds were moving at an amazing speed. If the mountains were any weaker they would have disappeared. The peak I climbed is hidden behind the peak on the left.


I had been at the hut for a bout 5 minutes when it hit. Only 30 minutes after I had summited Rotwand Roda de Vael. First there was hail. Slowly it built to a gail and all ran into the shelter of the hut. The doors and shutters would occasionaly blow open as the wind blew the hail sideways. Lightning followed soon after and then the inevitable lightning. I stared into my cup of peppermint tea I had purchesed at the hut and watched the steam rise slowly from the warm liquid. My choices had possibly saved my life. I had a strong sense of accomplishment without the rememberance of the summit. It was that i was growing in my decisions. Becoming less careless and felling more in tuned with my surroundings then I had in a long time.


After a while the storm ebbed and it was time to get back to the other side of the mountain for the trip down. There was a large statue of a falcon along the trail as a monument to someone who had done a lot for the tourism of the area. In the distance is the Latemar group of the Dolomites.


And on again comes the sun. The blue would come back and be around for the next few days but I would be off to Liechtenstein the next morning. Happy 4th of July!


Thanks everyone who has been reading my long writeups and commenting on them. I appreciate it!!