Chronology: Day 1 Cinque Torri - Torre Grande.  Via delle Guide (four pitches - UIAA IV; U.S. 5.5/5.6); Via Miram (four pitches - UIAA V; U.S. 5.7/5.8). Day 2  Sella Group - Sass Pordoi.  North-West Face ("Fedele Route") (twenty pitches - UIAA IV+; U.S. 5.7/5.8). Day 3  Headed south for the Fehrman Route on Campanile Basso in the Brenta Group, but rain drove us even further south, to Arco. Day 4  Placce Zebratte.  Theresa (sixteen pitches - French 5c; U.S. 5.7). Day 5  Sella Group - First Sella Tower.  West Ridge (four pitches - UIAA IV+ U.S. 5.6/5/7). Day 6  Fanis Group - Torre di Falzarego.  South Ridge (seven pitches (the guidebook says eight, but we ran two together with our 60 meter ropes) - UIAA IV; U.S. 5.6/5.7). Day 7  Cinque Torri.  Torre Inglese South-East Face (two pitches UIAA IV-; U.S. 5.5/5.6);  Torre Barancia Northwest Corner (3 pitches with our 60 meter ropes - UIAA IV+; U.S. 5.7). Gear Notes: As suggested by the guidebooks, we carried a light rack on all routes, consisting of WC Rocks No. 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10; blue, green and yellow Aliens; and Camalots No. .75 and 1.  In general, we intentionally  selected routes well within our technical ability and relied on fixed gear in place.  Neither of us took any falls during the week.  If this course is adopted, judicious route selection and a reasonably high tolerance for runouts is recommended.

Link to Tokyo Bill's Home Page

Day One - Cinque Torri

We warmed up in the Cinque Torri Group.  Our climbs were two classic lines - the Via delle Guide and the Via Miriam. By Dolomite standards, the Cinque Torri Group is a small, sports climbing venue.  But to give a little perspective, the two black dots on the top of the right-hand spire in this photo of Torre Grande are climbers, and there are one pitch sport routes on the little "boulders" to the lower left of the tower.  This is not a small rock. On the right, I lead easy ground on the second pitch of Via delle Guide.

Day Two - Sass Pordoi

Yup, it really is that big.  It's actually possible, from the terrace where the Fedele route formally ends, to climb the top six pitches of another route  all the way to the true summit of Sass Pordoi.  Route-finding problems, and the resulting risk of losing daylight, persuaded us to walk off from the terrace. Better a live coward...

... and the view from the route, as R.L. would say, did not suck.

Link to Dolomites 2000 page 2

Dolomites 2000 page one

What can you say about the Dolomites.  Big.  Beautiful.  Thrilling.  I was lucky enough to spend a week on the rock in this setting, from July 2 to July 8, 2000.  We lost one day to rain and travel, but other than that we climbed every day - a total of approximately 60 pitches over seven days. My partner for the trip was R.L. Stolz, my previous partner on various climbs in the Adirondacks of New York and on Cannon Cliff, New Hampshire.  His strength and experience kept us on route and on schedule as we went after routes that had previously been only daydreams for me. Here, R.L. leads one of the lower pitches of the Fedele Route on Sass Pordoi on day two.  The Fedele was one of the highlights of a trip that seems to have consisted almost entirely of highlights. Maybe it won't surprise you to hear that we're already talking about going back next year.