Unbelievable how quickly time passes, already a year over, already time for our Hawararoas. Not only our men’s journey is repeated every year, but also the same questions and problems, where and who goes with us? This year, the entire BZK team happened to be over, when Mr. Andreas jumped up at the very last second with a happy coincidence of fate and completed the team. Due to appointments, however, he had to return earlier and this required a departure with 2 cars, in hindsight a golden decision, because 2 tailgates of the brand VW Caddy in combination with an umbrella result in a perfect roof. The weather god decided for little stable weather in the sunny south…. But so much can be revealed, at the end of the day everything went perfectly and the climbing of our holiday this year topped everything that had been there so far.
But always in turn…..
The first weekend of our trip promised perfect, cloudless weather throughout the Alpine region, after which bad weather was announced in the north. So we decided to climb south, the first stop was the Staller Saddle. A few weeks ago I was there with Max for the first time and it was kind of love on the first touch. Perfect granite-like rock, south-facing orientation and fantastic routes are the ingredients for a huge climbing area. Our hymns of praise also convinced Andi, who took over as Staller Sattel Novize. Difficulties up to 6c, mostly clean climbing, a solid performance. Only drops of wistfulness, after our visit, the first pitch of the tour is enriched by a Fix Friend.
Further south, our nearest station was the Falzarego Pass. Our topoguide describes the route “the wall” as one of the most beautiful Dolomite tours ever. A certain skepticism about the superlative is probably natural, also a drill hook route in the Dolomites is rather unusual, despite all doubts the decision has been made! Arrived at the entrance and climbed off, this time at the sharp end, and probably also the colleagues on the ground had a strange feeling, sh…. case-packed. The entrance was around the corner and now it was time to start at the back.
After our starting difficulties finally arrived in the right tour, the described hammer climbing actually followed. More than 10 pitches throughout in 7 and 8 degrees made this tour really one of the most beautiful and homogeneous climbing tours we have climbed so far. Predicate highly recommended!!!
After 2 days of alpine climbing, it was time for sport climbing. Arriving at Lake Garda, the sport climbing Mecca, we were spoilt for choice. The new leader is again much thicker than the old one and did not necessarily facilitate our selection. Only a call to the Garda connoisseur par excellence, Helmut M, helped.
Bassilandia and Ceniga were his recommendations and in fact our phone kept Joker right. Often we have been to Lake Garda for climbing, but I have never climbed such rough rock there, sometimes not even climbed. The combination of ingenious climbing, strolling in Arco and enjoying a certain southern flair made our stop at Lake Garda really casual again.
As predicted, the bad weather actually reached Lake Garda, we didn’t care, because after 4 days of climbing, a day’s break was called for. However, the preview of the coming week, far and wide no stable weather in sight!. From our original plan to continue towards Verdon, we had to say goodbye to good or evil. Initially, we looked rather for fun and despair at the weather report for Sardinia, which really did not have the island on the screen. Sunshine and warm temperatures gave the decisive factor out of pure curiosity to check the ferry, unbelievable, for only 30,- per person including car! Ferry booked, Andi said goodbye and Max and I found ourselves hours later on the fat boat.
Again, everything happened to be done right! Sardinia is really awesome for climbing, from sport climbing to alpine climbing, from verdonesquen lime to perfect granite. The island leaves nothing to be desired, at least for climbers!!!
Long speech, short sense, as always this holiday was over far too quickly. What remains are the memories of a really trip, with fantastic climbing.
See you
Gerald
