Our weekend in the Dolomites continued with a tour of Tre Cime di Lavaredo (in German: Drei Zinnen). We hiked to the summit of Monte Campedelle to the south of the peaks on the recommendation of a local guide.
The three peaks marked the Austrian-Italian border until 1919, hence the dual-language names. South Tyrol, the Italian province to the north, has a German speaking majority still today.
Despite forcasts of heavy showers and thunder, the whole of Snowdonia was bathed in sunshine today. Myself and Clay gave Erinna an introduction to multi-pitch trad climbing at Tremadog, and then finished with a couple of the more interesting VS routes before heading back to PyB for the BMC AGM.
On our bad weather day we decided to drive across the border to Finland and accidentally skinned 22km across a frozen lake.
The aim had been to visit the Treriksrøysa (or Treriksröset in Swedish) where Finland, Norway and Sweden meet. Driving into Finland we stopped at Kilpisjärvi and set off across the frozen ice. It turns out our downhill skimo kit was wholly inappropriate for a long, flat, icy skin and we arrived at the hut to bemuseds look from the Finnish locals. A fun day out none the less!
Clay and I were fortunate to catch the last of the week's winter conditions and headed up to Trinity Face. There were teams all over the snow and at least 10 people following up the gully behind us. After a blustery top-out from Central Trinity we headed back around and climbed Left Hand Trinity which in lean conditions was a much more interesting and varied route.
Starting from Rindal, myself and Adam hitched up the road towards Gråsjøen and then set off towards Snota. Snow conditions underfoot were hard going at times and perhaps more suitable for ski touring. Undeterred, we summitted and spent our second night down near Vassdalsvatnet before walking out to Rindal for the flight home. Stunningly unspoilt scenery and endless mountains to climb, a brilliant weekend.
Adam and I returned for our third weekend adventure in Norway to backpack a lap of the Ringedalsvatnet lake to Trolltunga. As in previous years, we packed no winter gear and were then surprised with how ridiculously snowy it still is up high. Rather than take the usual tourist approach we headed up from Odda and hiked in isolation from the south side of the lake, breaking trail through the snow for up to 9 hours a day. On our last morning the rain cleared and we finally arrived at the crazy rock of Trolltunga, looking out across the stunning Norwegian landscape.
