Dolomiti : Ferrata Brigata Tridentina

So, this was the scary thing I saw on the way to Piccolo Cir the day before:

Suspension bridge

Not scary? Well, here it is again:

Initially, it was "ooooooooh" when Alberto drove past and pointed it out to us. Then it was a case of wobbly knees when I found out that it was on Day 2's programme.

Ferrata Tridentina is on the Sella Massif. Some websites rank it as moderately difficult, with an exposure of 3.1 (out of 5), technical difficulty 2.2, physical demand 3 and scenery interest 3.5. According to Alberto, this via ferrata is almost as easy as Ferrata Piccolo Cir, only longer. Perhaps due to the ease of access to its starting point and/or the variety of cables, rungs, ladders and suspension bridge on this via ferrata, there are often many people on this route, so much so that there can be a traffic jam on the rock wall.

We had chosen to arrive late, hoping that the crowd would have summited and thinned by then. Unsurprisingly, the carpark was full when we arrived. Unfortunately, we were not late enough and still caught up with a huge party on the second part of the ascent. (On another day, we saw people starting at 5pm instead and the coast was clear.)

There are 3 sections to the via ferrata. After a short walk from the carpark, we reached the first section which did not vary too much in terms of difficulty as compared to Piccolo Cir. Afterwhich, a very long second section and a third section with ladders, rungs to Torre Exner (2,496m) and THE suspension bridge.  

Silly me had totally forgotten about the suspension bridge until when the guys started talking about it as we neared it. I had other problems to worry about before that: 

- the traffic jam, which meant getting stuck in some weird, uncomfortable positions or doing free climbing to overtake the crowd

- the rungs and ladders, because I have coordination problems (on good days, I would miss a step or 2 while climbing stairs) AND

- to top it off, the fogging of my sunglasses. I was perspiring so much that my sunglasses fogged and I saw very little of where I was going. 

Check out the traffic
Photo credit: Richard

Waiting for our turn to proceed
Photo credit: Richard

Photo credit: Alberto

Hanging on to my dear life as the 2 boys had fun
Photo credit: Richard

Photo credit: Alberto

There was no turning back and I had to cross the bridge. I noticed that the cable was missing on one side of the bridge. Alberto kindly only told me afterwards that there was a cable on both sides last summer.  If he had told me while I was on the bridge, I would have freaked out and refused to stop for Richard to take pictures of the scenery while we were still on the bridge.

From the bridge, a 10 minutes walk took us to Rifugio Franco Cavazza al Pisciadù (2,585m).

When we descended, we did so via Val Setus route 666, which was long, crumbly and winding. Even though I was terrified of almost everything on the ascent, I would still choose the via ferrata over ascending on this long-winded walk. Erm, good choice, Alberto? @_@

Descent