Averau & Nuvolau

Another not brilliant night’s sleep and I awoke looking like a panda, with bags under my eyes. Went down for breakfast just before 8 and wasn’t surprised to find Waggy and Paul already getting theirs. They have an early start today as they’re planning a long walking day with some easy VF thrown in. Waggy asked us to save them some dinner if they’re late back. Doesn’t sound as though Boyd’s joining them, he said he’d probably find something else to do.

We drove back up the Falzàrego Pass and part way down the other side towards Cortina. Stopped for a wee break and then at a large parking, where I was dismayed to realise that the chair lifts weren’t working, until we worked out that we weren’t far enough down the valley - phew! We continued down to a second car park situated quite a way off the road, parked up and had a very pleasant ride up the chair lift to Rifugio Scioattoli (2,255m) at the top. We then followed the track up to Rifugio Averau (2,416m).

The Cinco Torris

After a quick drink and another wee break, we headed north onto the path leading up to the Averau VF. It was an easy path for most of the way, apart from the ubiquitous chossy scramble up the last bit. There was a nice big area where you could safely get into your harness and whatnot.

M. Averau

We heard a Scottish chap coming back down, just as a German couple arrived with their daughter in a carrier on his back. They caught us up as we stood chatting to him and I then set off on the VF. I don’t quite know what happened, but it was all awkward and off balance, and I guess if I’d just grabbed the cable and hauled myself up to each change over it wouldn’t have been so bad, but I was trying to climb properly.

The view from M. Averau to M. Nuvolau.

It didn’t help having an audience who didn’t want to come past, so in the end I backed off it and then spent the rest of the day kind of wishing I hadn’t been such a wimp. The audience definitely didn’t help, but it was mostly about the fact that the cable was at foot/knee level and I really didn’t like that. I’m sure once I’d got around the corner I’d have been OK, but we had to down climb the darn thing anyway, so we headed back to Rifugio Averau and on up the ridge to Rifugio Nuvolau.

It was quite a climb and took some time, but it was definitely worth it. Yet again the views were gob smacking and we sat and ate our packed lunches and drank it all in. With the binoculars we could clearly see people on VF Averau and also the ledge where the tunnel path comes out on the other side of the pass, a clearly defined fault at that level.

The view across the Falzarego Pass to the cliffs above the Lagazuoi Tunnels.

After a look out the back where the VF goes off (where my second camera battery died – this is going to become a major problem shortly), we headed slowly back down to Rifugio Scioattoli, which by this time (about 2:30) was crammed with Italians getting in some rays and watching the climbers on the nearby Cinco Torris (five towers). The ride down on the chair lift was initially quite hairy, but when I realised that there weren’t any violent drops I relaxed and just enjoyed it.

I then drove us back to Pedraces and we stopped at the supermarket and went to visit the sports shop near the chair lift, and then headed back. Finally got around to writing my postcards and then had a shower.

Went down for dinner, which was a rather strange almost vegetarian affair, with salad again (!), veggie soup (v nice), stuffed tomatoes (with sausage meat), roasted courgettes and mealy bug potato croquettes (Morphy would have liked them!!!). Then we had grapes for pudding – seemed odd and we speculated later that maybe pudding had gone wrong! – I couldn’t finish all mine because I was SO stuffed and Waggy polished them off.

Went through into the bar and got into a conversation about Long Rake and carbon-monoxide, which began to descend rapidly into an argument, so I decided that I couldn’t eat or drink another thing and it was probably time for bed, so I disappeared. Paul came up about half an hour later and again the light went off soon after 10:00.