Climbing the South Arete of Sas de Stria in the Dolomites

Headfirst into the alpine experience around the Falzarego pass
On the very first day after arriving in the area and meeting up with Wolf (whom you might remember from various climbs on Mallorca) we started early to get our climbing in before the regular afternoon thunderstorms that are common in the alps. The Falzarego pass (at 2.100m above sea level) is surrounded by climbable mountains on all sides and looking around we already saw quite a few dangerous clouds forming at 8am - no need to abort just yet but definitely a source of concern.

On the approch to Sas de Stria looking at pass and the Lagazuoi range.

The approach to the south Arete of Sas de Stria (or Hexenstein - the witches stone - in German, which is also spoken in the region) is a half hour affair and we found the start of the route quite quickly (Or so we thought). There is very little gear on the route: Only the belays are bolted and there is the occasional piton along the way. The seven pitches (of varying grades up to IV+/V- UIAA) cover about 250 meters of climbing and the route tops out right at the summit about 2.500m.

Left: Sas de Stria; Right: the Falzerego pass with Cinque Torri in the background.

I started „pitch 1“ only to find after about 30 meters that we were heading up a bit to the right of the actual route (the crumbly rock and the fact that the climbing was just a bit too hard for the grade of the actual first pitch were the giveaway). So I improvised a stance, brought up Wolf and he started pitch 2 by traversing onto the actual Arete and moving up.

Pitch 3 was my job again clearly following the Arete to just under a corner / chimney. Wolf shimmied up the slightly polished chimney and continued to the next belay. The next pitch brought us just below one of the defining features of this climb: Pitch 5 which quite awkwardly traverses right through almost a canyon and a small hole. The final (crux) pitch can be skipped but we were making good time and I made it up the IV+/V- crack to the final belay off the summit cross.

During the last two pitches the weather started to turn and just as we were packing up our stuff on the summit the rain started. The descent down the slope to the north is a bit tricky as one needs to navigate the World War I fortifications and the snow that is still there in early June - and the rain turning to hail did not help. Still in about 45 minutes we made it back to the car on the pass. Soaking wet and having gotten the full alpine experience on day one of our stay here.