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We spent three days climbing in the Rosengartengruppe getting in 20 pitches of climbing on somewhat friable rock during the hottest July on record in Europe. There was not a cloud in the sky. We were inspired by the "classic Dolomite Climbs" by Köhler and Memmel. Little did we know that he guide book was misleading and often inaccurate about the route we were going to attempt.

We meet in Munich and drove south Monday July 16th 2006 thru Innsbruck, Brixen and Bozen. Thinking we could drive all the way to the Gardecciahütte and stay there for the night, we head up the small windy road to the hut. After passing a sign in Italian we could not understand we made it to the hut where they seemed baffled that we drove up (but there is a big parking lot up there!). The bus ride that was mention in the route description, was not an option but rather mandatory for the most of us. There was a big group of American climbers that were driven all the way up to the Vajolethütte with their gear.

So we drove back down to Pera di Fassa and stayed in the campground between the road and the river. It was not cheap or roomy but the price includes hot showers. The next morning we drove further into town where there is a large parking lot near the start of one of the ski lifts. Here you can buy tickets for the bus up to Gardeccia Hutte.

After taking many photos we walked up a dirt road to the Vajolethütte. We got a room with four bunk beds and then went up to the Vajolet Towers for a brief introduction to the dolomite. The trail is steep and rocky and as we found out coming down, very slippery in the rain. The cables are welcomed.

Wednesday morning we were up before dawn and made the one hour approach to the east wall of Rosengartenspitze and the start of the Steger Route. Make sure you don't leave the trail too soon, because just south of the route is a grassy slope that leads to base of the climb, and avoids the boulders and talus. The first pitch diagonals right up grassy ledges with no pro to the start of the fifth class climbing. The second pitch started with rotten rock. It was never again that rotten, but our ropes were constantly knock small rocks down on every pitch.

The “harder pitches”, translates into steeper pitches, are at the bottom. The pitches above were easier, but were no faster to lead because the route finding is harder. Pitons and other pro can be sparse. Most of the pitches required good route find abilities, and experience climbing on less than solid rock.

If we had wanted to retreat we probably would have want to do it after the first four or five pitches since the route wanders a bit and the rappelling is not obvious. There many places where knots could get caught. Also the two piton anchors tended to have rappel setups that would not meet the standards of most American climbing areas. Bring a knife, webbing, and rappel rings.

After following the topo and finding fixed anchors for approximately eight pitches (the lengths of pitches did not match the topo) the topo started being even more incorrect. We aided one loose 5.10 roof with a fixed #3 Camelot (it is possible we could have bypassed the roof by going to the gully around the corner to the right). The next anchor was left but the route description said to stay right so John traversed right to steep chimney system to a set of good ledges. It seems like the large chock stone in the route description would have been reached if we had gone up chimney systems to the left instead.

By pitch 11 we were back on route with a fixed piton anchors. We bived on two small ledges under a big overhang at the end of pitch 12. There was a bigger ledge two pitches down but with no protection from rock fall. The cirque had several big rock falls during the day so were thankful for the roof.
 

The next day we top roped pitch 13, which I had lead in the dark the night before to a hanging belay. The topo implies a ramp system heading right above the roof but there was no ramp system. There was a series of discontinuous small ledges on pitch 14 that were 20 meters above the overhang The pitch ended with several sparse pitons up a steep face to a small stance. John lead up and left to the left facing chimney, corner for pitch 15, with the crux at the end. There were several great belay ledges at the start of Pitch 16. These were the only nice ledges we saw since pitch nine. The last pitch has the crux at the end with the first real jam crack, in back of the huge chimney. Along with the cigarette butts there was a wooden block hammered into the crack at the crux. This is the only place where a large cam (#3 Camelot) could have been useful, but not necessary.

We reached the top of the ridge, to the right of the summit. There is 200 meters of third class scrambling to the top, with one exposed section less than 50 meters from the belay.

Look northwest, at the north ridge, and you will see an obvious notch at around the same level as the top out. The decent down climbs the north ridge to that notch. It is very exposed to the left, east, and would be very dangerous when wet. There is one single rope rappel you can do while down climbing to the notch. At the notch you will find one ring bolt. Look down the notch, eastward, and you will see the second rappel station to the right on the sky line. Do this as single rope rappel so that a knot does not get stuck in the crack near the top. After that, do two single or one double rope rappel down a steep face to a flat area, finding a rappel anchor to the north (out of rock fall danger).

One double rope rappel gets you to the scree slope at the bottom of water worn gully. A snow field there is your first source of water. The Gartlhüttte, an easy 15 minute walk from here, has beer and Linzertort that will knock your socks off. The walk down from the Gartlhüttte is a little more strenuous, rocky and steep.

The Route took us around 20 hours to the summit with four people. It is hard to believe that most experienced climbers can do the route in the 6-7 hours quoted in the guide book. With the wandering route and friable route 10 hours would seem more reasonable. The decent time of 1.75 hours also seems to be a stretch with five single rope rappels, and a large section of third class scrambling both on the peak and below the Gartlhüttte. Three hours seems more likely. At least the approach time of one hour was correct.