A Sure Frozen Thing Ilana Jesse, January 5June 27 Guaranteed ice formations in the heart of the Italian Alps – Dolomites, Italy. On a recent quest of quests to ramp up our alpine training by hacking away at some frozen ice falls in the Alps, we realized that 2013-2014 is shaping up to be a rather disappointing ice climbing season. At least for us here in Europe. Our go-to 300m ice falls amongst Austria and Switzerland were sporty as all hell where they were “in”, though mostly still rushing waterfalls fighting the winter freeze. We took two weeks to travel over 1,500 miles and in that journey we stumbled upon some *gasp* guaranteed ice. Serrai di Sottoguda, a natural reserve, is a gorge carved out of the massive Dolomite rock walls. The best way to describe it is an outdoor ice climbing gym. Tourists, both by foot and skis, pass through the 1.2 mile gorge to take in the site of ice climbers making their way up waterfalls seemingly frozen in time. Sold? Stand in line, so is every other European. We stopped counting at a tally of 100 ice hungry climbers in the gorge with balmy temps of 10° F. Ice climbing in Serrai di Sottoguda and tourist onlookers. Photo Album Serrai di Sottoguda Mini-Topo Information adapted from dolomiti.com. –> Download your copy here. n° Name Technical Rating Beauty Formation Likelihood Length (m) 1 Baby 2 ** **** 15 2 Baby Killer 5+ *** * 25 3 La Luna Nera 5 *** ** 25 4 Del Sole 3 *** *** 90 5 Le Ciandeline 3+ ** * 20 6 Della Luna 3 ** *** 40 7 Della Clessidra 3+ * ** 25 8 Nicol’erta 4+ *** * 105 9 La Roccia nella Spada 7/7+ **** * 50 10 La Spada nella Roccia 5 *** **** 40 11 La Spirale della Contingenza 5+ ** * 90 12 Del Gelato 2 * ** 15 13 La Cattedrale dx 4+ sx 5 **** **** 100 14 Della Traversata 3+ ** **** 70 15 Psico 5+ ** * 20 16 Delle Trasparenze 4+ ** ** 40 17 Palestrina 2 ** ** 35 18 Excalibur 4+ **** **** 105 19 Lingua d’Argento 4+ *** ** 95 20 Rugiada 4 ** * 20 21 Placca d’Argento 5- ** * 55 22 Arbre Magique 4- ** ** 30 Quick Reference Guide Location: Serrai di Sottoguda – Dolomites, Italy [google-map-v3 width=”350″ height=”350″ zoom=”8″ maptype=”roadmap” mapalign=”center” directionhint=”false” language=”default” poweredby=”false” maptypecontrol=”true” pancontrol=”true” zoomcontrol=”true” scalecontrol=”true” streetviewcontrol=”true” scrollwheelcontrol=”false” draggable=”true” tiltfourtyfive=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkerlist=” 46.424720°, 11.933290{}climbing.png{}Serrai di Sottoguda – Dolomites, Italy” bubbleautopan=”true” showbike=”false” showtraffic=”false” showpanoramio=”false”] Best Time to Climb: Winter. Gear: (2) 60m ropes 8-10 quickdraws helmet ice climbing boots crampons harness, ice clipper slots are nice ice climbing tools, one with adze and other with hammer atc with locker warm winter clothing (layers), we recommend gore-tex gaiters, to protect your expensive technical pants from crampon tears. Approach: Park at 46.424720°, 11.933290°. Obey all parking signs. Follow the signs to ‘Serrai di Sottoguda’. Guide Books: Alpine Ice, by Mario Sertori Climbing Italy alpine climbingice climbing