Via Ferrata in the Dolomites – Arabba

It’s been a busy start to the season in Arabba. The team this year consists of Becky, Ben, Clare, Emma, Lynne, Rich, Rushy and Ryan. Everyone is settling in nicely and we’ve already had some lovely letters from the guests, thanks to all those who’ve sent them!

Final ladder of Via Ferrata Delle Scalette

The sun is back and we’ve had glorious weather for the past two weeks now. The steady 30 degree daytime temperature has really helped with shifting the remaining snow bringing many new Vie Ferrate into condition; Oscar Schuster (3b), Delle Scalette (3b), Possnecker (4c) and Ski Club 18 (5c) have all seen first season ascents this week.

On the summit of Delle Scalette with the Tre Cime behind

Stopping for a break on Via Ferrata Possnecker 4C

Chaos ensued in Arabba on Sunday the 4^th July as 15,800 bikes taking part in the Maratona bike race came through the village and headed on up the Pordoi pass. It was a great spectacle to watch with the guests staying in the Sport Hotel seeing the funny side of it as they waited for an hour to cross the road!

Hard Climbing on Via Ferrata Ski Club 18

Wednesday was an eventful day off with the Via Ferrata organisers heading over to the First Sella Tower on top of the Sella Pass for some climbing. Ryan and Emma climbed the much celebrated Trenker Crack (V-) whilst Lynne and Rushy tackled the wall just to the left via the Rossi route (VII-). Rich and Bec headed for the City of Rocks for some sport climbing whilst Clare and Ben went on a bit of a road trip to the beautiful town of Auronzo.

Lynne and Rushy tackling the Rossi route (VII-)

On Friday the first Arabba Pub quiz of the season took place. A fantastic night was had with some cunning questions devised by Ben providing much debate. Our very own quizmaster Rich handled the proceedings very well. Congratulations to the ‘Motley Marmots’ for winning a free round of drinks for best team name. The competition for best team was fierce with the aptly named ‘winners’ eventually triumphing by two points. The ‘winners’ kindly shared their 1^st prize bottle of Juniper Grappa with everyone else (I leave you to decide whether that was kind or not!).

The following day one of our returning guests and History enthusiast (he’ll get upset if I write ‘expert’) John Scanlon was kind enough to give everyone a World War I presentation in Barbara bar.  There was an audience of 30 and I think I speak for everyone when I say it was very interesting and we all learnt a lot. Did you know the soldiers in the War used to sit in a circle removing lice from their clothing? In those days they called lice ‘chats’, hence the term ‘chatting’ (I hope I got that right). And then there’s the origin of the Ferrari logo, most intriguing… Thanks again John!

A final thanks to all the guests who’ve stayed with us so far this season, has been great fun. To anyone reading this and still to come out we look forward to meeting you and will hopefully see you soon.

The Arabba team.