 Trying to get a Via Ferrata trip sorted for next year and can't really make my mind up with what time of year is best? As everyone does I want stable weather, with clean air and dry rock. Not asking much then. I was thinking late June but someone told me September weather is better and its less crowded. Anybody got some experience or advice?
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| Edited: 26/10/09 23:05 |
 I went in mid June and some of the paths had just opened - depends on where you go...
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 I'd have thought late June runs the risk of snow still hampering some of the high routes. Plus a lot of the tourist infrastructure isn't quite awake. I've always gone at the start of September or around the second week in July - the flowers are better in July but on balance I'd probably say September. Avoid the second half of July and all of August.
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If you are flying through Venice .. you could time your trip such that you were in Venice for the Feast of the Redentore - the firework display, reflected in the lagoon is just fantastic, and the whole city is an open air party. Its the third Sunday in July - see here. And a pretty good time, ime, to do via ferrata.
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Its looking like September is a good time to go? Early September?
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I'd say so. The weather can certainly turn wintery again the later into September you leave it. And in early September you'll still find many buses and especially chairlifts and telecabins open, which is a big help for accessing a lot of the Ferrata routes.
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The hgher rifugi close towards the end of September, which gives you some indication of the weather. Rif. Tuckett for example closes on 20th September.
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The Italian holidays finish at the end of August so the beginning of September is usually quite quiet and the hotel prices drop markedly too. The weather is usually good and stable but the odd afternoon/evening storms will drop snow on high ground which will last a while. If you're really set on dry rock only then Sptember's the time to go as June can have a fair amount of snow lying on the routes which leaves them wet and awkward in places - especially the harder routes. I personally like the combination of vie ferrate, sun and snow so usually go late September/October once there's been a good snow fall or two but I realise this isn't for everyone. I'm a far better (and very experienced) mountaineer than climber and any snow will clear the routes of people completely, so you can have a really solitary high mountain experience. There's a long slab/ridge route on the Marmolada which is a good day out in the dry but is a truly atmospheric and great climb with a bit of snow on the high ground. I did it once late enough in the season (December) that the ski lifts were running so the descent was a real quick one too, but then it was a full on ice climb which required some interesting techniques on the descents of the ridge pinnacles. I think it was this climb (solo) that finally convinced my Swiss Alpine Club colleagues that I didn't climb in the SAC tradition!
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Spent middle two weeks of Sep. in the Dollies as usual. Weather was a little less kind this year alternating between blazing sun and a one day snowfall. However, the area was relatively, in fact, in comparison to previous years, extremely empty. The crunch has bitten there as well. Hastening back from Cortina to Val Badia , until I hit the valley, I doubt if I passed six vehicles. Yes, a lot of the lifts close around the 20th but these tend to be the lesser ones in more remote areas. There seemed to be quite a lot of snow on the Marmolada which was in stark contrast to my previous week in Grindelwald. Driving up the valley I thought I'd come to the wrong place; the North face of the Eiger being almost unrecognisable without snow and ice on it. My Swiss host reckoned that if this weather continued they'd be grazing cattle on the traverse of the Gods before long. September probably is the best month for the Dolomites.
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 September is probably the best month for anyone wishing to visit Italy, not just the Dolomites! I went through a few years of working in Italy every September, and lived there for a year (not the Dolomites, alas!), and September is wonderful. Schools are back, so it's quieter, the weather's usually still summer for the first two weeks, then a change towards autumn, often accompanied by spectacular thunder storms (perhaps not so good when you're on the via ferrata though...)
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Plenty to think about, cheers.
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