For our foray into the Dolomites we set our sights on Dülfer Crack, a 400m,V+ mountain route up Odla di Cisles in the Geisler group.
A more remote mountain objective which kept us away from the busier areas of the Dolomites in the peak of summer. The route looked long, complex and difficult enough to be an interesting adventure and the “Dülfer Crack” 3 pitch crux looked like a good challenge to get stuck in to.
The term laybacking in Italian is “in Dülfer”.
Simon and I hiked up late in the evening and bivvied near the base of the wall. It was a cold night but wrapped up in our bags we both marvelled at the extraordinary starscape. The air was clearer than I think I’ve ever seen which made for a beautiful night, which was graced with a meteor shower.
In the morning we found we had camped next to, and thankfully not on, several Edelweiss flowers. These beautiful, hardy, rare flowers come with a hefty fine if you are caught picking them. But as apparently they bring luck to climbers it was set to be a good day.
The climb itself was constantly unnerving as we weaved up the colossal face through a myriad of loose rock, on what turned out to be an undefined line. As we swapped leads we had to be extremely careful to ensure we didn’t dislodge rocks onto the anxious belayer below. Reaching the “Dülfer Crack” we were surprised to find that there was only a couple layback moves to overcome the initial bulge in the first crux pitch.
The rest was bridging, thrutching and old school mountaineering techniques. We simulclimbed the final pitches to the top where at last we were relieved from the treacherous rock and could marvel at the spectacular landscape all around.
Next the descent. The Rockfax guide description was woefully thin on information and what appeared relatively straightforward became a complex and harrowing escape. 6 stacked abseils, thankfully on new fixed gear, lead to a tenuous scramble down a loose gully. The next 2 abseils were on creaky pitons which wobbled slightly when bounce testing them.
Pulling the ropes from these abseils was where the harrowing experience came in. With loose rock littered all over the gully we had to shelter behind blocks to avoid falling stones brought down by our ropes. A long scramble followed by a single bolt abseil finally took us to the ground. By far the most complex descent we’ve done.
It took 7.5 hours to climb the route and 5 to descend. Grateful to be back on the ground we returned to our bags and then started the long walk back to the car. Not before failing to find out approach shoes for an hour as we had soloed the first pitch and couldn’t find the start in the dark. A 17 hour day from the morning bivvy to the car.
I have no idea why this route is called Dülfer Crack, there was one bulge in the first V+ pitch where ‘in Dülfer’ was required, the rest was mountainous thrutching and bridging. Not a route I’ll be repeating in a hurry but definitely the kind of day that makes an excellent story to regale in the pub when I’m back in the UK.
Maybe the Edelweiss flowers did bring us luck.
Happy adventuring.
