La Piera ice climb in the Dolomites

I’ve always known that Andrea Gamberini, aka “il Gambero", never says no when I suggest we do something together, even if this involves driving 700km to climb only a couple of pitches… That's how our climb came about this season.

I’ve tried to gather information about the route, in particular about who first ascended it, but even my ‘spies’ in Val Gardena failed to provide me with any concrete details. I know for a fact that in the guidebook "Dolomiti di ghiaccio" by Maurizio Gallo and Roberto Bressan, published way back in in 1993, the authors mentioned the committing combination of the wonderful and challenging icefall "Flauto magico" and "La Piera".

Regardless of this lack of detail, given the climb’s quite particular beauty and setting, I believe it would be wrong not to review it sooner or later...

Beppe Ballico CAAI Orientale


TOPO: La Piera, Vallunga, Dolomites