Il Gobbo - Cadini di Misurina

Trad climbing on Il Gobbo in the Dolomites. We got caught by the rain on the ridge, finished the route anyway, and abseiled off completely wet.

Il Gobbo, 2580 m / Normal route (Fanton–Vecellio)

III+ (UIAA) / 4–5 pitches / ~125 m / dolomite limestone

Il Gobbo is a small, sharp tower in the Cadini di Misurina, and the normal route (Fanton/Vecellio) is the obvious line on it: four or five short pitches of wall, one chimney and then the summit ridge, on dolomite that is unusually solid for the grade. The tower is quiet even in August — nobody was behind us.

The weather turned while we were on the ridge. We kept going rather than retreat, topped out in the rain, and then abseiled the route soaked through. Four rappels with a single 60 m rope put us back on the platform at the start, which is a lot of abseiling for such a short climb — spectacular in good weather, less so in ours.

Logistics

Approach

Around 1.5 hours from the parking below Rifugio Fratelli Fonda Savio (1808 m) above Misurina, up to the Forcella del Diavolo (2480 m), then easy scrambling to the platform at the foot of the route.