The authors

Renato Bernard

• ISEF (physical education) DIPLOMA

• Ski Instructor and alpine skiing coach with the Italian Ski school of Campitello.

• Mountain Guide and Instructor of the Mountain Guides with Fassa Guides - Casa delle Guide

Campitello di Fassa

During the early 60s the Fassa Valley began to realise that tourism could become a more profitable alternative source; the Dolomite’s state road SS48 was not yet covered in asphalt and passo Fedaia could only be reached on foot from Pian Trevisan; at Campitello the Col Rodella chair lift kept going round and round unperturbed and in town during winter, skiing at the old pommer lift was my favourite pastime. I managed to meet Luigi Micheluzzi, Gian Battista Vinatzer, don Tita Soraruf and to climb with Bepi Defrancesc.

I started climbing with rigid boots, aiders and I used to shoulder belay; the first harness appeared in Val di Fassa after my trip to England in 1979 when I imported Williams by Troll and a few prototypes of home made nuts (in those days I climbed Stanage Edge in the Peak District in the most extreme trad area you can imagine since friends still did not exist).

I was lucky enough to experience a mountain atmosphere that existed only in those days, authentic and genuine, rich in altruism, the guides were part of a group and worked well together (the group Ciamorces was born).

I managed to place the first bolts in the Sarca Valley, in the crag Nuovi Orizzonti and to open the legendary Mescalito on Rupe Secca in Arco together with the legendary Renzo Vettori also known as D’Artagnan. But I also managed to get rid of the burden of the past and accept the future, to live the present with zeal and determination. Now I am over 60 years old and I still climb and ski with agility and skill and occasionally I still manage to free difficult pitches today which I never managed to free as a youngster. I spent all of my life in Val di Fassa, even if I never turned up my nose to nice trips and adventures abroad.

I currently live with my family in Campitello di Fassa where over the years we managed to build a small residence with holiday apartments to rent out to tourists. I really should have become a hotel owner, in fact when I was born my family managed a hotel, Albergo Agnello, which in those days was ahead of its time and a few years later after we moved into our own hotel. I lived my first twenty years in the hotel which was enough to understand that kind of life was not for me and as soon as I was old enough I chose to become a Ski Instructor and Mountain Guide and to follow the road which suited me the best.

My first trip to the United States dates back to 1983 when I went to ‘conquer’ Yosemite Valley, and after that trip many more followed. Between one interruption and another I ended my studies (Physical Education Diploma in Urbino) and completed my career on the snow passing all the exams to become an alpine ski coach and instructor to teach Mountain Guides. As a coach I trained the Marmolada ski club and then the Fassa ski team; during the nineties there was also a short period of time where I was the director of the Campitello ski school, where I still work nowadays during periods of high season. At the beginning of the 2000s I found myself part of a group of teachers at the futuristic high school in Tione as responsible for the mountain sector. While another very interesting assignment I have had over recent years is teaching freeride during the ski instructor courses, a very satisfactory and interesting activity. In conclusion, I currently manage the Mountain Guide courses underway in the region of Friuli Venezia Giulia.

In a few words a varied life, mountaineering wise and not; I love new experiences and testing my abilities continuously, keeping my motivation high and the wish to improve; it is important to move in contact with nature, in the mountains, confronting oneself with others, being in contact with youngsters, and hoping to bring home something new and interesting. I do not favour one specific discipline, but as they say I am an allrounder; enjoying climbing on rock and ice (dry tooling); ski mountaineering and off-piste skiing, and in a few words I follow the seasons and my mood.

All my life I have put an effort into this activity and I do so with great passion; I still enjoy myself and so do those who come with me; everything is done without neglecting safety which to me is always the most important thing.

My professional c.v. consists of thousands of ascents and repetitions in the Dolomites and in the Alps: Marmolada, Civetta, Tre Cime, Tofane, Monte Bianco, Cervino. Badile, Grossglockner, Wildspitze, Bernina, Palu, Gran Sasso, Sardinia, Sicily, Greece, Croatia, Norway, Spain, El Capitan and Half Dome (Yosemite), Ben Nevis (Scotland), Triglav (Slovenia)

Many expeditions: Denali (Alaska), Ama Dablam, Cho Oyu and Manaslu (Nepal), Shivling (India), Cotopaxi and Chimborazo (Ecuador), Patagonia, Perú, Canada.

In conclusion, such a lot of experience and passion to be passed on.

Alessio Conz

He started climbing and ski mountaineering during the early 80s and assiduously started visiting the Dolomites for fifteen years or so, later on he favoured crags and sports routes.

At school he studied to become a surveyor then he worked as a technical designer for years he then left that job and started to manage mountain huts and working with ropes and safety, keeping rock faces clean; then he went back to working as a surveyor in a firm which works in stabilising rock faces. CAI Instructor of alpinism from 1987 in 2010 he then became a Mountain Guide working full time offering activities in Valsugana such as canyoning (he discovered and equipped the Makkiayon canyon) and via ferrate. He thus created Lagorai Avventura - Canyoning Valsugana now a consolidated outdoor reality in the area of Valsugana and Lagorai. (www.lagoraiavventura.it)

He undertook an in depth exploration of the Lagorai mountains both in terms of ski-mountaineering, and climbing publishing two ski-mountaineering guidebooks, and two climbing guidebooks, as well as opening numerous sports routes and crags in the group.

He has carried out projects of upkeep and maintenance at various crags as well as extending them, involving various administrations (Valle del Vanoi- Sette Selle-Passo Manghen) thus developing the lesser known areas. He has also bolted various crags around Trento and in 2016 he wrote the area’s first climbing guide book, completely self- produced. In his rope work he has specialized in the maintenance of via ferratas as well as personally making gear and equipment for sports climbing crags. He has also carried out a flourishing activity of publications, books and articles.

Guides and books published:

• Sci Alpinismo in Lagorai - Cima d’Asta

Alessio Conz e Andrea Reboldi, Versante Sud

2010

• Arrampicare sul granito delle Dolomiti – Lagorai

Alessio Conz e Gianfranco Tomio, Versante Sud

2011

• Trento falesie - arrampicata sportiva a Trento

Alessio Conz, Effe Erre 2016

• Mountain Bike in Valsugana e Lagorai

Alessio Conz, Versante Sud 2018

• Escursioni in Valsugana e Lagorai

Alessio Conz, Versante Sud 2018

• Garda Outdoor - raccolta di 100 itinerari misti

Alessio Conz e Diego Filippi, Vividolomiti 2019

• Trento Falesie

Alessio Conz, Vividolomiti 2019

• Lagorai Rock

Alessio Conz, Versante Sud 2019

• Sci alpinismo in Lagorai

Alessio Conz, Versante Sud 2019

• Dolomiti New Age - 130 vie moderne in Dolomiti

Alessio Conz, Versante Sud 2020

• Montagne di luce - 8 racconti

Alessio Conz, 2022

• Spit in Dolomiti (storico/saggio)

Alessio Conz, Versante Sud 2022

• Sella Rock

Alessio Conz e Renato Bernard, Versante Sud

2023

Introduction by Alessio Conz

I started to discover the Sella Group during the early 80s and in various ways I continued to visit it over the years, but I would have never felt able to tackle this job on my own, without the connections nor the necessary contacts, and this is how the excellent partnership with Renato was born.

Was there the need for a new guide book on the Sella group?

We obviously set off with this fundamental question and we reached the conclusion that there was a lack of a complete and modern narrative of all the main ascents. With this book we have tried to supply a precise and up to date map which includes repeated classic routes which have already been described, as well as less known routes and obviously many new routes obviously.

The work began with approximately 200 routes but we ended up with a much higher number of 255 routes which nonetheless represent a selection due to the vastness of the group. We divided the group into 8 sectors to have a wider geographical position, including even historical information due to the remarkable differences in the routes. We have tried to make the positioning of the routes as easy to read as possible with many photos of the rock faces.

Did we climb all of the routes?

Obviously not, but we can say that we looked for first hand accounts by those who opened or repeated all of the routes that we did not personally touch with our own hands or for those routes where there were doubts on the description, eliminating even interesting routes on which we could not provide sufficient information. Further more I consider the question irrelevant since historically guidebooks have been written by those with the great patience of collecting and presenting the information in the best possible way, and in this case (this is my tenth guide book published) the work was vastly superior to my previous guide books.

Will there be any mistakes?

No doubt. I have learned over time that in spite of the effort made there will always be some mistakes; however I found some mistakes even as I leafed through the guides written by those had personally climbed the routes. In fact there are even two or three descriptions published which are completely different one from the other, so much so that it doesn’t even seem like the same route. Essentially it is even difficult to adequately represent certain routes, where for long sections there is no true obligatory route and therefore there are various variants. To avoid errors we have accumulated hours and hours connected to out computers; me, Renato and Manuel Leorato (the graphic designer who laid out the book), communicating continuously with Eugenio Pinotti (who sketched the drawings). We hope that this sequence of exchanges has produced a good end result.

The descriptions.

Almost all the descriptions have drawings or photos with lines drawn on them, more than enough in the case of sports routes but obviously more delicate in the case of classic routes. For the Mësule routes and for few others we have introduced the description as much as possible of the protections present, but in general we presume that a roped party who tackles a classic route has a minimum amount of alpinism experience to make the best choice of the route using a photo and the itinerary drawn on it. Often, repeating routes in the Dolomites, I have asked myself where I should go (even if I had a topo in my hand) and I have always asked myself what I would have done if I had a been the route opener (and especially if I had opened that route in 1950!) almost always resolving the problem. Without a doubt I have climbed up some variants but in general I have always ended the routes I began. Sometimes I retreated but that is part of the game.

Introduction by Renato Bernard

I am especially fond of the Sella Group, I can say that they are my home mountains. I moved my first steps on these mountains both as an alpinist and as a climber.

I remember my first excursions together with my parents on the piz Boè plateau, and then a bit older, the various routes and ferrate of the group, Mesules, Piazzetta, Piz da Lech and Tridentina: these places have always attracted my curiosity and imagination. Then my real climbs arrived; sports climbing didn’t exist in those days and the approach was completely different. I began climbing with the mountain guide Renzo Fave’ who lived next door to me, we climbed on the route via dei Camini and then the arête Stegher, and then on the Prima Torre del Sella (and I will make the most of it and thank him officially here), and I also climbed with Silvio Riz. Later on, I hadn’t even turned fourteen yet, I repeated the Trenker route with Gaetano Rasom, ending almost at sun set, then the arête of the Second Tower with the first real teacher Enzo Nogara from Lecco (repeated, leading it, a few days later with my brother Ivo), and then the route grande Via Micheluzzi at Ciavazes with my future climbing partner of many rock escapades, Stefan Stuflesser then the routes on the Mesules followed. As soon as I turned twenty I got my mountain guide diploma and this great passion of mine turned into a dream: the possibility of accompanying clients in this play ground I had just discovered. The step was very short from climbing just for fun to doing it as a job and the desire grew in me to make the routes and the surrounding environment increasingly safer. That is how I began the restyling of the anchor points of some of the classic routes (see rings on the routes Maria and Gross at Sass Pordoi, or else on the route Via della Rampa at Piz Ciavazes, until completely rebolting some routes such as Roberta 83, Baci da Honolulu and Alfa and Omega, Icterus, until opening the route Roberta 85, Non c’è 2 senza te or the most recent route Willi on Sass Pordoi.

It was an honour and a pleasure when Alessio Conz asked me to take part in compiling this guide book. We had already collaborated when writing the book “Dolomiti New Age” when I helped with the chapters describing the Sella/ Catinaccio area and we experienced a good synergy.

Probably I have repeated more than half of the routes in this book, sometimes more than once, I can remember many of the routes, others less so. The result is a great book, obviously always ready to improve, there will always be some inaccuracies (hopefully very few) only readers can be the judge of that. This book is dedicate to my son Etienne, who died prematurely on these mountains a short time ago, in the hope that this, from where he may be climbing and skiing now, may please him.