New route on Lastoni di Formin

Love my dogs (7a, 300m), new route on Lastoni di Formin (Dolomites) by Mario Dibona and Gretchen Alexander.

July 2005

New route on the Lastoni di Formin (Dolomites) at the hands of Mario Dibona and Gretchen Alexander. The duo created a new bolt 300m route up the center of Spiz de Mondeval, calling it "Love my dogs" and grading it 7a, 6b+ oblig.

A series of new bolt routes have been established in recent years at Lastoni di Formin, making it a highly sought-after destination in the Dolomites.

Lastoni di Formin
Spiz de Mondeval
Love my dogs
F.A.: Mario Dibona and Gretchen Alexander
First repeat: Davide Alberti and Walter Bachmann
Face: sud
Length: 300m
Grade: max 7a, 6b+ obbl.
Gear: normal mountaineering rack. 15 quickdraws and one 60m rope.
Approach: park the car in the obvious lay-by on the left, circa 200m beneath Passo Giau Follow the path to Forcella Giau (30 min)and continue to the middle of the face (leftwards) to a large cairn with the route name marked on it (10 min from the col).
Descent: descend north for 5 minutes along the path that leads to the obvious cleft on the right. This marks the start of a steep and friable gully. The first abseil is obvious (belay on the right away from stonefall). Three 30m abseils lead to the base of the wall.

The route
1 pitch - 5b 32m slab
2 pitch - 6c+ 30m tecnhnical and beautiful slightly overhanging grey slab
3 pitch - 6c 30m grey slab with overhang
4 pitch - 6a 33m nice grey slab
5 pitch - 6b 32m great vertical pitch
6 pitch - 6a+ 48m great corner with steep finishing slab
7 pitch - 6c+/7a 35m slab with roof and finishing crack
8 pitch - 5b 22m slab with finishing overhang
9 pitch - 5b 20m vertical corner-crack to top