UKH

Anyone know of any rock climbing guidebooks to the Italian side of Mont Blanc in English. Other than Mont Blanc by Versante Sud? Mostly interested in Multi Pitch routes.

I own Mont Blanc: The Complete Rock Climbing Guide, by Fabrizio Calebasso and Matteo Pasquetto, ISBN 9788885475816.

I found it on eBay for £8.99 and even for that price I was a little disappointed when it arrived, however it's about the only pure rock guidebook for the Italian side, bar the free online PDF for the Dalmazzi Refuge area, available at;

 https://www.dropbox.com/s/2qdtveajqvo7c1h/GUIDA%20ARRAMPICATA%20BACINO%20TR...

I couldn't help but feel the authors embarked upon creating a guide, lost interest in it at some point, then just cobbled it together for publication. Route descriptions are rather basic, often lacking details of individual pitches and printed on cheap recycled paper, without any gloss/laminating to the pages, so will soak up drips of rain or sweat from your hands.

It's world's away from the high caliber Mont Blanc Granite guidebooks, by Damilano, Desecures & Laurent, for the French side, who have set a high standard in terms of detailed route descriptions, topos from multiple angles and additional photos/diagrams of sections where people invariably get lost, plus glossy pages.

I appreciate the efforts of the Italian writers creating a guide, but see it vastly overpriced at RRP for what it is. Though perhaps I'm unfairly comparing them, given the Italian guide is around four times the thickness!

For information. The Dalmazzi Rifugio is closed and there are no plans to reopen it.

Why’s that?

It was reopened last year - and as far as I know it should be open again next year;

Oh gosh, everything I had read said it wasn't going to re-open because of the damage to the photovoltaic system.

I've just looked at the CAI site and it does indeed say it's open 15th June this year and closes 15th September.

Thank you, I've been checking since it closed. 

Did you actually stay there?

https://www.caitorino.it/rifugi/dalmazzi/ 

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To the OP, you will almost certainly need to book, it was (is) very popular. One big change is that car access to Val Ferret is highly controlled. I was there 2 weeks ago and got probably the last spot at the car park at the Planpincieux and access to the Valley (for vehicles) was warden controlled. For the summer, (unless you're resident at the hotels) the small car park will be full. You'll need to park at the Mont Blanc Skyway car park and get the bus to the end of the valley.

The other guide is Valle d'Aosta Sport Climbing. It covers the whole valley rather than Mont Blanc

https://www.oliunid.com/uk/valle-d-aosta-sport-climbing-climbing-guidebook....

Thanks for your reply. I didn't know about the download for Dalmazzi, that should be useful.

We were there 1 week before it opened. It was due to open mid June last year but had to be delayed till mid July. We stayed in the winter room - it was very cosy and just a lovely space and worked out nicely for us as it was free. We met a Swiss couple who had been booked into the main rifugio, but as it was closed and they were in the winter room, the staff carried them up lots of food and cake (which they kindly shared with us, alongside giving us some gas canisters!). A lovely spot - really quiet and in a stomach churningly beautiful location. Very much looking forward to going back in the future. 

https://www.lamartine.fr/livre/9782918824459-mont-blanc-granite-tome-5-a-ro...