We had much better weather on our second day at the Vajolet Towers. As we were staying in the fantastic Rifugio Re Alberto we were the first to our route.
We had heard lots of excellent comments about the route, and about the level of exposure experienced and the route certainly did not disappoint.
We soloed up the first easy pitch to the first proper belay on the route, this was on a ledge just to the right of the arete. The next pitch was the crux, it started up the right hand side of the arete, before getting to a ledge with some gear. At this point you had to make a tricky move out onto the arete, which suddenly put you above a massive drop into the valley below. Steady climbing up the arete then continued, which started to feel more and more airy as I edged up further away from the gear. A few more moves led to a ledge and some gear, before it all started again with another step out onto the arete.
By this point 8 other people had arrived to do the climb, so we were very glad that we had made it to the climb first! The remaining pitches were easier, but still excellent. The third pitch continued up the arete, with equally spectacular exposure, and the other pitches all had really enjoyable climbing.
We made it to the top in good time and started abseiling down quickly, mindful that there were other parties behind us and that we didn’t want them abseiling above us if we could help it.
We got to the bottom in three abseils again and were back at the rifugio in time for a coffee and cake.
It really was a fantastic route with excellent climbing and mind boggling exposure.
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