PRINT: Rock Climb Vinatzer, Dolomites

Vinatzer

5.8+, Trad, 985 ft (298 m), 13 pitches,

Avg: 3.2 from 24 votes
FA: Giovanni Battista Vinatzer, Vicenzo Peristi. 1935
International > Europe > Italy > Dolomites > Sella Group > Passo Sella Area > Third Sella Tower

Description

Good route that ascends the west face to the tower.

Pitch 1 - Move up over slab and trend to the left towards a small scree patch. (35m)

Pitch 2 - Face climb straight up to the base of a chimney. (45m)

Pitch 3 - Climb the chimney to a crack and through a small overhang. (40m)

Pitch 4 - Follow a broken crack and face. (40m)

Pitch 5 - Short pitch up a ramp/groove to below a small overhang. (15m)

Pitch 6 - Climb up another broken crack and some face to gain the large terrace. (45m)

Pitch 7 - Traverse left on the terrace around a large boulder to the base of a steep finger crack. (20m)

Pitch 8 - Climb the steep finger crack and then face. (25m)

Pitch 9 - Climb the crack that trends up and left to the base of a corner/groove. (25m)

Pitch 10 - Climb up and then right ascending the corner/groove. (35m)

Pitch 11 - Move right around the arete and up through a chimney to a ramp that angle up and right. (45m)

Pitch 12 - From the ramp, follow a crack up and left which leads to a chimney. Climb the chimney to a stance on a small ledge. (25m)

Pitch 13 - Climb up easy slabs to the top of the formation. (50m)

Decent: Top out, then head down towards Piz Ciavazes on a well-marked path to a ring bolt. Rappel 25m. Then rap again 25m to skiers left off of a glue in. Then you have 4 unpleasant raps each 20m off tat slung around horns to get to the terrace. Once there follow it all the way around left to a gully between tower 2 and 3. Climb down the gully until it gets steep. look left on a wide ledge to the to the next rappel. Complete 2x20m rappels. which brings you to the Last 65m rappel. With rope stretch on double 60s you just make it down.

Location

The route ascends the west face of the tower.

Protection

There are a number of pins in place. Bring a selection of nuts and slings. Maybe a few small to medium cams as well.

Photos [Hide ALL Photos]

Vinatzer route - Sella Tower III

The crux roof crack

Walking across the ledge back to the front of the tower on the descent

Nearing the summit on Vinatzer.

Upper face of the Third taken from the Second. Vinatzer is the line that goes through the triangular roof (low middle of photo) above the spiral ledge descent.

High up on Vinatzer

The quick approach with the mountain in the background

Route Topo.

On p10

The roof!

Crux roof pitch

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

Tim Wolfe
Salt Lake City, UT

5.8

A beautiful classic line up the right then center of the face. For the experienced crack climber the "crux" roof is quite easy. Like most routes in the area - a very easy approach with a quick descent make this a nice route to do on a day that you don't get an early start. Jan 23, 2011

N Pinto
Colorado

One note... in the 1-2 pitches following the crux pitch, when the crack system turns into a rotten looking chimney (2 pin belay at base) that is indeed the correct route. We second guessed ourselves because the rock quality appeared to deteriorate quickly but keep following the crack/chimney system. Jul 27, 2023

Kasey Topp

The route listed here is not Vinatzer. This is a different route that goes at about the same grade and links up with vinater at the terrace. Look up Rockfax for Topo of the usual line.

Also The decent listed here is very wrong:
Top out, then head down towards Piz Ciavazes on a well-marked path to a ring bolt. Rappel 25m. Then rap again 25m to skiers left off of a glue in. Then you have 4 unpleasant raps each 20m off tat slung around horns to get to the terrace. Once there follow it all the way around left to a gully between tower 2 and 3. Climb down the gully until it gets steep. look left on a wide ledge to the to the next rappel. Complete 2x20m rappels. which brings you to the Last 65m rappel. With rope stretch on double 60s you just make it down. Sep 3, 2024

Tim Wolfe
Salt Lake City, UT

5.8

I disagree with Mr. Topp. This route description and the photos correlate with the Classic Dolomite climbs Kohler guidebook (1998), the Bernardi guidebook (German 2002), Ron James Guidebook (2005) and the recent Rushforth/Rockfax guide (2014, 2019). Plus I used them to climb it and it correlated with the rock. Sometimes we climbed not exactly on the line as is the nature of the holds in the Dolomites - but in general this is the guidebooks described Third Sella Tower Vinatzer route despite possible variations in climbing the rock. Dec 4, 2024

Lauren Ford
Bishop, CA

5.9

Good route and a fun first day out in the Dolomites for us! 5 hours on route and 2 hours to descend.

I found the description here and in the Rockfax guide to be very similar and both accurate. The descent as described by Kasey Topp is pretty much the same as the descent described in the Rockfax. The only difference is that Rockfax describes downclimbing a 15m section that Kasey describes as the second rap. There’s a glue-in bolt here, so you could do either, but pulling a rope through the loose gravel seemed more dangerous to us than the 3rd/4th class downclimbing.

Rockfax describes a 50m rap at the bottom of the last gully so we brought a tagline, but there are at least 2 intermediate anchors and you could rap this with a single 70m (not sure about a 60m).

Although not necessary, you could place a #4 in a ton of places and it would make some of the runout easier climbing a little more comfy. With two 0.5’s you could sew it up on the crux roof (one for the finger crack, one after the piton at the base of the roof to have higher pro as you pull around).

Make sure you snap an epic photo of your climbing partner on the descent as they walk around the ledge back to the front of the tower - with the Sassolungo in the background! Aug 17, 2025