Via Ferrata Strobel — Punta Fiames

This climb was my goal before turning 50. I spent months training for it, and on May 17th I got to stand on Punta Fiames — 2,240 meters up in the Pomagagnon group, just north of Cortina d'Ampezzo — and take it all in.

The Strobel climbs the west face of the mountain in a long, winding line of exposed ledges and cable-secured pitches, gaining nearly 1,000 meters from the valley floor. It's rated medium difficulty, but that rating is really about the climb, not the way down. The descent drops through a long scree gully below Forcella Pomagagnon, and there's no real trail — just loose rock and whatever line the last person down happened to leave. To make it worse, this early in the season there was still deep snow packed into parts of the gully — I post-holed up to my hip more than once, and by the time we were coming down it had softened enough in the sun that every step was a gamble on how far you'd sink. I spent most of it in a half-squat just trying to keep my weight low and controlled on ground that wanted to slide out from under me. This was, without question, the toughest descent I've ever done.

The climb was tough, the views were unreal, and every workout was worth it.

Goal accomplished.