Follow the General's Path south, passing a couple of junctions leading up to the Rifugio Telegrafo (which is only a 10 minute walk away from these points). The path curves and contours very scenically, offering views mostly to the southeast, but occasionally at cols gives views to the west down to Lake Garda and the distant alps beyond.
courtesy JInnes
Eventually the trail leads through a pronounced rock cut, and shortly after this, on the right, is a small col looking down into a steep, scree-filled alpine bowl. Bolted to the bedrock at this point is a plaque for the Via Ferrata delle Taccole. At this point you must leave the main path and head down into this alpine bowl.
courtesy JInnes
There is a faint track which leads down into the scree bowl, traversing diagonally downwards. The faint track generally keeps to the left, skirting the base of the cliffs along the headwall of the bowl. You can trace much of its path from the entrance into the bowl, until it seemingly peters out when a buttress of rock on the left-hand side juts into the bowl.
The start of the ferrata is just around this buttress (on the left hand side of the bowl). As you descend the scree (either on the path or just straight down), you will eventually see a little bit further around the buttress. You'll notice a small ledge near the base of the cliff behind the buttress. The ledge starts off flush with the sloping floor of the bowl. Perhaps 10 metres along this ledge is the start of the VF delle Taccole, complete with a weathered old metal plaque, blackened by the elements.
It is rather clear that you need to gear up here. The wires and protection lead very steeply up a large, open-faced crack. There are stemples and pegs are placed fairly often, but even so, there's a fair bit of effort required to climb this first pitch. It's a good warmup for bigger and harder pitches above.
courtesy JInnes
Start of VF delle Taccole
Climbing first pitch of VF Taccole
The first pitch is fairly short and over quickly. What follows is a few tens of metres of quite easy ferrata climbing along a rising traverse on moderately-angled terrain. There are increasingly nice views down to Lake Garda and to the distant Alps on the horizon.
Traversing to second pitch
Soon the pleasant ambling on the easy traverse is over: you round a corner and come face-to-face with a high, blank wall. Blank, that is, except for one prominent crack which courses straight up the wall. The wire approaches and then climbs up the face directly adjacent to the crack. Many stemples and pegs are visible, drilled into the face of the cliff immediately to the right of the crack. Daunting looking!
The crack pitch
The stemples and pegs look plentiful from below - and they are plentiful - but even so, we found it a bit of a thrash to get up this pitch. Apart from the crack itself, the rock wall has very few holds suitable for mountaineering boots, which is what we are wearing, and the stemples and pegs become fairly crucial as a result. Perhaps if you were wearing rock climbing shoes, you could climb this pitch without using the artificial aids. Either that or you are a much better climber than me!
With a fair bit of upper body effort, we make our way to the top of the "crack-wall" pitch, where there is a brief respite in the steepness - good for a break and for you to get ready for the final challenge.
courtesy JInnes
Looking down, second pitch
The third pitch of the climb is also quite steep. Perhaps not quite as steep as the second one, but still steep. The rock is a bit different as well - it's more textured and has more holds, but as we climb it, we find that what holds there are are frustratingly "slope-y". One section of fluted-looking rock lacks the reliable pegs and stemples we've grown accustomed to on this route, making it a bit more challenging. Again, rock climbing shoes would probably allow for good smearing here.
The third pitch also had (for us, anyway) some dampness from some drainage that was coming down from a bit of melting snow above, making some of our foot placements a bit more suspect. We managed without incident, and soon we had pulled ourselves up the final tricky bit to a flat ledge in the sun. The difficult part of the ferrata delle Taccole is now complete at this point.
courtesy JInnes
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