The forecast calls for a decent morning and rain in the afternoon, so we plan a day with some flex in it.
Part 1 is doing the Sentiero Astaldi, a simple klettersteig on the Tofana Mezzo. We start with the familiar (from last year) drive up towards Lagazuoi, but stop in a parking lot across from the entrance to the road which leads up to the 5 Torri. From here it's up, up through the woods to the Rif. Dibona. There's plenty going on here. We follow the trail along, past a group of Americans with a guide, and then up, up towards the Rif. Pomedes. After a bit we hit the trail which leads to the Sentiero Astaldi. Here we put on our harnesses, helmets, and the klettersteig sets and then continue. Some normal hiking along a trail that definitely sees some usage leads us to the beginning of the cable.
The route itself follows an obvious band back towards Rif. Dibona. It's not at all technically challenging, particularly with the cable there to use as a hand hold, and is certainly in the realm of stuff that we'd do without the safety gear. But it's still nice to have the gear. :-) The constant clipping and unclipping is a bit irritating, so we do the more straightforward bits either without clipping in at all or with just one carabiner clipped. After not nearly long enough we exit the band and come out with a view over the path zig-zagging up to the Forc. Fontanegra (and all the people on that). We do a food break enjoying the views and then continue on to Part 2.
For part 2 we traverse up and across the scree slope to join the big trail, which we follow for a bit before turning off onto the trail towards the Col dei Bos. This traverses under the big, impressive wall of the Tofana de Rozes. At big scree fan we follow the smaller trail (and sign) towards the Grotta de Tofana. This takes us up, a bit more, and into a narrow chute. Here we put on the helmets and then scramble up to a band which leads us across the face for a bit (there's a cable here too) before heading up again to a large cave mouth. This place is pretty popular, we've passed a couple of men with a kid and a larger group is leaving the cave as we arrive. There's a loop inside the cave itself, starting with a ladder and a bit of cable up and then heading into the dark. There's a set of stairs, the ceilings are high, the walls are glistening, it's super cool. Towards the exit we re-encounter the two guys with the kid, who now has an actual torch. That's a really cool effect. :-)
After exiting the cave we head back down and re-cross the bands. It starts raining along the way (expected), so it's on with the hard shells before continuing. We pass one of the groups who left the cave as we were arriving at the end of the band and then head down, down the scree slope to rejoin the main trail. Off with the helmets and then onwards and downwards through the light rain to the Rif. Dibona. We're both hungry, so we decide to stop and have a proper lunch out of the rain. Fortunately there's a table free, so we get to enjoy some nice pasta in the warm dry instead of snacking in the rain. :-)
After lunch we head down, down, along the now amazingly slippery path, and back to the car.
Nice day!
Stats: 4:50, 11.2 km, ~800m up and down
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