To the Bivacco Slataper

More lovely weather for our last day of hiking on this vacation. Today we're hiking in the Sorapiss massif again (we hiked here on the first day too... symmetry!), but this time on the other side. Starting at the lift station above San Vito di Cadore we hike up, up, up, mostly along forest road, until we hit the construction area around the Rif. Scotter. From here we cross a bit more construction and then are finally on real trail for the last bit up up to the Rif. San Marco. This is a lovely small hut with a great location. We've already done 700m, but we aren't even close to done with the climbing.

Up, up some more, now on a nice trail until we hit the Forcella Grande. Here we find a good spot to enjoy the views (the bowl in front of us really is nice) and do a food break. Then onward and upwards around the left side of the bowl and then up, up to the Bivacco Slataper. This is a bright red tube perched on a point with fantastic views. We've been almost entirely alone to this point (we saw two hikers up to the first hut and one while having the break), but now there are people around. One pair is very intent on establishing the fact that they're going to be in the bivac, a group with klettersteig equipment is also descending, and there's a group of four, also with klettersteig equipment, up above in the saddle. We head up to the saddle and a bit up one side to a quiet spot for another food break and some more view appreciation. We're sitting on the edge of a big drop, more or less at the altitude where the afternoon clouds are getting started, so our views to the West are intermittent, but everything to the East is clear. 

After the break we head back. We start by heading straight down the valley across a set of nice slabs through a stone landscape which is really reminiscent of being on a glacier, including crevasses(!). It's wild. Under the bivac we walk past a group of three ibex grazing and enjoying the afternoon sun; they aren't too concerned about us. The rest of the way out is the same as how we came in, just with different views since we're walking in the other direction and the light and clouds are different.

The Rif. San Marco is just too tempting, so we stop there for a cool beverage and lovely piece of pie before finishing the last bit down, down, down to the car.

Great day! And next time we're back in the area we definitely need to consider doing some of the klettersteigs around Sorapiss. The route from either Faloria or Passo Tre Cime to Biv. Slapeter looks really good!

Stats: 7:00, 19.4 km, ~1500m up and down 

Around the Tofana di Rozes

Today we start at the Rifugio Angelo Dibona (last week we parked on the main road and walked up to this, but this time we drove up). We follow the descent route from the cave and join the main trail under the massive wall of the Tofana di Rozes towards Lagazuoi. Note for future years: there are at least a couple of quite popular climbing routes starting not far from the scree ramp to the cave.

Following the path around the corner we get views across towards Lagazuoi (not visible behind the Col dei Bos) and down to the Forcella Col dei Bos. At the pass we end up in the middle of a large (!) group of loud (!) French hikers, so we stop for an early food break to let them get ahead. Nice views down into the Val Travenanzes from here (we were at the very bottom of this on the waterfall hike). After the break we follow the trail down, down into the valley. There's loads of WWI stuff left in here too. Down, down we go, into the trees, past the Malga Travenanzes hut (where we end up back in the large French group again) and then down further to where the bottom of the valley is a broad river plane. Here we turn off to the right (thankfully the group continues down the valley) and make a bit of a 180 to start to head back up towards the Tofana di Rozes. Up, up we go, taking another food break and enjoying the sun and the views, and then up some more. Around a corner and more steeply up to come into the awesome rock and gravel filled bowl below and between the Tofana di Mezzo and the Tofana di Rozes. We see plenty of folks on the way down from the Tofana di Rozes crossing the gravel slope above us. Very enjoyable hiking up through this and then we're at the Rifugio Giussani. Lots of people here, so we just continue on through the pass and start the descent down, down on a broad trail towards the Rif. Dibona. We do a last food break once we get out of the wind and into the sun and then follow the trail the rest of the way down, down to the hut (much better weather than last time, so there's no compulsion to stop and get out of the rain) and the car.

Very nice hiking in varied and spectacular landscapes.

Stats: 6:05, 14.9 km, ~1150m up and down

History on the Col de Lana

Text to come

Stats: 6:25, 16.6 km, ~1050m up and down

Tofana traverse

We start under blue skies with the first small gondola up out of Cortina and ride up to the middle station in the big gondola. From here it's through some ugly ski area mess (amazing how the ski crap can even look awful in an all rock and gravel landscape) for a bit until we pick up the trail up, up towards the Cima Formenton. During the long traverse of the scree slope we run across a small group of chamois and get to watch their version of scree running. When things start to get steeper we stop and put on the helmets (just in time too: as we stop in a protected place to put on the helmets a group above us, the first we've seen this morning, kicks a bunch of rocks loose above us) and then continue up, up. This is a pretty easy and well made trail weaving through a weak spot in the wall; there's cable where you'd want it. Up on the ridge we follow the use trail past some WWI ruins to the end (the Cima Formenton), where we take a food break (about 1:40 to this point) and enjoy the views.

After the break we head back to the main trail and start our way up, up, up to the Tofana di Dentro. This is some fun scrambling at first but the last bit is a bit of a slog up a long scree slope. The fact that we're above 3000m is noticeable. We pass some groups coming down (including some who'd been on the gondola up with us... what have they been up to the whole time?), but have the peak to ourselves for a while when we arrive (total time up: ~3 hours). We take another food break and enjoy the views. There are clouds, particularly on the Tofana di Mezzo (so many people up there!), but we still have amazing views. After the break we put the klettersteig stuff on (since we'll be passing people) and follow the cable along a nice, though somewhat worn, route down to the Forcella Tofana. From here it's up, up a band, also somewhat of a slog, until topping out on the ridge. A short walk takes us to the summit of the Tofana di Mezzo. Of course we aren't alone up here. :-) Some more enjoying of the views, pack away the gear, and then we walk down the first of three gondolas to get back to Cortina.

It would have been nice if there'd been less clouds for this one, but it was still a really good tour.

Stats: 5:15, 8.0 km, ~1100m up, less down

Cadini Massif 2: Sentiero Durissini

We were so impressed with the Cadini massif during Thursday's hike that we opted to go back. Andrea found an Italian description of a loop through six high passes that sounds too good not to do and the weather forecast was good, so off we went.

This time we drove past the Lago di Misurina and parked just past it. From here it's up, up, up to the Rif. Fonda Savio. The trail takes us through the woods and then up and through the nice valley below the hut, past a large group of older hikers, and up, up the last bit to the hut. As we're putting on our helmets at the top of the ladder we can see a group of three following the path we're planning on taking and another group of 4 on their way up to the Ciadin de Nevaio. 

Down the ladders we go and the across the snow and along the good path which takes us around the corner and then up to the Forcella de la Torre, the first pass of the day. The group of three (two French women and a guide) are still here and a solo hiker comes from the other direction during our break. We have a food break and enjoy the views before descending the other side. Down a bit, then a traverse, overtaking the group of three, then up again to the Forcella Sabbiosa and more nice views. Down again, another traverse, another climb, and we're at the Forcella Ciadin Deserto. From here it's just around the corner to the Forcella Cristina. Just below this one we find a nice (and unexpected!) bench in the sun and do another short food break, just because we can. Now down a bit , into a greener area, and then around the corner and back into the land-of-rock. Up, up again with more scree and then some scrambling and ladders until we get to the Forcella Verzi. Fortunately we're at the top when we encounter the couple getting ready to go down... there are plenty of options to kick rocks down on people below you on that bit and it was nice not to have to worry about that. We enjoy another food break and appreciate the views (what a place!) before continuing on. From here there's just a short bit of ascent to the Forcella del Nevaio, from which we have simply awesome views. The descent into the Ciadin de Nevaio is easy, if a bit loose, we descend a bit of snow (there's what seems to be a good-sized permanent snow field up here) and start our way down, down to the hut. Nice views along the way to the klettersteig which heads up to the Cima Cadin Nord Est (busy! busy!). Back at the hut (busy! busy!) we opt for the quick descent (the way we came up) to the car. We do this down, down, down efficiently and are back at the car pretty quickly.

This was pretty much a perfect hike: great views, interesting terrain, fantastic landscapes, just sooooo good! :-)

Stats: 6:00, 13.4 km, ~1150m up and down

Karst on the Lastoi de Formin

The forecast for the afternoon is a bit questionable, so today's more of a "normal hike". We drive up towards the Passo Giau and stop at the parking lot at the Punte de Rucuno. We aren't the only ones with plans to hike this loop: there are plenty of cars here already and 4-5 groups getting ready to go. 

We set off along the trail (again on the Alt Via Dolomiti 1) and head up, up through the trees. At the fork we opt to do the loop counter-clockwise, so we head off into the Val de Formin. We're still in the shade, so the gentle climbing is cool and easy. The valley's really nice with walls on both sides (those on the left are dramatic and sheer) and, once we get a bit higher, cool boulders to play on. Up, up we go. When things start to open up to our right, before reaching the Forcella de Formin, we turn off to the right and head out without a trail across the karst which slopes up towards the ridge/peaks above. This broad feature, the Lastoi de Formin, is visible from all over the place and has been on our list since last year. More fun boulders to play on, fun karst walking, a food break in the sun with nice views, then further up, up towards the top. We improvise a route through the steeper "headwall" that leads to the top and then are up on the ridge.

The very last bit is unfortunately not accessible without wings, so we follow the ridge back to the left until we get to the top of the Ponta Lastoi de Formin. We've got the peak to ourselves for a while, unfortunately not in the sun and can enjoy the great views and the dramatic cloud play on the surrounding mountains. We were alone during the no-trail traverse of the karst, but now we're on a popular, though marked only with cairns, route, so as we continue towards the Forcella de Formin we start passing people coming the other way. Down to the pass, then down down a bit more towards the Forcella Rosa. Instead of following the main trail down to the pass we take a side trail towards a small saddle to have a food break and enjoy the views (unfortunately not the sun though). After the break we head steeply down the scree on a slight path (fun!) until we rejoin the main trail. Nice views of the lake and rifugio below and increasing numbers of people as we head towards them. Lots of people at the lake itself, which is very nicely situated under the wall of the Croda da Lago. There are apparently climbing routes in this little group and it would be fun to come back some time and explore them.

We opt not to stop at the crowded hut for a break and instead continue down, down through the woods, down, down, past plenty of other people, down, down to the car.

We ended up timing this pretty well: back in Cortina a gentle rain starts as we're eating our pizza-by-the-slice snack and that intensifies to a couple of hard, though brief, showers later in the afternoon.

Nice day of easy hiking in a nice area. Playing on the karst was particularly fun (as always).

Stats: 6:10, 15.9 km, ~1000m up and down

Fanes waterfalls hike

Today we did the waterfall hike that we'd been talking about since our last trip to the Dolomites.

We park at the parking area the shuttle drove through to get to Rif. Ra Stua on Wednesday. From here we follow a nice path through the woods along and up until we get to the viewpoint above the Cascata de Fanes. It's a dramatically situated high waterfall and the klettersteig which goes behind it is nicely visible. This is going to be fun! Down, down we go into the gorge, along a steep trail, until we're at the bottom. Towards the waterfall a bit, past another group deciding what to do next, across the bridge, and then up the klettersteig on the other side. This takes us easily (but exposed) to the other rim. Here briefly along the hiking path and then following the signs to the klettersteig which takes us back along the inside of the gorge and behind the falls. Tons of fun here playing behind the waterfall. The continuation past the waterfall leads down into a drier part of the gorge and then to the bottom, but that's not our plan for today, so we just head back out the way we came and rejoin the hiking paths. On the way out we pass a group of 8 on their way in and another group still getting ready; it was definitely good to be here a bit early!

Now we start following the Sentiero dei Canyons e Delle Cascate, which we'll be on for large parts of the rest of the day. This is a really nice path taking us directly alongside the river, across bridges, past numerous other waterfalls, always ascending the gorge.  Food break next to a chain of cascades, and then further up the gorge and past more cool waterfalls. At Cascata Sbarco de Fanes there's another waterfall with a klettersteig behind it. This fall is not as high as the first, but it's broader and in direct sunlight, so we get great shadow play behind the falls. On the other side we head briefly up again and then cross another bridge. Here the trail we've been following starts to head back down, but we haven't had enough, so we opt to continue up the nice-looking valley towards the Fanes Huette (where we stayed on the 2004 trip). 

This stretch is following a gravel road, very popular with bikes, up, up the valley. Just after moving from one national park to the next we hit a big, open, idyllic field which is just too inviting to pass by. So we stop for another food break and enjoy the view for a while. Rather than continuing along the road and up through the trees we decide to turn around here and head back to do more of the  Sentiero dei Canyons. So, down, down we go along the road until we get back to the fork, and then further along the trail and down until we cross the deep, narrow, gorge at the bottom of the Val Travenanzes. We walked through a bit of the top of this on one of the snow hikes last year. If we were to continue up this valley we'd end up at the saddle between Lagazuoi and the Tofana Rozes. (Would be a fun hike to do, but with challenging travel logistics.) Anyway, across the gorge and then back around the corner to another trail junction. We stay on the Sentiero dei Canyons, now much less frequently travelled, and head around into the next small gorge. Up, up again to the waterfall at the end. This one we can't walk behind, but there is a bit of klettersteig that takes us to a point where we can actually see most of the fall (otherwise concealed behind rock). Then we head up and out of the gorge. Past a spot in the stream with a couple of nice evorsions (the vocabulary word of the day for us), one of which would have been a great bathing pool on a warmer day, and then across a bridge and back to the larger path which takes us down, down into the valley and back to the parking lot.

Another great day. This one would have worked on a cloudy day too, but the sun did add something.

Stats: 6:40, 19.9 km, ~950m up and down

Cadini Massif 1: Sentiero Bonacossa

The forecast was, again, really good, so we set out for a longer day.

After driving to Lago di Misurina we take the char lift up from the end of the lake (plenty of people taking the early lift up) and then set off along the marked path towards the Forcella Misurina. This is traversing and climbing in the shadow of the Cadini massif, and it's almost cold, but we're moving at a decent speed (there are a couple of other groups behind us and we don't want to end up in crowds on the more technical sections which come later), so we stay nice and warm. The last bit to the pass is steep but easy. It's steeply down from here, so we put on the klettersteig gear before starting the descent. This is easy, cable and gear not necessary (though the helmet certainly belongs on). Down and around the corner we go, emerging into the lovely and impressive valley/cirque (?) Ciadin de la Neve. Across the scree and up, up the other side, including a few ladders and some more steep, to get to the Forcella del Diavolo. We find a patch of sun here and have a food break to enjoy the views and let the group of three coming behind us go by (they provide a great illustration of why wearing a helmet is a good idea: kicking a number of rocks loose on their way up). After the break it's down the other side, through the narrow valley, past a *bunch* of climbers on a tower, and then up, up the other side to the very nice situated Rif. Fonda Savio. Here it's madness!

We now need to head down a steep bit and a couple ladders to continue. We end up waiting a bit for people slowly coming up (yes, it's madness), but then move quickly through that section and start heading down the significantly broader Ciadin de Toce. We take another food break here on a big rock in the sun and enjoy the views. Theoretically we have a great view of the Drei Zinnen here, but they are making their own clouds and are rarely visible. After the break we continue along down the valley, across the Forcella de Rinbianco (madness here!) and then along the Sentiero Bonacossa towards the Rif. Auronzo. This is another nice exposed path with some cables and good views and one bit of somewhat unpleasant ascent up a wet slab (yay for the cable here!). It looks like this might have used a different ascent earlier but that was maybe taken out by rock slide. At the end of that we come out on top of the ridge and can truly appreciate how crazy busy it is around the Rif. Auronzo. We pack away the klettersteig stuff and then continue on our way.

The original plan is to just grab a bus at the rifugio and take that back to the car, but after looking more at the map we realize that there's a trail that looks nice, so we take that instead. This takes us down, down, at first nice trail through the woods until we get to the first lake, then immediately next to the road for most of the short stretch to the Lago di Misurina. We stop at a restaurant at the top of the lake to enjoy cool beverages and the view across the very kitschy lake before finishing the hike by walking along the lake and back to the car.

Another really, really good day of hiking. Much of it interesting hiking. The Cadini massif is really impressive and we should definitely head back. 

Stats: 6:40, 16.2 km, ~1000m up,  ~1350m down

Hiking the Seekoffel

This was a pure-hiking day. The weather is perfect, with cloudless blue skies. We drive out of town to the North, park across from the sports store and hop on the shuttle that takes us up into the park and to the parking lot at the Rif. Ra Stua. Here we start hiking up the valley in the cold morning wind. Along the road for a bit and then we turn off onto the trail which starts switchbacking up, up the Crepe de Socroda. A few hundred meters higher and we're in a rolling green and gray landscape with lovely mountains all around. Further along the trail until we get to the Lago Gran de Foses. Here across the idyllic field, past the idyllic hut, along the idyllic lake, past the idyllic little hill with 4 or 5 marmots on it, and then up, up, and around until the Seekoffelhuette comes into view, with the Seekoffel itself towering above. Been a while since we saw that. :-)

We take a food break and enjoy the views and then continue on to the hut. Surprise along the way as a flock of chickens crosses the trail in front of us, guess they must have fresh eggs at the hut! Past the hut we go, up to the pass, and then up, up along the switchbacking trail to head up to the Seekoffel itself. Up, up we go, through the maze of trails and cairns, always up and along until we get to the peak. Just fantastic views from here and not a cloud in sight until somewhere in Switzerland (theoretically you can see the Piz Kesch from here, but it's certainly under clouds). We have a nice relaxed food break and soak in the views and general loveliness of it all before starting back down. Rather than follow the exact same route, we opt to stick with views for as long as possible and head back along the ridge, hoping for a nice view down to the hut. The hut view comes rather late (still nice though), and then we rejoin the main route down, down and back to the pass.

Now further along the trail that takes use up over a hill and to the Sennes Huette. Now we're repeating part of day 2 from the trip long ago with Andreas and following the Via Alta 1. This takes us down to the Rif. Fodara Vedla, where we stop for a cool beverage and a piece of apple strudel before leaving the Via Alta and heading back to Rif. Ra Stua. This is a nice walk through a mix of woods and open, heading down, down at the end to drop us back at more or less the same place in the valley where we had started heading up, up the other side in the morning. Back the last bit to the hut, where we arrive just in time to catch the next shuttle out of the park and back to our car.

This was a really, really nice day of hiking with some fantastic weather. It was loads of fun to revisit some of the places from that 2004 trip.

Stats: 7:50, 21.4 km, ~1350m up and down