Bee and I had been talking about a trip like this for several years. I had thought about it ever since I had seen a picture taken by a friend of a refuge with mountains in the background. I took essentially the same picture on the trip I will be describing here.
This was my 5th trip with Wilderness Travel and was another fantastic experience. We had a group of eight people with three guides, including Giuseppe whom I had already met on my first trip with Wilderness in Slovenia. Giuseppe was joined by Leila and Sean so we had three experienced guides (with two vans) to help us on this trip. It was great to have that flexibility given the weather that we encountered on some of the walks.
We met the group at the airport in Venice and quickly got into our two vans for the drive to the first stop of the day – for lunch half way to our first real destination. We stopped in the small town of Vittorio Veneto, at the edge of the Alps in an old water mill converted into a restaurant and had a great meal outside even though it was somewhat cold for the season. We then continued to Passo Giau where we would spend the first three nights of our trip at the Rifugio Pass Giau.
As soon as we arrived, I recognized where we were. The mountain with a flat top in the background is quite unique – this is a similar view to the picture who had made me want to be here – thanks Bill.
The was also the view from our bedroom at the Rifugio. Sean and Leila have stayed here many times and therefore know the owners quite well – it is like being welcomed into somebody’s house!
Cannot have a view of the Alps without a cow here and there! The weather was not great, and was not going to be great for the whole week so we had to contend with a very heavy sky, not making the pictures as spectacular as they could have been. But when the sun did shine, we were rewarded with spectacular scenery.
The contrast between light and shade can also enhance the view at times.
Near the Rifugio, there was a small chapel, as always called Santa Maria (or something) delle Neve to indicate that it is often covered in snow. They are usually dedicated to the memory of mountain guides who lost their lives doing what they loved to do.
We went on a ‘warm-up’ hike from the hotel in order to open our appetite for dinner. The Rifugio where we stayed is the first structure on the right and is quite a popular place at lunch and towards the end of the day, when people have finished their hike and are ready to go home. The crowd was thinning significantly as we were walking around.
On a hill above the Rifugio, we spotted a photographer apparently waiting for sunset. He was all set-up, with his camera on a tripod. I have done that many times myself, and quite a few times been rewarded by great shots. I am afraid that this photographer probably did not get the shots he was hoping for on this particular day. We did not get much of a sunset because of the cloud cover.
The following day, we walked to Croda da Lago and the Rifugio that was right along the small lake. This was our stop for lunch, but first we had to climb over the Colle Piombin and the Forcella di Giau (forcella is the Italian term for “saddle”).
On the other side, there is a totally new valley – what a surprise.
Occasionally, clouds do provide a good backdrop to photos.
Just over the Forcella di Giau, is the site where a very important discovery was made in 1987 – a Mesolithic burial site with an almost intact human skeleton of a Cro Magnon man, living probably 7500 years ago. The find was made under the large rock (the one with the big arrow pointing at it). Every summer, there are still archaeologists who come here to complete further studies and they typically stay at the small huts in the background to the right.
Descending towards Croda da Lago, where we will be rewarded with lunch.
Here is the route that we followed on the first day. It was very nice that when we got back to the main road, 400 m or so below the Passo Giau, we had a van waiting to take us back and we did n0t have to walk. We actually picked up two ladies who were walking up the road and feeling rather miserable. It was only 1 km, but on foot, going up hill, that can take more than 20 minutes as opposed to 2 minutes by van.
The second and third day hikes were quite wet. We had a great time, but I did not have any photos that I would want to share here…
On the third day, we were supposed to walk from Passo Giau to the Rifugio Lagazuoi. The morning went very well and we had an excellent lunch at Rifugio Nuvolau. We were supposed to walk all the way down to Pass Falzarego, but the rain got so bad that Sean offered to take a chairlift down to gain time and reduce the accumulated moisture level. Here is the route we ended up following that day. Again, the section between the bottom of the first cable car and the bottom of the second one leading to Rifugio Lagazuoi was done in our van – that is the advantage of having several guides for our group.
At the end of the third day, we ended up at Rifugio Lagazuoi, located at 2752 m and reachable only on foot, or via a cable car. We came by cable car, but will be leaving on foot – I like it better that way.
There was not much to see when we arrived, but fortunately, the clouds went up a little just before dinner, for a short while. We could finally enjoy the views that we were promised.
The next morning, early, there were still low clouds but that only made the view better with the low rays of the sun
Today was our longest hike, but all downhill. We walked from Rifugio Lagazuoi towards Cortina d’Ampezzo, where we will be spending the last three nights of the trip.
We walked on the back side of the Tofane Mountains, which are located NW of Cortina and peak above 3200 m – I was glad we did not have to go through it…
We were lucky to walk mostly in the sun all day. However, some clouds are already covering the Rifugio Lagazuoi where we came from – you can still barely see it in the middle of the picture above. We are out of the rocks, but there are still no trees anywhere around us.
Below is a panorama of just one side of the valley we are following.
I kept getting the back of people every time I tried to take a picture of the group. In this case, I asked everybody to turn around so that we got a group shot with faces.
I carry a lot of photo equipment on these hikes. In this particular case I had my camera and two lenses, including my 300 mm zoom. I always tell people that the reason I do so is that there are one or two occasions on each trip when I can get a photo that no one else can!
These are some of the ones for this trip!
We saw this wild goat from afar and it was only with my 300 mm lens and the full magnification I could get on photoshop that I was able to get these shots.
As we kept on going down, we started to approach the tree-line around lunch time. This probably means that we are now at about 1800 m altitude, or about 1000 m below where we started from. This was the only day we had a pic-nic lunch; we stopped near a wooden hut used by the forestry service. There was a table but we could no t get in; I was very happy that it did not rain that day.
Near the bottom, Sean had a surprise for us. We followed a Via Ferata (it was pretty easy so we did not need any equipment) up to a huge water fall – the Cascata de Fanes. There was enough space to walk under the fall almost without getting wet. I was glad my camera was not with me fort his, but in the capable hands of Sean who took the photo.
Here is the route that we followed on this hike. In Podestano, Leila came to get us with the van and took us into town.
On Day 6 (and Walk #5) we went NE of Cortina from the Passo Tre Croci all the way up to Rifugio Vandelli al Sorapis and Lake del Sorapis.
The weather was threatening but we were lucky in the morning not to have much rain. We are gradually going up along the side of a large mountain range and there are again spectacular views towards the valley.
Just as we arrived at the rifugio where we were supposed to have lunch, it started to rain and we decides to go in for an early lunch. We made the right decision as the place was already almost full as everybody else seemed to have had the same idea as us.
After lunch, we walked to the Lago del Sorapis still under the rain. The lake is renowned for its beautiful green-blue milky water which we unfortunately could not see at the time. I decided not to take any pictures – the lake was really nice, and with sun it would be even better but I did not think I wanted to immortalize the view in the grey.
So we went back down the same way we came up. In a steep valley which we had to cross twice, once on the way up and once on the way down, there was still quite a bit of snow left (remember, this is the middle of August!) This is an indication of how much snow there was the past winter. Crossing the snow bank was very tricky because the hard packed snow was very slippery.
Here is the walk that we did
We came back to Cortina early and Bee and I decided to have a stroll in town before dinner – this was a dinner on our own anyway. The Tofane looked great in the slowly setting sun.
Bee and I were having a beer on the side of the main pedestrian street in town (called Corso Italia) when we heard music approaching. A marching band came past – we never found out why or who but it added a touch of class and a bit of entertainment to our drink.
Our last walk was NE of Cortina in the Parco Naturale delle Tre Cime. Leila had indicated in the morning that we were probably not going to get any rain that day, but we were still fully equipped just in case. This is a very popular place and therefore I was rather worried as I saw the crowds in the parking lot around our starting point of Rifugio Auronzo (there was a line of cars and busses waiting to pay the parking charge at the entrance). However, everybody went one way, and we went the other, and ended up almost alone on our path leading away from the parking.
Here is the route that we followed: we did the purple loop clockwise.
Once again, we were rewarded with awesome views right from the beginning.
Our goal is the Rifugio Locatelli, named after a WWI hero who, as an aviator, had been prisoner of the Austrians in this area. The rifugio is still quite a long way away and up from where we are.
Before we got there, we stopped at a small shack (best way I know to describe it) where they made excellent pies, and hot chocolate, so we had to have some of both.
Many people come here to climb “Le Tre Cime” so called three mountain tops that you can see below. Even more people come here to hike and watch those who are courageous (crazy?) enough to attempt the climb.
At first we thought that we had spotted some climbers who were attempting to climb the center peak. Further inspection indicated that the thing we saw did not move much and we decided that it must be a red supply bag that people carried up there and left waiting for a more propitious day to attempt the full climb. Once again you can see the power of a good zoom in the closeup I was able to get.
Further to the left, below the left peak, there were people actually climbing. They were essentially practicing or scoping out different routes, with one person going up about a rope length, then coming back down and then the other person would do the same thing. They spent several hours doing that, the time it took us to walk up to the Rifugio.
Rifugio Locatelli is quite big, and crowded. All the people we saw at the start, who zagged when we zigged, were also coming here for lunch. We still found a good spot and had a good rest with the best Olio and Aglio spaghetti of the whole trip.
After lunch, we went down the way most people came up – you can see the path going into the distance on the side of the rockfall to the left of the Tre Cime below.
We had to admit that Leila had been right when she said it would not rain; the morning was totally dry. However, what I did not tell you is that she had added that it would probably snow instead – something at the time I was not prepared to believe. However, soon after we left the rifugio, it did snow – actually it was half way between snow and sleet and hail. It did not last very long, but did leave clear indications of what had happened on the local vegetation.
We are approaching the end of our trip. One more Snow Chapel (Capella degli Alpini) before we arrive back at the Rifugio Auronzo.
We had a great dinner together that evening and the next day had a mad dash down to Venice for the trip back home.
On the way home, we flew right over the Alps, and had a wonderful view from the airplane. One more photo – taken with my iPod showing that even that can take good photos.
Another fantastic adventure.
For more information on Wilderness Travel, please go to their website: www.wildernesstravel.com
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