darren
Poobah Emeritus
Yet another part. Old threads: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.
Our second day at Refugio Pomedes dawned sunny with blue skies. It would be a perfect day on the rocks. After a quick breakfast at the refugio, we headed back towards the Sentiera Astaldi via ferrata route. We got back on the route that we had checked out the day before. Carmel got on the beginning of the route, and we could see the 421 trail heading up from the valley below. The route traverses across the South face of Punta Anna and were headed from East to West across it. After traversing for a while, we could look back toward the beginning of the route and also foward to the huge rock face that continued infront of us. From our vantage point, it looked like Punta Anna merged with Tofana de Rozes, but from the map, we could see that there was actually a valley in between the peaks. Whispy clouds were streaming over the 10,600' summit of Tofana de Rozes.
We kept making our way across the face. To our surprise, there were several sections with no cables for protection. The open sections traversed huge scree fields and each step would send rocks sliding down thousands of feet below us. One misplaced step or putting too much trust in a rock that is not as stable as you would think and you would be quickly headed down hill for a certain fatality.
We finally made it to the coolest section of the route. There is a big rounded corner made up of rust colored dirt and rocks. It really stands out from the rest of the nearly white peaks in the area. We had to take the tourist shots of me just before the corner and Carmel coming around the corner. It wasn't much later that we exited the route and looked back at where we had come from. The valley between Punta Anna and Tofana De Rozes was now in front of us. Tofana De Roses just stood straight up in front of us across the valley.
Our next goal was to head up the valley and join the trail that switchbacks (center of the shot) its way up to a plateau behind Tofana De Rozes. We crossed the open scree fields and joined up with the trail heading up. The trail went up and up and after quite a bit of climbing, it passed in front of two abondoned rifugios. We also came across the remains of an outpost from World War I. If it had a roof on it, it would be cool to stay inside the old building. Finally, we crested the pass and we were treated with an amazing view towards Tofana Di Dentro. The Refugio Giussani was located right in the pass, but it was really busy so we did not stop for lunch. We sat on some rocks by ourselves, had some power bars, and then began our descent back down to the valley. After dropping thousands of feet, we finally got back down to some grass. It just seemed nice to be surrounded by greenery after several days on the rocks. From there, we could see East all the way down the valley back to Cortina. We descended further into the valley, crossed over back East and then hiked back up to the Rifugio Pomodes for some R&R time.
From the back deck of the rf. Pomodes, we could look straight up to the climbers on the via ferrata Punta Anna. By zooming out a little, the scale of the route begins to become apparent. Especially when you see how far they had to go to reach the first false summit. But...we were tired and it was time for us to relax.
That is about it for the hiking, climbing, and mountain biking, portions of our trip. The Dolomites exceeded my expectations. The area is just incredible and I know we will return. Carmel can't wait to sit by the lakes under the peaks again.
If anyone is interested, I have some "culture" shots from the other areas we saw on our way to and from the airport in Rome. These places were cool, but the Dolomites are where it is at!
Tuscany
Sunset in Sienna
Another view of Sienna
Sienna Center after sunset
A small cafe
Lunch near some vinyards
Cheers
Classic Tuscan vinyard
A larger vinyard
The Lakes District
A castle where we hung out with two British brothers
The view from the castle
Largo Di Garda
The town of Torbole
Venice
Venice is a nasty place. Plain and simple. The canals are full of trash and stink of sewerage. The buildings are covered with graffiti and the sidewalks reek of urine. Just a plain nasty place that seemed even worse to us after having spent 11 incredible days in the natural beauty of the Dolomites. To top it off, the locals are incredibly rude. After spending weeks with some of the friendliest people we had ever met, the treatment of the locals towards us made us leave the city in 4 hours. So, our advice is if you go to the Dolomites, then stay there a few more days and don't bother even thinking about going to Venice. In any event, here are a couple of shots:
Carmel on one of the arch covered sidewalks
Gondola
On the Med
Our room with a view
Carmel on our balcony
Looking down at the beach below
OK...whew...that's it. Any questions?
- darren
Our second day at Refugio Pomedes dawned sunny with blue skies. It would be a perfect day on the rocks. After a quick breakfast at the refugio, we headed back towards the Sentiera Astaldi via ferrata route. We got back on the route that we had checked out the day before. Carmel got on the beginning of the route, and we could see the 421 trail heading up from the valley below. The route traverses across the South face of Punta Anna and were headed from East to West across it. After traversing for a while, we could look back toward the beginning of the route and also foward to the huge rock face that continued infront of us. From our vantage point, it looked like Punta Anna merged with Tofana de Rozes, but from the map, we could see that there was actually a valley in between the peaks. Whispy clouds were streaming over the 10,600' summit of Tofana de Rozes.
We kept making our way across the face. To our surprise, there were several sections with no cables for protection. The open sections traversed huge scree fields and each step would send rocks sliding down thousands of feet below us. One misplaced step or putting too much trust in a rock that is not as stable as you would think and you would be quickly headed down hill for a certain fatality.
We finally made it to the coolest section of the route. There is a big rounded corner made up of rust colored dirt and rocks. It really stands out from the rest of the nearly white peaks in the area. We had to take the tourist shots of me just before the corner and Carmel coming around the corner. It wasn't much later that we exited the route and looked back at where we had come from. The valley between Punta Anna and Tofana De Rozes was now in front of us. Tofana De Roses just stood straight up in front of us across the valley.
Our next goal was to head up the valley and join the trail that switchbacks (center of the shot) its way up to a plateau behind Tofana De Rozes. We crossed the open scree fields and joined up with the trail heading up. The trail went up and up and after quite a bit of climbing, it passed in front of two abondoned rifugios. We also came across the remains of an outpost from World War I. If it had a roof on it, it would be cool to stay inside the old building. Finally, we crested the pass and we were treated with an amazing view towards Tofana Di Dentro. The Refugio Giussani was located right in the pass, but it was really busy so we did not stop for lunch. We sat on some rocks by ourselves, had some power bars, and then began our descent back down to the valley. After dropping thousands of feet, we finally got back down to some grass. It just seemed nice to be surrounded by greenery after several days on the rocks. From there, we could see East all the way down the valley back to Cortina. We descended further into the valley, crossed over back East and then hiked back up to the Rifugio Pomodes for some R&R time.
From the back deck of the rf. Pomodes, we could look straight up to the climbers on the via ferrata Punta Anna. By zooming out a little, the scale of the route begins to become apparent. Especially when you see how far they had to go to reach the first false summit. But...we were tired and it was time for us to relax.
That is about it for the hiking, climbing, and mountain biking, portions of our trip. The Dolomites exceeded my expectations. The area is just incredible and I know we will return. Carmel can't wait to sit by the lakes under the peaks again.
If anyone is interested, I have some "culture" shots from the other areas we saw on our way to and from the airport in Rome. These places were cool, but the Dolomites are where it is at!
Tuscany
Sunset in Sienna
Another view of Sienna
Sienna Center after sunset
A small cafe
Lunch near some vinyards
Cheers
Classic Tuscan vinyard
A larger vinyard
The Lakes District
A castle where we hung out with two British brothers
The view from the castle
Largo Di Garda
The town of Torbole
Venice
Venice is a nasty place. Plain and simple. The canals are full of trash and stink of sewerage. The buildings are covered with graffiti and the sidewalks reek of urine. Just a plain nasty place that seemed even worse to us after having spent 11 incredible days in the natural beauty of the Dolomites. To top it off, the locals are incredibly rude. After spending weeks with some of the friendliest people we had ever met, the treatment of the locals towards us made us leave the city in 4 hours. So, our advice is if you go to the Dolomites, then stay there a few more days and don't bother even thinking about going to Venice. In any event, here are a couple of shots:
Carmel on one of the arch covered sidewalks
Gondola
On the Med
Our room with a view
Carmel on our balcony
Looking down at the beach below
OK...whew...that's it. Any questions?
- darren
