I recently returned from Italy where, among other things, I spent ten days in the Dolomites. My intention was to hike the entire length of the Alta Via 2, which is one of the two most popular of the marked long-distance high routes in the region. The route runs north/south and covers approximately 185 km (115 mi) between the summit Plose, above the town of Bressanone, and the town of Feltre. I traveled solo and used the rifugi, or huts, for accommodation along the way. I followed the hiking portion up with a visit to Venice and then Lake Como (sorry ladies - no George Clooney pics).
The AV2 covers a wide variety of terrain…from smooth tracks through green meadows, to massive fields of scree, to steep rocky climbs aided by steel cables and steps. Every day brought new views and new experiences. In the end, I was not able to complete my goal of covering the entire length of the AV2. Guide books recommend two weeks or more to complete the route. I budgeted 9.5 days, which I estimated would be enough given my typical pace and the distance I thought I could cover each day while still keeping it enjoyable. I had read a couple of trip reports by people finishing in this time frame, so it wasn’t a crazy plan. And it would have worked perfectly, but I lost a day to bad weather along the way and so had to bail a little early. I had already made my post-hike train and hotel reservations for Venice, and so I was locked in to my initial schedule. The challenge (besides predicting the weather) is figuring out an itinerary that matches both your abilities/ambitions and the placement of the various huts. Some days end up being shorter than you want, because the next available stopping point is too many hours away. No camping is allowed, and I did not carry any camping gear.
The scenery was stunning, and I highly recommend this trip to all of you! Here’s some basic info about the route: http://www.altabadia.org/en-US/dolomites_high_route_2.html. And here is a little bit about my own experience.
All pictures
Day 1: half-day Plose (or nearby) to Rifugio Genova. Spent the morning getting organized and shipping some items ahead to my post-hike destination. Planned to take the bus to a point that joined the trail just past the official starting point of the Plose summit. Weather started bad (rain), got worse (rain, thunder, lightning, hail), then got better (fog). I was bummed that I got my shoes and socks soaking wet the first day. The hut was great and I had a lot of fun that first night meeting many people (and drinking much wine). I mistakenly thought it would be that way the rest of the nights, but this was a Saturday in a popular location. In the boot-storing area…mine were the only non-boots (I wore my five-ten approach shoes which have become my faves – thanks Nif). Hmmm…do they know something I don’t know?
Day 2: Genova to Passo Gardena. Relatively easy day, and a great intro to how much harder the climbing is here than at home. Climbing up long stretches of very loose soil, gravel and chunky scree is a real energy-zapper. And boots (or little gaiters) might have helped keep out some of the crap I kept getting in my shoes. Met an American couple in the morning who had been at my hut the night before. First and last Americans I would see until I got to Venice. Got lost for a while, but figured it out. Climbed my first real via ferrata…but it was an easy one. Paid a jaw-dropping $20 at a tourist shop for a little tube of sunscreen since I had left mine at home (but happy that I needed it).
Day 3: Passo Gardena to Passo Pordoi. The original plan was to have a short day and stay on the summit of Piz Boe, which is the highest peak in the Sella group. For some reason, I thought it would be really cool to stay on the summit. The climb up from P. Gardena was indicated to be very challenging, but in fact it was better than advertised. The summit of Piz Boe was like the summit of Mt. Washington…full of people who didn’t get there on foot (ok, they had to do a little hike, but still). The place was packed and it was only 1pm when I arrived…so I decided to continue on. Met two brothers from Slovakia (a geologist and a judge) who made the afternoon more entertaining. A mistake on one of the trail signs had a group of 10 of us scratching our heads about where we actually were…but in the end we all made the right call.
Day 4: Passo Pordoi to Malga Ciapela. My plan was to hike the beautiful Viel del Pan to Passo Fedaia where I would catch a bus to Malga Ciapela and from there take a cable car ride up to near the summit of the Marmolada, the highest peak in the Dolomites. This would have been a very short hiking day, but I got myself into a little trouble. First there was no bus available to take me from Fedaia to Malga Ciapela (there were only 2 or 3 per day) so I had to hoof it. Next, the guide book said to walk on the road, which I thought was a dumb idea when there was a perfectly good trail that ran alongside it. The road runs along the north coast of a beautiful man-made lake and the mountains run down from the north to meet the road. All was fine with my alternate route until the trail started going up up and away from the road…which led me to start making my own trail – I wasn’t interested in any climbing. Things went downhill pretty quickly (there’s a reason there’s no trail where I was trying to go) but I persisted for a while. I’m ashamed to say that ultimately I had to turn around and go all the way back into town and start again hiking on the road. I decided to listen to the guide from now on. These two problems cost me a couple of hours, and so I arrived at Malga Ciapela starving and with little time before the last cable car ride up the Marmolada. Naturally, I did what any hungry, sane person would do. I said screw the big mountain, I want food and beer. The only game in town was a little snack shop next to the cable car ticket office…they had beer, they had slices of pizza, and they had a guitar-playing, Italian-song singing dude setting up his mike outside on their nice patio. Life was good.
Day 5: Malga Ciapela to Passo Valles. This was a moderately hard day. The climb up from MC to Forca Rossa began as a climb in the woods that made me feel like I was back in New England. Then it got harder. The scenery was so different from the days before…actually every day so far had been different from the others. I love this place! Except for the touristy section between Passo San Pellegrino and the popular hut Fuchiade, I didn’t see a soul on the trail all day until I got within an hour or so of my final destination and I passed a couple that I would see again a few days later. Had to hike up a ski slope…didn’t like that. The Valles hut is fantastic. It’s actually on a road, so anyone can get there easily. The waiters wore tuxedo shirts and ties, the food was fantastic and I had my own room.
Day 6: Passo Valles to Rifugio Rosetta. This was the hardest day of the trip, particularly coming on the heels of the fairly big climbing of Day 5. I was fortunate to have met some nice folks at Valles who were from a hiking club in England. They had the same goal as I did for this day and invited me to join them. The weather was a bit wet and foggy, and I knew the day was going to be a hard one, so welcomed the company. They kept hinting that they were a very fast group, but in the end we were perfectly suited for each other. This was the first of only two days when I had any walking companions on the trail. The day included a lot of climbing on rather difficult loose terrain, and things were wet enough to make them a bit more dangerous than usual. Long story short: it kicked my ass. I can honestly say that I have never felt as exhausted as I did when I finally arrived at the hut after just 7.5 hours of walking.
The AV2 covers a wide variety of terrain…from smooth tracks through green meadows, to massive fields of scree, to steep rocky climbs aided by steel cables and steps. Every day brought new views and new experiences. In the end, I was not able to complete my goal of covering the entire length of the AV2. Guide books recommend two weeks or more to complete the route. I budgeted 9.5 days, which I estimated would be enough given my typical pace and the distance I thought I could cover each day while still keeping it enjoyable. I had read a couple of trip reports by people finishing in this time frame, so it wasn’t a crazy plan. And it would have worked perfectly, but I lost a day to bad weather along the way and so had to bail a little early. I had already made my post-hike train and hotel reservations for Venice, and so I was locked in to my initial schedule. The challenge (besides predicting the weather) is figuring out an itinerary that matches both your abilities/ambitions and the placement of the various huts. Some days end up being shorter than you want, because the next available stopping point is too many hours away. No camping is allowed, and I did not carry any camping gear.
The scenery was stunning, and I highly recommend this trip to all of you! Here’s some basic info about the route: http://www.altabadia.org/en-US/dolomites_high_route_2.html. And here is a little bit about my own experience.
All pictures
Day 1: half-day Plose (or nearby) to Rifugio Genova. Spent the morning getting organized and shipping some items ahead to my post-hike destination. Planned to take the bus to a point that joined the trail just past the official starting point of the Plose summit. Weather started bad (rain), got worse (rain, thunder, lightning, hail), then got better (fog). I was bummed that I got my shoes and socks soaking wet the first day. The hut was great and I had a lot of fun that first night meeting many people (and drinking much wine). I mistakenly thought it would be that way the rest of the nights, but this was a Saturday in a popular location. In the boot-storing area…mine were the only non-boots (I wore my five-ten approach shoes which have become my faves – thanks Nif). Hmmm…do they know something I don’t know?
Day 2: Genova to Passo Gardena. Relatively easy day, and a great intro to how much harder the climbing is here than at home. Climbing up long stretches of very loose soil, gravel and chunky scree is a real energy-zapper. And boots (or little gaiters) might have helped keep out some of the crap I kept getting in my shoes. Met an American couple in the morning who had been at my hut the night before. First and last Americans I would see until I got to Venice. Got lost for a while, but figured it out. Climbed my first real via ferrata…but it was an easy one. Paid a jaw-dropping $20 at a tourist shop for a little tube of sunscreen since I had left mine at home (but happy that I needed it).
Day 3: Passo Gardena to Passo Pordoi. The original plan was to have a short day and stay on the summit of Piz Boe, which is the highest peak in the Sella group. For some reason, I thought it would be really cool to stay on the summit. The climb up from P. Gardena was indicated to be very challenging, but in fact it was better than advertised. The summit of Piz Boe was like the summit of Mt. Washington…full of people who didn’t get there on foot (ok, they had to do a little hike, but still). The place was packed and it was only 1pm when I arrived…so I decided to continue on. Met two brothers from Slovakia (a geologist and a judge) who made the afternoon more entertaining. A mistake on one of the trail signs had a group of 10 of us scratching our heads about where we actually were…but in the end we all made the right call.
Day 4: Passo Pordoi to Malga Ciapela. My plan was to hike the beautiful Viel del Pan to Passo Fedaia where I would catch a bus to Malga Ciapela and from there take a cable car ride up to near the summit of the Marmolada, the highest peak in the Dolomites. This would have been a very short hiking day, but I got myself into a little trouble. First there was no bus available to take me from Fedaia to Malga Ciapela (there were only 2 or 3 per day) so I had to hoof it. Next, the guide book said to walk on the road, which I thought was a dumb idea when there was a perfectly good trail that ran alongside it. The road runs along the north coast of a beautiful man-made lake and the mountains run down from the north to meet the road. All was fine with my alternate route until the trail started going up up and away from the road…which led me to start making my own trail – I wasn’t interested in any climbing. Things went downhill pretty quickly (there’s a reason there’s no trail where I was trying to go) but I persisted for a while. I’m ashamed to say that ultimately I had to turn around and go all the way back into town and start again hiking on the road. I decided to listen to the guide from now on. These two problems cost me a couple of hours, and so I arrived at Malga Ciapela starving and with little time before the last cable car ride up the Marmolada. Naturally, I did what any hungry, sane person would do. I said screw the big mountain, I want food and beer. The only game in town was a little snack shop next to the cable car ticket office…they had beer, they had slices of pizza, and they had a guitar-playing, Italian-song singing dude setting up his mike outside on their nice patio. Life was good.
Day 5: Malga Ciapela to Passo Valles. This was a moderately hard day. The climb up from MC to Forca Rossa began as a climb in the woods that made me feel like I was back in New England. Then it got harder. The scenery was so different from the days before…actually every day so far had been different from the others. I love this place! Except for the touristy section between Passo San Pellegrino and the popular hut Fuchiade, I didn’t see a soul on the trail all day until I got within an hour or so of my final destination and I passed a couple that I would see again a few days later. Had to hike up a ski slope…didn’t like that. The Valles hut is fantastic. It’s actually on a road, so anyone can get there easily. The waiters wore tuxedo shirts and ties, the food was fantastic and I had my own room.
Day 6: Passo Valles to Rifugio Rosetta. This was the hardest day of the trip, particularly coming on the heels of the fairly big climbing of Day 5. I was fortunate to have met some nice folks at Valles who were from a hiking club in England. They had the same goal as I did for this day and invited me to join them. The weather was a bit wet and foggy, and I knew the day was going to be a hard one, so welcomed the company. They kept hinting that they were a very fast group, but in the end we were perfectly suited for each other. This was the first of only two days when I had any walking companions on the trail. The day included a lot of climbing on rather difficult loose terrain, and things were wet enough to make them a bit more dangerous than usual. Long story short: it kicked my ass. I can honestly say that I have never felt as exhausted as I did when I finally arrived at the hut after just 7.5 hours of walking.
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