A quick taste of the Dolomites

DATE 03.02.2023 | DISTANCE approx 9km| HIGHEST POINT 2333m

Posted by Matt | Filed under other locations

 

Ignore the ski routes. This is roughly the area we were in.

 

Also i tracked it on GARMIN. SEE HERE

 

So this walk has very little detail as i wasn't aware of any of the names to the peaks and surrounding area.

 

Here's a rough story of how this hike came about -

Back in february. i was on a course with a work mate at AVIANO Air Force Base in Italy. Towards the end of the week we found out that we would have a small window of time to get a hike in. Fortunately, we had hiking boots and a hire car.

I found a location on Google that had some great looking peaks and trails. I showed it to ryan and he agreed that we should do our end of course exam and head straight there. We drove to lake misurina as far as the roads were open.

OnCE WE ARRIVED, SURROUNDED BY SNOW, WE SET OFF IN THE DIRECTION OF RIFUGIO AURONZO, A PLACE WHICH SEEMED TO HAVE SOME POPULAR HIKING. It didn't take long to realize that yaktrax were no match for the snow and that snowshoes would really be essential. Too late now, we were out there, away from it all.

We trudged on through the woodland, amongst amazing peaks and passed a could of bemused foreigners. I got the distinct impression they didn't like my ascent when i tried to greet them. One person in particular asked me if i was british and then turned his nose up at me. Either he didn't like british people or he saw that we didn't have snowshoes and thought we were stupid. maybe both!

The snow got deeper and deeper but we could see a road ahead which we believed would save us the last of our energy for the journey back. getting to that road though was brutally tough. resorting to hands and knees on the surface of the snow, we puffed and laughed as we went, one of those times when it's funny but equally not funny. the views though were epic! We got to the road and up to the rifugio and made our way back on the much gentler, more solid surface.

 

I'm going back in september. I hope to learn more about the area, the names of the mountains and hope for some friendlier interactions. I've been to several parts of italy, this being the most beautiful.