The timing of our entire hike was planned around availability at Rifugio Croda da Lago. Located above Cortina d'Ampezzo on a variant route of the Alta Via 1, the hut is a popular overnight stop. When we booked beds over six months in advance, the date we booked was the only night still available within a 10-day span.
Our third day of hiking was an abundance of riches. We were aware in advance of popular spots like Cinque Torri and Passo Giau, both easily accessible to tourists by lift (Cinque Torri) or road (Giau). But we did not anticipate the over-the-top beauty of the places between and beyond: the rugged (but accessible and therefore well travelled) trail between Cinque Torri and Passo Giau, and then beyond Passo Giau heading up to Forcella Giau and along the breathtaking Mondeval Plateau.
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After breakfast, a short hike up from Rifugio Valparola brought us to the Tre Sassi fort. Built by the Austro-Hungarian empire 1897-1901, it was destroyed by Italian bombing on July 5, 1915. It was restored for use as a WW1 museum in 2002-03.
We turned back down from the road...
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| Not us, of course |
...enjoying the trail in the beautiful morning light...
We somehow missed a turn, but after a little rerouting, arrived at the busy parking area for hikers heading up to Cinque Torri. A fast-paced detour brought us past a large, slow-moving group of hikers, and we kept up our speedy pace on the trail up...
...up...
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| Eight-petal mountain-avens |
...and up to Cinque Torri.
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| Non-acrophobes |
Of course we paused at the hut for Apfelschorle before continuing onward to Passo Giau.
We were now far enough into the Dolomites that S didn't know the mountain names without looking at a map.
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| What are those mountains called? No idea. |
The hike to Giau involved a lot of up and down on steep, log-reinforced trails. The downs were slow going, cuz acrophobia.
Can you spot the TP on the trail below? Popular trails mean lots of hikers who don't know how to be polite outdoors. Pack it in, pack it out, y'all.
The trail included some scrambling. The easiest spots were walled in by rocks, which made it easier to pull oneself up.
180° panorama:
Eventually we arrived at beautiful Passo Giau. The mountain is Nuvolau (2,575 m).
We were well out of South Tirol, but Passo Giau has visitors' Tirolean Spaetzle needs covered.
We stopped for photos, but not for Spaetzle.
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| Part of Passo Giau belongs to the municipal territory of San Vito di Cadore, a town near Cortina d'Ampezzo |
The pass was crowded with visitors travelling by car and motorcycle, so we did not linger. We crossed the road, passed the small chapel-on-a-hill, and soon the crowds were behind us.
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| Roseroot along the trail |
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| A beautiful place to be a cow |
After weaving around two cirques, it was a short shot up along the Alta Via 1...
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| One last look back |
...to Forcella Giau, the pass on the edge of the Mondeval plateau. Photos don't do justice to the plateau's sweeping expansiveness.
The swoopy mountain in the center of the photo below looked like a giant ship moving by.
In the sunlit distance, Spiz de Mondeval. We needed to hike around its base and then downhill to reach our hut. Thunder started when we were about halfway there.
Because of the looming weather, we nixed a half-mile detour to see a Mesolithic burial site, so we admired it from afar. Pretty sure it's under the lone boulder, center-right in the photo below.
Zooming in... In 1987, the intact skeleton of a 7,500-year old Cro-Magnon hunter was found beneath the boulder. His remains and grave goods are now at the Museo Vittorina Cazzetta in Selva di Cadore.
With thunder becoming more frequent, we and another pair of hikers felt increasing urgency to get up and around Forcella Ambrizzola, the pass at the base of Spiz de Mondeval. Others put on raincoats, but I didn't bother, figuring my clothes and I all needed washing anyway (although I did put a rain cover over my backpack). Consequently, I got wet, and when the splat of sleet began atop the pass, I thought I'd put on my raincoat once we were lower down and less likely to be lightning rods--but shortly after we crossed the pass, the rain stopped, and I was dry by the time we arrived at Rifugio Croda da Lago.
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| Cloudy and wet up behind us, but clearing downhill |
The rain eventually moved in across the valley...
...and five minutes after we reached the hut, the skies opened up again with lightning and thunder, and the temperature dropped enough to warrant putting on a fleece jacket.
We had a tight fit that night, with 6 hikers in one small room, about 35 hikers on our floor and only two toilets. We suspect all of the hut's 50 beds were filled--something that comes with the territory of being (for the moment) on the Alta Via 1, one of the most popular north-south routes across the Alps. We were glad to be heading west to east.
Ta da! 12 miles, 2,900' up, 3,300' down.
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