Our drive into the Dolomites took us through picturesque mountain towns where “danke schoen” worked just as well as “gratzie” and restaurants served pizza and pasta alongside pretzels and schnitzel. The views opened up suddenly and the towering dolomites took our breath away. While in this Italian mountain range, we hiked, climbed, and “via ferrata’d”, all offering incredible adventure and scenery.
Tre Cime de Lavadero
Our first stop was Tre Cime de Lavadero – three unique towers surrounded by jagged peaks. Luckily we camped just an hour’s walk from the peaks, so a dawn start had us only sharing the trail with a few climbers – none of the busses of hikers that were rumored to arrive later in the day. The hike took us past a route we intend to climb on our next visit, but didn’t have the energy to attempt this day. Every direction was beautiful! We finished our ~11 mile walk early and headed into Cortina D Ampezzo for lunch! (Pizza, yum!)
Cinque Torri
Our next stop was Cinque Torri – a collection of towers perfect for climbing. On arrival we went on an exploratory hike to get an idea of what was around and we found trenches and climbers! The trenches are from World war 1, used during the conflict between Italy and Austria-Hungary. The whole region was annexed after the war into Italy, explaining the enduring Austrian cultural influence and the prolific use of German by the locals. It was time for a rest, so we hung a hammock on nearby trees and watched the climbers on the towers.
We camped overlooking a valley with stunning peaks in the distance, and enjoyed a short 15 minute approach to our climb the next day. Our route, Fessura Dimai (6-), climbed six pitches up the obvious crack to the summit of Torri Grande, and featured crack, chimney, and face climbing. The summit offered incredible views of climbers on other towers and the mountains in the distance (as well as a great snack spot!) Our rappel route took us down in the huge crevice in the tower – fun.
Torre Exner
The following day we tried out a via ferrata. When in Italy… The route, Ferrata Brigata Tridentina, took us up 1600 feet to a mountain refuge (Rifugio Cavazza) by a small lake where paragliders zoomed past. The via ferrata was quick, climbing rock and iron rungs and crossing a tiny bridge before topping out on a beautiful ridge. The route was quite popular, but luckily we were able to pass 20+ other slow moving climbers by scrambling around. No offense to via ferratas, as we had a wonderful day, but we’ll stick to climbing from now on.
Onwards
Feeling as if we’d need at least a couple more years to really realize the potential of this region, we started our trek west toward the western Alps. We passed over impressive passes along windy roads, and after a two night break in Morbegno, Italy, we’re on the road to Chamonix!
