 |
yeehaa!
|
We have a thing for coffee, good food and Icecream.
Allthough we also get/make plenty of that for ourselves at home, nothing beats going to the source. The origin of espresso, pasta, nocciola icecream etc.... Italy!
With one big extra bonus: a mountain playground...
The plan was quite simple: fly to Milan, rent a car, drive to the Dolomiti, get some via ferrata kit and guidebooks and enjoy ourselves on the rocks, then drive south to Tuscany to see some cities, hang out in a swimming pool and relax on the beach. The thing about plans is that they're there to deviate from. So what happened?
The quick visit to the La Sportiva factory outlet proved fruitfull: with new shoes and via ferrata kit we were ready as far as equipment was concerned. Those guidebooks however proved more challenging as we only found italian books and some very limited german books. If only we would have ordered them online before we left.
Lagazuoi tunnels
Anyway, we were never in Cortina d'Ampezzo or so we try to tell ourselves. After the short overnight stay we quickly bailed out and drove back towards Val di Fassa. At the Passo di Valzarego we stopped to have a look at the Lagazuoi tunnels.
These tunnels were dug out by the Italians in the first World War to be able to take the top of the mountain that was being held by the Austrians. More about the background can be found here.
We were amazed by the infrastructure that had been established within 5 months in those days inside the mountain: from cable cars,nengine rooms, barracks, gun posts, trenches, sentry positions etc.
Via Ferrata del Finanzieri.
The next real via ferrata was the via ferrata del Finanzieri that leads tot the summit of a peak called Colac.
As we have some sports climbibg experience, the local mountain guide office ensured us that this route would be no problem for us, even though being the first real Via Ferrata ever for us.
The route winds up the westside of the mountain, after the relatively easy start there is a bit more challenging bit with a ladder and the portion above it. Must say that 'challenging' in via ferrata are typically overhangs (with ladders) where it's heavier on the arms (mostly if you have a backpack on), or bits where there are little and/or very small footholds.
 |
| way up; find the sheep |
 |
| nearly there, Sella group in the background |
The summit provided great views of the Sella, Marmolada and Catinaccio/Rosengarten massifs. Especially the Sella group looks a bit like a huge sand-castle like you made on the beach when you were little.
 |
| Michiel on the Summit, Sella group in the background |
 |
| on the way down.. |
Via Ferrata Della Trincee
Day after the Colac/Finanzieri we set off to the Via Ferrata della Trincee (trenches) which is located on a ridge of volcanic rock just north of the Marmolada group. Steep and technical start up to a knife edge, after which (about 30 mins of technical work, the guidbooks grade this route as an "4B") the route eases. In the second part we found again a lot of WWI remnants: tunnels, sentry posts, remnants of buildings/constructions.
 |
| last bit up to the knife edge. again Sella massif in the background |
 |
| loose canon...?!? |
Via Ferrata Franco Gadotti
Wel,.... this one actually never happened as this route transfers into another Via Ferrata towards the Sas Aut, which was closed. As just going up and down one section did not really attract us we returned to the car, drove a little further to the start of another one we spotted on the map. Only to discover that that should be one of the hardest around. Not being in top form that day we also left that one for what it was and settled for a cablecar ride up and enjoyed some Kaiserschmarren with a view!
That more or less sums up our week in the Dolomites, will post some more pictures on Facebook soon and stories of week 2 & 3 of Italy here...
Stay tuned!
