Italy II: A Week Hiking the Dolomites (1/2)
View from Lago Fedaia at sunset
Our 6 day / 7 night “hut to hut” trek in the Dolomites was maybe the most epic hike I’ve done. We hiked 12-18 km / 2-3k feet of elevation per day with our hiking packs containing clothes, water, snacks, toiletries, gear, etc. – it was mostly manageable, occasionally easy, and at times quite difficult. The views were phenomenal and varied, reminding us of parts of some of our favorite hikes (the tea plantations of Munnar, glacial lakes of Banff and Glacier National Park, meadows of the Swiss Alps and parts of New Zealand, etc.).
I say “hut to hut” because the beautiful refugios we stayed in hardly qualify as huts – they were as nice as and probably cleaner than the U.S. national park hotels we’ve stayed in (Grand Canyon, Glacier), with hearty meals, friendlier owners/staff, and much lower prices. Many of them appeared to be family-run. We were pleasantly surprised by how comfortable the accommodations were relative to our low expectations.
View from the hike between Rifugio Sasso Piatto and Rifugio Antermoia (Day 5)
Logistics:
We booked the trip with MONT Trekking, which set our route and booked our lodging for us. This meant we basically did 0 planning, besides booking our travel to the Dolomites and buying the gear on MONT Trekking’s packing list.
For 5 of the nights we stayed in refugios (some had shared bathrooms and one was in a shared dorm) and for the 2 nights at the start and end of the trip we were in a simple hotel accessible by bus.
Since we went right at the beginning of the hiking season in the Dolomites (late June), some of our itinerary needed to be changed to avoid trails that were still impassable due to snow. It was helpful to have MONT Trekking’s guidance for this, and they were available 24/7 via WhatsApp to answer any questions. There was occasional cell service along the hike and at refugios, and some refugios had wifi.
Itinerary:
We hiked part of the Alta Via 2 route of the Dolomites. We started by the town of Karersee/Carezza (German/Italian) in South Tyrol, an autonomous province that was gifted to Italy by the Allies at the end of WWI. Although Tyrol is technically part of Italy, it sometimes felt more German than Italian, and both are official languages of the province.
Day 1: We took a bus from our hotel near Karersee to a place called Sauch, the starting point of the hike. We hiked for ~1/2 day, with some challenging uphills and downhills, to the incredibly scenic Rifugio Contrin. (Note: This rifugio can also be reached via cable car + a walk from the nearby town of Alba). The rifugio was comfortable, but a cautionary word, the food was the worst of our trip.
That time I hiked with a ninja...
Rifugio Contrin
Small side hike from Refugio Contrin
Our room at the refugio
Day 2: We hiked steeply uphill through a stunning valley from Rifugio Contrin via Rifugio San Nicolo to the town of Ciampie, where we stopped for a basic lunch. We then had a fun cable car ride down to the town of Alba, where we picked up another trail that was at first deceptively flat, and eventually took us very steeply, almost impossibly uphill, until we reached Rifugio Dolomia along Lago Fedaia. The lake was gorgeous at sunset, and this was my favorite rifugio – the people working there were so nice, the room had a private bathroom, there was a washer & dryer to clean our clothes, and unlike many places, they offered a nice assortment of fresh fruit & vegetables at meals.
En route to Rifugio Dolomia
Bulls hanging out near Alba
View of Rifugio Dolomia at sunset
Lago Fedaia at sunset
Day 3: From Rifugio Dolomia we hiked steeply, painfully uphill (Roy’s Peak vibes) until we reached a flat, crowded trail along the side of a cliff with stellar views (reminiscent of the Skyline Trail at Glacier). From there we descended steeply to Passo Pordoi, where we ate a decent lunch at Rifugio Maria. There was the option to take a cable car up to an even more scenic viewpoint, but it was a bit cloudy so we skipped this. We then took a short bus ride (due to snow blocking our original route) towards the town of Canazei, getting off along the way to hike a reasonably steady, unmemorable uphill to Passo Sella, where we stayed at Rifugio Valentini.
View of Lago Fedaia after our long ascent
Matchy match
Last long uphill to Passo Sella
The food at this rifugio was pretty good – the presentation was a bit fancy, and we were grateful to have fresh fruit for dessert given its rarity on our trip. That said, the staff were somewhat less friendly than elsewhere and it was our first time in a rifugio that didn’t offer any potable water other than the 1L glass bottles for 4 Euros. We instead stopped at the nice hotel a 10-min walk from our rifugio, where a kind staff member at the restaurant refilled our hiking water bladders with filtered water on tap.
Days 4-6 continued in the next post...
