Alta Via 1: Trekking the Dolomites - Rifugio Vazzoler to Rifugio Passo Duran C. Tomé

Alta Via 1: Trekking the Dolomites

Day 7 – Rifugio Vazzoler to Rifugio Passo Duran C. Tomé

7.8 miles

Not as many photos today as Jim and I spent most of our time eyes-on-our-footing navigating over boulder fields and slippery climbs. The shorter distance took some of the mental pressure off, but our guidebooks still considered the route to be challenging. Yet another outstanding day on the Alta Via 1.

We set out from Rifugio Vazzoler in the chilly early morning. The sun was just beginning to peek over the eastern peaks, spotlighting Torre Venezia. All else dozed in deep shadow. As we walked down the gravel road, we got into a deep conversation about being able to look at a mountain for hours, what is it about nature that fascinates, how can we spend more time outside for our mental health? We tabled the discussion in favor of enjoying the moment.

A transparent stream crossing

The AV1 turned off the gravel road onto Trail #554 and our big climb of the day to Forcella Col dell’Orso commenced, alternating between deep forest – felt so good to walk on dirt! – and scree/boulder fields with cairns to mark the way.

Torre Venezia and her sisterhood of Civetta peaks in full sun

We enjoyed the shade for a while longer. Now that we’re at lower altitude, the sun will be pretty hot when it reaches us.

Our sights were set on the forcella…but to our dismay, the high point we were heading to was false. At the turn we saw the “real” pass still far away. Boulder fields became harder to navigate as the trail contoured around the flanks of the Moiazza mountain range. Blazes and cairns were scarce as we crept carefully over and around large boulders. 

The last pitch was crazy steep, loose slippery scree, taking all my concentration. A man appeared at the top of the section and proceeded to barrel his way down. I yelled and waved my hands for him to wait until I reached the top. There was no safe way for him to pass me and I was unwilling to step aside or stop. (Seriously? Rant over).

After the final short, steep, exposed scramble, the forcella was not a place to stand and celebrate. Unlike other passes we’ve encountered, this was simply a very narrow low point bridged by tree roots…yes, tree roots. 

Forcella Col dell’Orso

Once we were on stable ground we gasped at the view

Repeat, repeat, repeat: the trail passed through dwarf pines and soft dirt and open boulder fields at the feet of towering splinters of rock overlooking Busa del Camp far below. Then out of nowhere we reached the edge of a pasture valley and the ruins of Casera del Camp. Woohoo! We’re close to Forcella del Camp.

An extended break was called for (eat, drink, breathe, pee, sunscreen, adjust backpacks). Looking across the valley, I was enamored by the scene: a tree-covered slope with a sheer rock face on the left side and a tiny dairy farm at the edge of the valley. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if that was our rifugio for tonight? But miles to go before we sleep.

Forcella del Camp was an easy traverse between Busa del Camp and Val del Cantoi, followed by a blessed downhill stretch, still mostly rocks and some exposed areas. Rifugio Carestiato (our lunch stop) was about an hour away.

We felt we were “nearly there” when the GPS took us off the wide track to a narrow track through dwarf pine woods – good shade, but are we climbing again? Where did the trail markers go? Does the GPS say we are on track? Is this a shortcut to Rifugio Carestiato? Shorter distance does not mean shorter time if it is steep. Jim and I were not amused.

Suddenly we popped out of the trees beside the deck of the rifugio. This was the correct way after all! The deck was packed with people.

Rifugio Carestiato

Ana and Carlos were at a table by the deck. They’re staying there tonight but have to wait until 3:00 pm to check in. (Steve and Emily are also staying here.) We squeezed in with them and ordered a Coke for Jim, a Fanta for me, and two sandwiches, but I had little appetite. Cheese and ham on dry bread is sometimes literally hard to swallow.

Again I brought up the subject of the “knife edge” coming up tomorrow, weighing heavily on my mind. Ana and Carlos didn’t know anything about it either, but we figured we would all find out.

Our rifugio for the night – Passo Duran C Tomé – was 45 minutes further, part rugged road and part deep dirt track. During our planning, I was confused by the name but eventually understood that Passo Duran is the mountain pass and C (Cesare) Tomé is the rifugio. It sits by a paved road and is a favorite of motorcyclists and other travelers. The main floor is a café and the floor beneath is for overnight guests, two rooms with a total of 16 bunk beds.

Passo Duran C Tomé

We were early, the cafe was very busy, and the young manager, Mark, was not ready to check us in. We strolled over to Rifugio Sebastiano next door, hoping they had good wifi. (They did not.) We cooled our heels, wet our whistles and shared a strudel.

Mark eventually showed us the bunkrooms and the one shower that had unlimited free hot water – yay! We were keen to take showers before other hikers rolled in. Jim went first and screamed…no hot water. He finally withstood the cold to get clean. My turn: I tried, managed only to lean over and get my hair wet, the water so cold it hurt my scalp. When something sounds too good to be true… 

Bunks (no shower photos)

We hand washed clothes and hung them out in the sun to dry.

Emily and Erin soon arrived. We hadn’t seen them all day. They took cold showers and the four of us settled on the deck to let our hair dry and have adult beverages. As we were hanging out, a propane gas truck pulled up. 

The building had run out of fuel, no cooking, no hot water

Our toughest day yet coming up, then one more, then we're done. Lawd have mercy! 
Chin chin!

“The hardest mountain to climb is the one within.”
~J. Lynn

Alta Via 1: Trekking the Dolomites - Rifugio Staulanza to Rifugio Vazzoler

Alta Via 1: Trekking the Dolomites

Day 6 – Rifugio Staulanza to Rifugio Vazzoler

10.4 Miles

Lago Coldai – a highlight of the Alta Via 1

Let’s talk about our stellar hiking day! We’re still in the Dolomites, the sun is shining, the hiking is maybe a teensy degree less hard, and we’re lucky to have the health, wealth and time to be on this adventure.

Jim’s shorts were still wet from last night’s washing so he pinned them to the outside of his backpack to dry in the sun. We set out in deep morning shadows after a cold breakfast and an expensive takeaway lunch. Goodbye, Rifugio Staulanza.

Jim’s in charge of navigation – where is our trail? It began with a few hundred yards’ walk on the curvy mountain road, so staying outside of the guardrail seemed safer.

Heading towards Rifugio Coldai

Roadside memorial – we passed at least one each day

At a hairpin turn, we left the pavement for a gravel spur road and found ourselves on a collision course with a herd of cows – we “heard” the herd first with the clanging bells around their necks. Do the cows get tired of hearing their bells? A shepherd guided them across the road right in front of us. Jim got a little mixed up in it.

Steve and Emily caught up to us during the cow parade. At a small farm guesthouse called Casera Vescora we passed through the pasture gate and climbed the steep hillside. Past a fence marking the property boundary, the path leveled out, giving us hope that today would maybe be easier than yesterday? (It had its tough moments, but perhaps because we are stronger.) 

Ahhh, this is nice!

Where several paths converged, we were joined by walkers seemingly out of nowhere, all heading for Rifugio Coldai. The ascent is a series of steep switchbacks which are obscured by shortcuts. One guidebook says “zigzags of the mule track” – 1,000 feet elevation gain in 1.3 miles. 

The river of people flowing upward, scrambling up steep shortcuts, made it difficult to distinguish the “real” track, which would be a moderate grade. It was hard not to just follow everyone else. 

The switchbacks kept coming – when will it end? 

Rifugio Coldai is perched in an amazingly spectacular setting, 7,000 feet high, at the northern end of the Civetta Mountains group. The front of the rifugio faces Monte Pelmo and the back side faces Forcella Coldai and its viewpoint above Lago Coldai (more on that in a minute.)

Rifugio Coldai

I admit that my initial focus was on sitting down inside and
chugging my celebratory orange Fanta

Mountain view framed by a lace-curtained window

Laundry day at the rifugio

Jim and I had a bathroom break, slathered on sunscreen for the next stretch, took a deep breath and pointed ourselves to a bit more climbing to Forcella Coldai.

Forcella Coldai

Looking back at Rifugio Coldai

Are you ready for this? Lago Coldai
(Come on, you know you’d take a selfie here too, even if you didn’t post it on social media)

On a little grassy spot above the lake, Jim and I sat to eat our takeaway lunch and watch people swimming and hanging out at the water’s edge. I resisted the urge to take off shoes and socks and put my feet in the water. We had many miles to go. (Hindsight: do it anyway!)

The AV1 goes around the lake on the right side, diagonally up the hillside and disappears
through the notch near the upper left

Looking from the far side of Lago Coldai to Forcella Coldai

A little side trail to peer over the edge of the world more than 6,000 feet down to Lago di Alleghe
  (yes, there is a trail down to it)

Back on the AV1 (now #560), we passed through Forcella Col Negro and into another world of boulders and white scree on a balcony path at the base of Civetta (where have we experienced this before? But today the path was more stable.)

The western face of Civetta, “the wall of walls”

Rifugio Tissi is near the summit of the sloping peak called Cima di Col Rean

Our next waypoint was the side trail to Rifugio Tissi. We could see the pass; however, the distance to it was two hours traversing boulder fields, looking for cairns to guide us, slow going over/under/around all sizes of rocks. Stop often to marvel at the vastness of the landscape you’re in and how small you are in it.

Signs in this section say to stick to the main trail, don’t follow rock cairns to the Civetta base
 because you may cause avalanches

So let’s stop to look at these amazing flowers

Looking back at the boulder field

When the AV1 began its steady climb to the junction with the Rifugio Tissi side trail, I put my head down and slowed to a sustainable pace. I guess Jim thought he could encourage me by pausing and asking how I was doing (and sometimes that felt helpful) but at this point I just wanted to get myself there. One time he stopped directly on the trail, waited until I was within a couple of steps of him, and asked if I wanted to stop.

I was using my breath to walk, not talk, and I lost my temper – “Don’t get in the path of a hiker going steeply uphill!” Poor Jim began to apologize and defend – “I was only trying to help” – but he was impeding me trying to reach a difficult goal. I felt inadequate and incompetent. AND I was yelling at the nicest person on earth. This was my low point of the entire AV1 hike.

And my shoes were falling apart, a big hole ripped in the side,

a temporary repair with Leukotape (sniff, sob, sniff)

Pity party over for now, let’s get our vibe back. Because of the time, we did not detour to Rifugio Tissi. Rifugio Vazzoler, our home for tonight, was our focus now. We were mostly past the Civetta, but it dominated looking back over our left shoulder as the trail dipped into Val Civetta.

An unexpected flock of sheep rounded up in a wire pen, tightly packed in on top of each other
Where's the shepherd?

What's cuter than a pile of sheep?

Emily and Erin joined us at the turn to Rifugio Vazzoler and
we walked together for the last couple of miles 

At the southern end of the Civetta massif, I was gobsmacked by the magnificent Torre Venezia

The south-facing side is tall, straight and flat,
reminding me of the face of Notre-Dame Cathedral with its twin towers.

On the right side of Torre Venezia, a row of peaks extending beyond it also looked like the cathedral, a long body of spires. For me, this was the most impressive rock formation of our trek.

The last mile passed through dense forest (whew, shade!) Out of nowhere, I slipped and fell hard on my back (just like on Day 2). As I went down I knew my right leg twisted in a weird way – an embarrassing, ungraceful fall. My backpack saved my head, though. No damage done, thank goodness.

Rifugio Vazzoler is a rustic old style rifugio surrounded by thick Hansel-and-Gretel woods, picnic tables outside, a pump to fill water bottles. No hope of wifi working. Classic bar, cash only, glass jugs of fruit-infused grappa lining a shelf along the back wall. A botanical garden that I didn’t get time to explore. Every bed filled every night.

The bunkhouse

Filter your water

Good luck charging that iPhone

Jim and I had a bunk room to ourselves, space to spread out and hang sweaty clothes to dry. Unisex bathrooms down the hall, everyone sharing 3 showers, 3 toilets, 3 trough-style sinks – just like summer camp! The showers were minimal, coin operated, hot-enough water (do you really need a shower curtain) but got the job done.

We gathered at a picnic table with our AV1 friends to compare notes and toast the day. We’re staying at different rifugios tomorrow night, but for the final night we are all heading to Rifugio Pian de Fontana, the most remote rifugio of the AV1. I was very nervous about a section on that day featuring “a knife-edge ridge and a scramble up steep rocks” to Forcella de Zita Sud. There is no alternate route around this forcella; if you want to avoid it, the only choice is to exit the AV1, skipping the last two nights/days. How narrow is the “knife edge?” Is it a foot wide or 3 feet wide or…

Our young friends had not heard about this dubious traverse and were unconcerned, a shrug of the shoulders and “I guess we’ll see when we get there.” I really felt my old age, worrying about death and all.

Our AV1 bubble: Jim, Emily, Steve, Erin, Emily and me

Another old person concern: remember Jim’s insect bite from the day we arrived in Italy? The redness had spread, was swollen and hot to the touch. He consulted with the four hiker/physicians and the diagnosis was… (more shrugs)… gee, it looks like an insect bite, you should get that looked at when you get to a town.

Assigned seating for meals, get to know your fellow travelers. We shared a large booth with a family of four from Oregon and a young couple from San Sebastian, Spain. (One of our daughters lives near Barcelona so Jim and I have a soft spot for everyone Spanish.) Ana & Carlos were delightful and we loved getting to know them. They were also heading to Pian di Fontana so they became part of the bubble.

Today was a roller coaster of “bests” and “worsts” and I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything. I hope Jim doesn’t trade me!

“Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations.
 The best is yet to come.”

 ~Zig Ziglar