For two 8-to-5 office workers this was an epic hike that neither of us planned for, treading snow over a 2500m mountain pass amid limestone pinnacles in the alpine homeland of an ethnic minority.
No, this wasn't Tibet or the Andes. We're still in the middle of our 23-day journey down the length of the Italian Peninsula, spending the next few nights inside the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Italian Dolomites, deep within the Southern Alps.
It was an unhurried, albeit slightly vigorous 6 hour hike that offered some of the most breathtaking scenery anywhere in the Alps. But the main point is that we barely hike once a year at home in Canada, and if we could do this without any training whatsoever, so could anyone in reasonable shape.
For several nights we based ourselves in the subalpine valleys of mountainous South Tyrol, a historically German-speaking province at the northern edge of modern Italy. To complicate matters even more, our first two nights were spent in a valley of Ladin speakers, indigenous dwellers of these highlands since time immemorial, at the village of Ortisei / St. Ulrich / Urtijei, depending on what language you speak.
One main advantage of staying in Ortisei was the use of guided hikes provided by professional mountaineers from Alpine School Catores, normally costing 18 Euros but entirely free for overnight guests at many hotels along Val Gardena. Throughout the summer season a different hike is offered each day, some for beginners and some, such as the one we happened to join, at intermediate levels of difficulty.
With reservations made a couple weeks ahead we arrived promptly at 08:30 at the Catores office in Ortisei, along with 20 other hikers with much more serious outdoor gear. In fact our friendly guides worried about my flimsy German-made windbreaker and the lack of waterproofing in my wife's Nike trail-running shoes. In retrospect we could have been better prepared, though I wouldn't fancy lugging around cool weather gear for 23 days when much of our trip would be spent in the heat of Emilia-Romagna and Southern Italy.
Starting from the nearby village of Selva, our hike would start at the village parking lot at 1544m and scale the mountain ridge of Passo Cir at 2469 m, for an elevation gain of more than 900m. The planned route as advertised was Selva - Vallunga - Chedul - Crespeina - Passo Gardena, before returning to Selva via the Dantercepies cable car.
The first 2.7 km was an easy stroll through lush green meadows dotted with dairy cows, passing by the rock-hewn castle of Schloss Wolkenstein and reaching the charming chapel of San Silvestro, dedicated to the patron saint of cattle ranchers, at the entrance to the elongated valley of Vallunga.
Right after Capella di San Silvestro the trail branches off into two: Trail 14 which continues down the full length of Vallunga, and Trail 12 which winds upward though the alpine valley of Chedul where we had our first glimpse of the pale vertical cliffs characteristic of the Dolomites.
Leading this large international group of hikers were professional guides Dieter and Bruno, both native Ladin speakers from Val Gardena and both multi-lingually fluent in German, Italian, English, and possibly more. Most of our fellow hikers came in a large group of Norwegians, some were German, and we were the only Canadians in the mix.
The valley of Chedul started out as a heavily wooded basin reminiscent of the Black Forest until the elevation rose above the treeline and transformed the terrain into a narrow alpine meadow. Mountain goats were occasionally spotted at the rocky outcrops at even higher elevation.
This section of Trail 12 winded through the rocky slopes of Val Chedul for nearly 4 km which, combined with an elevation gain of about 750m and a snack break in the middle, would take us more than 2 hours.
Our guide Bruno stopped and pointed back towards the village of Santa Cristina, now more than 500m below us in altitude. Though the cold mountain air probably dropped below 10 degrees Celsius, the earlier concern about the flimsiness of my windbreaker turned out unnecessary as I was overheating throughout the climb.
At about 2200m we saw the ominous sign of snow, in fact fresh snow from previous night's storm according to Bruno. While the trail itself remained snow-free up to this point, it would change for the worse in the final 30 minutes leading up to the steep mountain pass of Passo Cir.
Our steep and narrow trail soon became entirely smothered in snow as our Trail 12 joined the famous Alta Via 2. Both of our footwear, including my Gore-tex hiking boots with proper Vibram soles, proved woefully ineffective in the slush as we cautiously shifted past fellow hikers tiptoeing down from the opposite direction, carrying backpacks and all along a metre-wide path with a potentially precarious slide down the snowy slope should one lose the footing.
At one point my wife could hardly inch forward on the icy trail when our guide Dieter stepped up, held her hand like his own daughter and led her step-by-step through the steepest section. Without his gracious and timely assistance this final ascent, through a 40-degree snowy incline at times, would have been challenging to the extreme.
Nearly 4 hours into the hike and 8 km from the village of Selva we safely made it to our highest point at Passo Cir, measuring 2469 m in altitude amid a craggy knife-edge of a mountain ridge, with the rest of our 20 group members, some in their 60's and beyond. It was a richly rewarding hike for everyone, all thanks to the professional guidance of Dieter and Bruno.
Even more bizarre than the Alps of my imagination, gracing this windswept summit was an eerie jungle of jagged rock spires, several of which could be safely climbed utilizing the Vie Ferrate system of protected routes. It was heaven for climbers or nightmares for the acrophobic.
A sweeping panorama of our ascending route was just one of many rewards awaiting at the gusty ridge where my windbreaker became absolutely essential. Beyond the vertical rock faces of Val Chedul lie the valley of Vallunga and the snowy peaks of Puez-Geisler, the setting for one of our hikes in another two days.
In the midst of this barren moonscape our group members sat down to enjoy their own packed lunches, which for us included sandwiches of Schinkenspeck with cheese and some yogurt of alpine milk from Ortisei's SPAR supermarket. The Catores office specifically instructed everyone to bring lunches on this particular hike, as the nearest mountain refuge still laid ahead at the end of the route, another 45 minutes away.
After breaking for 30 minutes we started out again in a single row. Judging by the dusting of snow the air temperature must have been close to freezing, though thankfully our trail was free of snow on this sunny southern face of the mountain.
The remainder of our hike was an easy stroll in comparison, zigzagging downhill towards the grassy plateau of Passo Gardena along this southern continuation of the legendary Alta Via Europa, some 150 km from the northern terminus at Innsbruck, Austria.
Shrouded in clouds across the mountain pass was the geographical epicenter of the 40,000 strong Ladin ethnic minority, the magnificent Sella Massif where the four Ladin valleys converge. The next segment of Alta Via 2 would clamber its way, as improbably as it may appear, up the near vertical cliffs of the Sella by Vie Ferrate and reach its snowy plateau. But for those of us who are less well-conditioned or brave, it was time to hit the nearest rifugio and call it a day.
30 minutes and an elevation drop of 250m later we sat down in rustic comfort at Rifugio Jimmy, right beneath the serrated grey peaks of Cir. Our group would settle for drinks and possibly a light meal before splitting up for the ride back to Selva. My wife and I planned to hike up to Dantercepies and take the scenic cable car while most of the group intended to wait a bit longer for the hiker's bus at 16:00.
There is nothing like a strenuous day in the mountains to help one truly appreciate the appeal of hearty Tyrolean dishes such as these Canederli allo Speck, served piping hot in a clear vegetable broth to replenish all the lost sweat and calories from the hike. With a large cup of seriously thick hot chocolate to warm those cold hands it was the perfect apres-hike indulgence for a mere 11 Euros.
As we hiked up towards Dantercepies our fellow hikers caught up to us again -- it turned out that everyone in the group already owns a Gardena Card for unlimited lift rides along Val Gardena, and all decided to take the cable car down instead. Ironically my wife and I were the only two without the free pass and had to pay 12 Euros each.
From the ridge we took one final easterly view towards Alta Badia and the village of Corvara. Beyond the 2400 m peak of Sass de Stria lies the posh resort town of Cortina D'Ampezzo, the largest Ladin speaking enclave between the encroachment of Germanic culture from the north and the Italians from the south.
At 15:36 we reached the end of our hike at the Dantercepies cable car station, taking more than 6 hours, including lunch, to cover just 8.7 km on an occasionally challenging route. This was easily my most rewarding hike in years, and it could not have been possible without the guidance of Dieter and Bruno from Alpine School Catores.
On our way back to Selva a rare deer appeared right underneath our cable car. From Selva we would take the next Bus 350 back to our hotel in Ortisei for a hot shower, followed by an early dinner to soothe my savage hunger after a physically demanding day.
RISTORANTE PIZZERIA CASCADE
Str. Promenade 1/A, on the opposite side of the river 3 minutes walk south of the bus station
In this resort town we took the conservative approach of steering as far as possible from the town square, picking a wood-oven pizzeria on the opposite side of the river. Pizzeria Cascade served up a decent Tomato Cream Soup, a very good Weizenbier on tap, and just by our sheer luck, probably our best pizza ever.
Look at the size of this monster compared with our cutlery and plate! The whole dining room watched in envy as the waiter brought a ginormous half-metre-wide pizza strewn with appetizing slices of Lardo to complement my favorite topping: succulent, thumb-sized cubes of wild Italian Porcini.
Not only was this the largest amount of Porcini I've ever seen in one single dish, the woody fragrance of the Porcini was absolutely top notch. I simply cannot recall a more satisfying pizza anywhere else in Italy, which made this the perfect ending to a memorable day.
Bill for Two Persons
| Tomato Cream Soup with Ricotta | 7.3 Euros |
| Maxi Pizza "Selvaggia" (Lardo and Porcini Mushrooms) | 16.9 Euros |
| Weizenbier 0.5 L | 5 Euros |
| Hausbier 0.4 L | 4.4 Euros |
| TOTAL | 33.6 Euros (CAD$47.0) |
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