We liked a pensione in the village of Colfosco so much that we decided to go back there for our last night in the Dolomites.  The place provided a very nice large room with an excellent breakfast for 36 euros, plus a fine 4 course dinner for only 13 euors.  That is about $55 a niight including dinner and breakfast.  As Clay commented, we should just move in there permanently.  

For our last hike, we had planned to try to squeeze another 2 day hike into 1, but decided that we do something less aggressive after making that mistake 2 days in row (over 9000 of vertical and nearly 30 miles seemed enough).  So we did a local hike that only ended being about 12 miles, though with perhaps 2500 ft of vertical.  Seemed like a walk in the park... (not actually).

The hike took us out of the village of Selva di Gardena and had a little bit of everthing on a picture perfect day.  The usual spiky Dolomites-

An impressive isolated moutain (Mt Sassolongo)-

A great traverse-

The usual cliff and exposure-

A peak with marevelous 360s-

And a view of the most beautiful valley in the Dolomites (the Vallangua or something like that)-

One of the problems, though, with all of the hiking is that we lost some weight (beer and pizza and powerbars could not keep up with the calorie burning).  The consequence was that I ran out of loops in my belt.  What with the camera in my pocket and the pack on my hip and the nylon hiking skivvies, I had a hard to time keeping my shorts up as I hiked.  Eventually, I just gave up and hiked like I was one of the inner city kids with their shorts around their hips and half their butt out.  Could not have been pretty to those behind me.  

So that wraps up our Italian hiking trip.  The Dolomites are truly spectacular and unique in my experinece.  No where else I think will you find such jagged, spiky mountains and such exposure while just hiking.  Combined with good food, lodgings, wine and the Italian bus adventure, it makes for a great European experience.  thanks for reading

After squeezing a hike made for 2 days into 1, we certainly werent going to male that mistake two days in a row, would we?  Would we?  That would really be dumb.  Darn Clay for his inexperinece again, tho not entirely sure who planned the hike.  Mistakes were made, as it were.

It dawned another beautiful day and we emerged from our surprisingly cheap accomodations ready to hike the Dolmitian favorate- Mt. Sassopiatto-

The walk to the base of the Mtn was beautiful, though the issue is that you walk for 2 hours before you begin the steep climb.

The hike to the top was very steep, but when you got there, I have never felt such exposure.  The sheer cliffs off 2 sides were greater than even Langazoui.  In a land of incredible sheerness it stood out, tho hard to convey in pictures-

Not sure why someone who dislikes heights would go there, but there we were holding on for dear life.

Anyway, we then descended and did the long hike back where a nice comfortable bus ride awaited-

Nothing like standing up and being packed in like sardines with a bunch of sweaty, smelly hikers after 7 hours on the trail.  We rounded out the day by roaming our hilly village looking for an open restaurant and settling for pizza and beer.  15 miles, 4100 ft of vertical, 39,800 steps- a perfect way to spend a vacation.   Next time we join Gamba and "Eat up the miles and drink in the culture" from the back of a van.

We set out to hike yesterday in a somewhat remote region o

f the Dolomites hard by the Austrian border.  In fact, as the buses cease running after August to this place, we had to pay 50 euros to take a cab.   After hiking for almost 8 hours yesterday- we skipped lunch and never left our feet- I could not believe I actually paid extra to do it.

Some of the people in the remote area seemed a little eccentric (notice the shoes)-

Sometimes we found the trail blocked by exotic wildlife-

We went to see these rocky spires called the Oodles (or Needles) which were dramatic- and the perspective changed as you moved-

And the walk had a lot of interest, showing off much of the beautiful South Tirol countryside -

The problem was that we essentially were cramming a 2 day hike into one day and we hiked non-stop on 1/2 powerbar rations for almost 8 hours and near the end we had to hike over this high pass with howling winds-

By the end, we were famished and could have used this place-

  We ended up hiking over 14 miles and about 5000 ft of vertical, though it wasn
t helped by the fact that we went the wrong way and had to retrace our steps uphill for a nonplanned additional 500 ft.  Where is Craze when you need him?  It was not amusing, but it is a great hike if one could do over 2 days, as it has a lot of Dolomitic variety.

Went to Mt. Languozi yesterday, scene of a famous WWI battle.  The Italians took almost 2 years and eventually tunneled up through over a 1000 ft of vertical mountain and eventually blew the top and the Austrians off the mountain.  Why the hell anybody cared is beyond me, but it makes for an incredible and unique hiking experience.

So you hike up about 1000 ft and then enter the WWI tunnel and climb the stairs through another 1000 ft in the dark.  Well, you would be in the dark if it were not for Clay and his miners lamp, of which he is quite proud.  Finally found the perfect use for it.  It is incredible to think what the soldiers went through to create this tunnel, especially in winter in the moutains.  As you can see, there are still a few miners left0

When you come out near the top, the exposure- the drops are  vertical and about 2000 ft- can be siginficant-

But the 360 views at the top rival any thing I ever seen, including the incredible one I saw in Cerro Lopez in Patagonia-

Anyway we took the cable car down and it goes over the cliff and just shoots down 2000 ft.  Before we left here was the scene -

As the technician got off, he slapped Clay on the back and said "I think it is working.  Good luck!  See you at the bottom, one way or another."

And at the bottom was this van and they had a slogan-

IIt says "eat up the miles and drink in the culture."  I wished we just took this van sometimes.

Yesterday was a rest day and we hiked over to the next village- a little over a mile away- and went to Mass (conveniently timed for us).  We arrived a bit hot and sweaty after our hike, but many of the older parishioners were in fleece or even down jackets.  Felt a little incongruous, maybe a little like arriving at the top of Mt Washinton and finding the driving crowd.  The homily seemed good, though as it was in Italian I really understood a few references to "Christi].  So a little time for reflection.

On the way over, we somehow passed thru Disneyland-

We ended up back at our original hotel in La Villa, as we got there early, we had time to explore the fancy pool/sauna/whirlpool/spa stuff on offer at the hotel.  Clay spent a lot of time discovering the various foot and body showers and spray jets that seemed to come from everywhere.  He tried the fragrance rooms, but while smelling good, seemed to make him a little nauseous.  I think we were a little of our of depth in this modern Roman bath.

Today it is cloudy but clearing so we are off to late start to hike this mountain where there is a 1000 ft tunnel built by the Italians during WWI.  You need a headlamp and Clay is in his element.

Rifugio Puez

We set off yesterday on what was likely to prove one of the most difficult of our hikes- over 4100 ft of vertical and 7 hours of steady hiking.  It was an interesting and  difficult hike, as it was hot and humid and the beginning climb long and steep.  We had planned to stay at a hut, but it looked a little small and cramped-

We plugged along  through an extremely stony landscape, when we realized that we had not yet done a peak and that some (e.g. Maria) would think we had wasted the day, notwithsanding the spectacular views in all directions. Sacre bleu!  I looked around and noticed a convenient nearby peak and said to Clay-

"Well, lets skip the hut and hike through, even though that small hut sleeping 90 people looks mighty appealing and romantic.  I will get us a room in the valley, but you should do that peak so we dont embarrass ourselves.  You go do that extra 1000 ft of vertical and couple of miles and I will do the dirty work of finding a beer and a comfortable hotel with a hot shower."

So, without complaint, I  hiked down and found a nice hotel, while Clay got the easy job of climbing a peak after already hiking for 5 hours.  So, count 5000 ft of vertical for him, though it is the modest logistical crew that really deserves the credit.

  Our adventures with the Italian bus service continued (but see below).   We had bought our bus ticket the day before but the bus driver said that was for a different bus going to the same destination.  So we had to buy another ticket.  Nice system.

We then embarked on our second hike that included a peak- Mt. Nuovolo- to avoid offending Maria.  The hike included several sections that were rated via ferrata- technical aided climbs as Craze knows - which are common in the Dolomites.  Of course, I- being without fear of heights- did it unaided and you can see our confidence (and light touch on the cables)-

 Without my fearlessness, Clay had a good deal of nerves  before hitting the via ferratas-

After the via ferrata,we spotted a nice Rifugio and settled down for a well deserved lunch.  I had some sort of venison pasta and Clay some sort of gnochi- both delicious, all washed down with a solid half liter of beer.  As the Rifugio was located next to a chair lift, well, we decided to take it down and accordingly werent worried about the beer.  I looked at the map and noticed that the chairlift dropped  us below where we were to catch the bus and with my expert mapping skills figured it that it was an easy mile walk to the bus stop.  As it turned, it was a 2 mile hike all up hill (the map obviously wrong) and we had to hike like demons with a belly full of beer and gnochi to have any chance of catching the bus. 

 Our fine afternoon had turned to hell and no matter how fast we went we knew we we could not make it.  Damn map!  We arrived 7 minutes late and then... we were SAVED by the Italian bus service, which was 10 minutes late!  thank god for the Italian bus drivers and their cigarettes.  

tre cimes

 Internet service here is a little iffy so cant always post..

Yesterday morning we set off to hike famous Tre Cimes (3 peaks) route about 1 an hour away by bus from Cortine where we were staying.  Eager to get an early start, we arrived at the bus station in plenty of time (unusual) and then... waited.  I am sure we would have left on time but it appeared the bus driver had to consult with his fellow drivers, as well as occasional passersby, over cigarettes, though the subject was unclear.

In any case, once on the bus I opened my fancy hiking map and soon started to getting question from riders about different trail options.  Within 20 minutes or so, I became the resident expert on Tre Cimes hikes on Dolomiti bus no. 310.  As we were getting off, I was shouting instructions to various hikers,  such as "You start right on trail 213 and then make sharp left at the big marmot hole!"  As we were leaving Clay asked "Are you sure about that?"

Ken- "Actually, I dont really know but everyone thinks I am an expert because of the map."
Clay- "Hopefully they will be so lost that we wont see them on the return bub as I imagine they will be pretty mad."

 One woman wondered why we seemed to have a different approach to packs-

"Experience" I told her.  I like to travel light, though it helps to have someone carry some stuff.

In any case, we set off to hike the Tre Cime circuit and it did disappoint-

The Dolomites are justly famous for their sheerness, spiky peaks and WWI residuals. In fact, you can WWI leftovers everywhere- tunnels, barricades, trails- Clay even found a spent bullet shell.   It is  amazing to think the Italians and Austrians fought on these sheer cliffs- we lookout spots overlooking 2000 ft drops offs.  And it appeared they are still some Austrian die hards still manning their posts-

(Maybe if he had removed the pack it would have been a little more authentic).

We did hike one peak, just to appease the peak baggers (see Maria C).

 You have to be able to endure some heights to hike a lot in the Dolomites we have discovered (frequent huge cliffs which often drop 1000s of feet).  (Notice how I am clinging to the cross, as right to my left is a 3000 ft cliff).

And then, as we were early for the bus, we decided to set up a few cairns for our fellow hikers-