#passo pordoi

[postcardpast]

[debrink]

Albergo Rifugio Savoia

Passo Pordoi (Belluno) • Dolomiti

[freckles04]

Pordoi Pass at 2239m, the highest surfaced road traversing a pass in the Dolomites, Italy

[louis-etoile]

Pordoi Pass at 2239m, the highest surfaced road traversing a pass in the Dolomites, Italy

[bergfanteam]

Rifugio Viel del Pan 2432m in faccia alla Marmolada

Facile breve, affascinante, escursione al cospetto della Regina delle Dolomiti

[letsdiscussaboutsherlock]

Pordoi Pass at 2239m, the highest surfaced road traversing a pass in the Dolomites, Italy

[mortiuum]

Pordoi Pass at 2239m, the highest surfaced road traversing a pass in the Dolomites, Italy

[ghostlook]

Pordoi Pass at 2239m, the highest surfaced road traversing a pass in the Dolomites, Italy

[carrscrap]

Pordoi Pass at 2239m, the highest surfaced road traversing a pass in the Dolomites, Italy

[italiasparita]

Passo Pordoi

[mioritic]

Two women stand beneath a crucifix at a military cemetery in the Dolomites. In the background you can see Passo Pordoi. The graves belong to Austrian soldiers who died in the First World War.

The crucifix still stands today but the bodies have probably been repatriated, as there is no longer a marked cemetery underneath.

Unlabelled, but likely taken in August 1932 by Romanian tourists.

Found in Bucharest, 13 July 2023.

[halfwayanywhere]

Alta Via 2 Day 3: One thing the AV2 isn’t short on is elevation gain/loss. The day begins with a steep climb up to Pisciadù Hütte. From there it’s more climbing, then more climbing up to the trail's high point at 9,722 ft / 2,963 m. Or maybe it isn’t the high point, but it might be? On a not-too-distant peak, I can spy a cable car station - the second of the hike (not including chair lifts of which there have already been too many to count). Further ahead is yet another cable car at Rifugio Forcella Pordoi that could be used to bypass a steep downhill to yet another road at Passo Pordoi. Turns out that hiking down ends up being faster than the cable car (which also costs monies). Passo Pordoi seems like it would be an okay place to resupply if I wasn’t already carrying what’s probably too much food. Lots of tourist shops, hotels, and restaurants. The availability of food along the AV2 hasn’t been an issue. That said, carrying all the extra food from the start is likely saving some money so there’s that? The trail climbs once more, and I spy some paragliders soaring high above me along the mountain tops. I'm not going to lie; I’m into the idea of learning to paraglide. Does anyone out there think this is a good idea? It has to be, right? It looks like an awesome way to get around in the mountains - more fun than a horse at least? The trail winds past the seemingly closed but nice-looking Rifugio Viel Dal Pan before diving steeply to Lago di Fedaia where hundreds of sheep are being herded into trucks. I don’t think our spooking them helps. Once again we’re tempted by the mountain huts, and once again temptation wins out. Rifugio Dolomia will be home tonight. The AV2 leads over a dam immediately north of the rifugio - the flattest section of the hike thus far - and the refugio’s owner informs us that this is where the opening scene of the Italian Job was filmed. That explains all the photos of Donald Sutherland and Jason Statham. Distance: 13.66 mi / 21.98 km Elevation gain: 4,744 ft / 1,446 m #altavia2 #dolomites

[pandemicperipatetics]

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...

[raiding]

Tomorrow, early, we leave the Dolomites and transfer west to the foot of the Stelvio Pass.

The Stelvio is 24 km long and ascends 1,871 metres. The excellent trip notes, carefully drafted to manage our expectations, tell us that "Starting steeply, it continues steeply, ending steeply."

The top of the pass, at 2,757, is the 2nd highest paved road in the Alps (the highest being the Col d'Iseran, further west, only 7 m higher). The Stelvio is also the highest point used for a finish (in the Giro d'Italia) of any of the Grands Tours (the Tour de France, Vuelta a España and the Giro).

So it occupied our thoughts over dinner.

Nigel is regretting not following his impulse to put his bike in the ski-lift and hitch a ride up the Passo Pordoi this morning, as the mountain bikers do. He asked if there was a ski-lift up the Stelvio. Helen said no, but there is a taxi service.

(In winter, using this and other lifts, it is possible to complete the Sellaronda on skis; and in summer, by mountain-bike, riding only downhill; but we road-bikers draw a veil over the latter practice.)

We debated whether switchbacks and hairpin bends are the same thing, or if not, how they are related, and concluded that one is American and the other is English. Whichever language you use, there are 48 of them on the north-east side, the one we are climbing tomorrow.

Werner spent some time researching whether the Alps are getting higher or lower. The answer seems to be that they are getting higher by about a millimetre a year, which argues for getting the earliest possible start. The bus leaves at 7 am.

[jirihrdy]

Sass Pordoi (2950 m n. m., německy Pordoispitze) je skalnatý vrchol ve tvaru plošiny nalézající se v masivu Sella v Dolomitech. Vrchol je zpřístupněn lanovkou ze sedla Passo Pordoi, jejíž vrcholová stanice s vyhlídkovou terasou a restaurací je výchozí bod jak pro náročné túry a horolezecké trasy v oblasti masivu Sella, tak pro méně zdatné turisty, kteří tak mohou snadno vystoupit na vrchol Piz Boe – nejsnadněji přístupnou třítisícovku v Dolomitech.

[agrpress-blog]

Giovanni Gastel, Unforgettable La mostra fotografica "Unforgettable 65... #giovannigastel #Hubart #mostrafotografica https://agrpress.it/giovanni-gastel-unforgettable/?feed_id=3331&_unique_id=65ddd75f88fbd