ALTA VIA 1. Italian Dolomites Hike. Part One.

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Another backpacking holiday trip from yesteryear when I had the energy, legs, and body to crawl over 10,000 mountains in 80 degree heat for 6 to 8 hours a day. Two weeks in the Italian Dolomites this time in mid July. Plane down to London, flight to Rimini on the Italian Adriatic coast, over night in a youth hostel then train to Belluno at the start of the walk. As usual we didn't start the hike until the afternoon as it took time travelling through Italy on the train so darkness fell before we reached this first hut. We ended up bivvying out under the stars in a deep, narrow, damp gorge below it about an hour short of this hut- a not ideal location, dark, dripping, and gloomy even in sunshine, but luckily the only things crawling over us all night were harmless but hand- sized spiders. Sort of daddy long leg types with peanut sized bodies suspended on long limbs.
The near vertical cliffs above proved to be our next challenge as a famous via ferrata starts just above this 7th Alpini Hut and is the sporting start or conclusion of the Alta Via 1. One thousand feet of vertical metal ladders, narrow ledges, and exposed scrambling later saw us attain the notch between the Pelf and Schiara and dump our heavy packs down to get a well earned rest. There is an easier alternative avoiding this first mountain range obstacle but having done years of rock climbing and scrambling back in Scotland we were sure we could take on the direct route over these two mountains. And so it proved.

My companions on this trip were Brian and John, two long time hill-walking and rock climbing friends from the club.This is the sight that awaited us on the other side of that first high  mountain wall- range after jagged range of steep mountains, the dazzling white limestone not doing much for the camera as a lot of the photos came back overexposed. And cameras were not as advanced then either to capture views like this clearly.

The dolomites are stunning though. A totally unique district of mountains sandwiched between the fertile Po valley and the Austrian Tyrol. This is John admiring the rock spires of Monte Tamer. A mountain massif that leans over at an angle, long before the tower of Pisa imitated it. The Alta Via 1 weaves a sinuous route under these sloping towers.

The Alta Via 1 is the classic 120km high level 10 day walking route between Belluno and Lago di Braies. We walked it south to north and it's a fantastic hike, as, unlike a lot of other routes we had done abroad once you climbed up to around 1000 metres or 4000 foot high it tended to stay near that height rather than plunge up and down into valleys every day. It made the walking easier yet took us through the heart of some fantastic scenery, weaving past spires and Gothic confections of rock architecture.

Even the smaller peaks, like this one, were stunning. And there are hundreds like this in every direction.

At times the route weaved under high cliffs, keeping to its level line as much as possible, like a railway has to thread through a landscape without encountering any steep inclines....

at other times it hugged a high ridge-line above a substantial drop, but unlike Corsica, this was a good wide path throughout and easy to follow. I really like the Dolomites. Fantastic walking area.

For the first couple of days it weaves around the various peaks and we could either camp near huts or stay remote from civilization in the wilderness as this stretch was empty of people and very wild- after the via ferrata section  hardly seen another soul hiking in this region.

Looking towards the Nuvelou peak at dusk. Amazingly there is a mountain hut on the top of this summit in the distance and we were heading there next.

Unfortunately, to get this dusk view we had camped lower down, seen here, on a grassy meadow, then walked 15 mins up to the top of the pass for the evening panorama. When we returned the local free ranging cows had found our tents and one had put it's foot through mine in our absence, causing a sizable rip in the side wall. They like to mock fight with each other and some get frisky so it was not deliberate, just an accident, which I managed to patch up with some tape. After satisfying their curiousity they wandered off to munch more grass.

By the afternoon of the next day we had reached this distant hut. A popular viewpoint and half day walk from a road pass so busy with tourists and sun lovers. We didn't mind the crowds here as we had been in a wild area since Belluno and could now get snacks and soft drinks at the hut. This is the view from that rock peak summit, taken just outside the Nuvelou hut. The lighter, further away, peak in the distant centre is Monte Pelmo, 3168 metres or 10,394 feet high and one of the giants of the district.

Like the Matterhorn, Monte Pelmo is one of those peaks that immediately captures your attention and mesmerizes you whenever you see it. A vast white cube of limestone- like a 10,000 foot high dice that over millions of years has eroded, slipped, and cracked slightly but is still a distinct cube in origin from certain angles. An Italian base jumper had recommended it when I'd asked his advice for a spectacular but easy peak to climb the day before. He pointed to it in the far distance. " Bella Monte Pelmo!!! he roared. Simpatico!!!! Bellissimo!!!!.... but you must climb this mountain boys- promise me you will!!! One of the finest peaks in Italy yet a bambino could do it!!!

We had laughed at his enthusiasm and promised we would have a go at it... but the closer we got to it the more serious and daunting a prospect it looked. Another view of it here in menacing shadow. Child's play indeed.

Mind you, all the Italian mountains along the Alta Via 1 looked daunting. This is the 'wall of walls' the Italian version of El Capitan, Half Dome, and Yosemite. A vertical cliff well over 1000 foot high and several km in length. Our base jumping pal had happily thrown himself off the highest summit here as well which didn't necessarily endorse him as a hiker on the same wavelength of difficulty as us. Maybe his 'bambino' was a ten year old E 3 climber.

Another view looking back at it. The 'Wall of Walls.'

This is us wild camping with the vast bulk of Monte Pelmo ahead. We hoped there would be a slightly less vertical /easier way up round the side we could not see here. Tomorrow we would attempt to climb it. A slightly troubled sleep that night for some reason....