You Can’t Sit There- Matt and Leslie try not to F up in Europe, Ch.7- Dolomiti

(Continued vacation story/how-to.. See “You Can’t Sit There- Matt and Leslie try not to F up in Europe, Ch.6- Surprise Canazei” for previous)

As I mentioned previously, we were heading to Rifugio Gardeccia when transportation schedules interrupted our plans. So Monday morning after breakfast, we hopped back in the car and headed back that way.

Info on the shuttle we took to Gardeccia:

• The shuttle is a large van that leaves from the parking lot of the Vajolet ski lift in Pozza di Fasso

• It’s a big lot, so we just parked the car next to where others had parked close to the road. No cost

• There is a small building you’ll see; if you walk to the back side of the building, there are ticket windows where you can buy tickets for the shuttle.

• Shuttle is 10 euros/person for a ticket for there and return or 6 euros for one way

• It runs every hour from end of May to end of June and mid-September to mid-October

• It runs every half hour ish in July and August

• https://www.fassa.com/EN/Shuttle-trains-and-shuttle-busses/

Again, you can hike up, or there are cable car options that can get you part way, but this was the easiest and fastest option for us since it was already almost 11am, and we wanted to get up there and do an afternoon hike.

We had seen pictures of the Rifugio when we booked obviously, but seeing it in person was a whole different experience. The building itself is this gorgeous and quaint building with the name delicately painted on the side, but it would be hard to beat the view of the surroundings. Everywhere you look are huge, rocky, beautiful mountains. I was giddy.

We checked in (again at the bar), and they had no issue with us coming early… maybe because the room was already empty and clean for us from the night before… but.. Still.

Rifugio Gardeccia details:

• We were able to book online through the ‘visit trentino’ website, but they also have their own website where you could book https://www.visittrentino.info/it or http://www.dolomitenschutzhuette.it/

• It is again very accessible (see mention of the multiple ways of arriving)

• We spent I believe 70 euros for one night for a room with two single beds, a sink in the room, and a common bathroom/shower in the hallway of each floor

• There is a restaurant downstairs where you can purchase food

• You can also make your reservation Room & Board or Room & Half Board and have breakfast and dinner included (dinner only if you do full board); in this case these will be served in a little dining room up on the second floor, but they will let you know when it is ready

• Everything was very clean and comfortable. The showers even had hot water, which I honestly was not expecting

We dropped our bags in our room, and started to make a game plan.

Matt had already done a bunch of research on the hike we were going to do, but unfortunately neither of us had printed anything out and we could not find anything saved in our usual repositories (Evernote, Google docs, emails, etc.) So we sat for a little and went by memory/the maps on signs to re-figure out the path he had found. Around 12:30pm, we hit the trail!

We started heading UP pretty much immediately. The trail had a lot of loose gravel and was very steep in some portions, making very difficult to get your footing. With the sun shining, I broke a sweat pretty quickly, but I was soooo happy.

From Gardeccia you can see a building wayyyy up on a hill behind us. After about 15-20 minutes of hiking up this steep hill, that building is where you end up haha. There are actually two Rifugios there, Vajolet and Paul Preuss. As the Rifugio near Monte Piana did, the best part of all Rifugios is that they all have kittle kitchens. Some are probably more equipped than others, but the 5 we saw on vacation all served beer, so there’s that haha. Vajolet was pretty busy with people, so we decided that on our way back down we would stop for a beer.

Looking back down

We continued on up the hill, and in just another minute, we see a path break off to the left. Matt stopped because he knew this was where we needed to go. I immediately see a sign that says “experts only” and essentially freaked out. See, one of the unique features of this area is that there are via ferrate which are paths with iron assistance (steps or chains along the path to hold onto or literally connect to to prevent falls) to help you navigate the trail. Some, though, require actual rock climbing gear. From Wikipedia, “They offer the relatively inexperienced a means of enjoying dramatic positions and accessing difficult peaks….. They are often associated with the First World War when several were built in the Dolomite mountain region of Italy to aid the movement of troops.” So back to this “experts only” sign… I was convinced the path was one which required rock climbing gear and did NOT want to mistakenly fall and die :-)

So we start looking back at the websites and such where we had found the path to begin with, and we start seeing people coming DOWN the same path… without gear. I finally find a sentence on the website of the Rifugio at the top of the hike that confirmed that no gear was needed, so I allowed us to proceed haha.

Basically the next hour and a half was a gorgeous and fun route where we had to hold onto iron rope or put our hands on the rocks to scramble up. It was amazing. I could not stop smiling. Unfortunately, I think this means I need to get into rock climbing…. :-) Don’t worry, mom. Oh, and the trail is very well marked with blazes painted every 5 meters or so on the rocks.

Matt's view from ahead of me

My view from below haha

Anyway. We get to the top, and Rifugio Re Alberto sat waiting for us. We walked past the other backpackers and rock climbers sitting outside and head into their restaurant area, named after the dwarf King Laurin legend (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Laurin).

.We ended up ordered two turkey burger situations and a big water because we were most definitely dehydrated. I don’t know if we were just really hungry from exerting ourselves, but the burgers were so so good.

We decided that when we come back to the Dolomites (and we WILL be coming back to rifugio hop for a week) that we would stay up there. We were fascinated at the fact that literally everything they need has to either be brought up by hand, or hoisted up on this ski lift type contraption from down below near Rifugio Vajolet where trucks can still technically access. And all of their garbage? Hoisted back down to big dumpsters near Vajolet. So bizarre. Also, Matt and I want to create a Rifugio system in Western North Carolina- anyone else want in???

After our late lunch (I think it was about 230pm), we wandered around a little up top. There were some rock climbers we could see climbing the “Torre di Vajolet.”

And when you walk to look down the other side of the saddle we were in, the view down was quite incredible. There were a lot of clouds, but every now and then they would give you a peak down.

Matt was a little more adventurous than I was….

It was so quiet up there. There was another saddle a little further up, and the clouds were coming through it and swirling down towards us in this enchanting and almost ominous way. Absolutely breathtaking.

We finally headed back down the same path. Down is always a different kind of challenge than up. Up- your muscles are working, your heart rate climbs, you are [read: ‘I am’] always huffing and puffing the whole way. Down, though, especially on these really steep climbs, tests the strength and flexibility in your joints. You will have to lower your whole body weight down gently enough to limit impact when your foot hits the ground, which means that the stress of your whole body weight essentially gets put on your knee for the 0.5-1 second it takes to make the step down. That doesn’t sound like much time, but when you do it over and over and over again, even with healthy knees I was hurting the next day haha.

We made it back to Vajolet and confirmed our prior decision to go in for a beer. We were feeling very accomplished and therefore deserving. We grabbed our beverages and sat outside at a picnic table as the sun slowly drifted behind the peaks. We ended up having a second beer there, at which point the lady serving us gave us a look since we still had to hike back down to our Rifugio ha. It’s only 15 minutes, MOM. Sheesh. (Not you, mom)

I forget what this translates to... any ideas?

Then, another perfect moment- There was a table of Germans next to us that started singing a German drinking song. Hiking and camping are already very communal activities. Everyone that does them generally looks out for one another, has no issue stopping to help with directions or answering questions, etc. It’s like the adrenaline high from the physical activity and being in nature has this calming effect which makes everyone nicer. Add in the ability to stop in these adorable mountain huts and have a beer with your common people.... Even in a different country… and that is my happy place.

After our beers we walked out to this, viewpoint? and took some more pictures of course.

And then the hike down

Matt found more specimens

We made it back to Gardeccia around 6pm I think, and we took a little time to shower and have another beer outside before heading into the restaurant for dinner. We ended up getting 2-3 plates to share between the 2 of us (it was way too much food). It was all pretty good, but guys. One was this cheesy gnocchi that CHANGED MY LIFE.

We decided to finish off the night by buying a bottle of white wine made in the area and drinking it outside while watching darkness finally fall and listening to the sounds of the mountains.

What an amazing day.

Tuesday morning we knew that breakfast only ran until 9am, so we got up around 8am and made ourselves presentable. We went back down to the restaurant area thinking that was where breakfast would be served…

**Us upon seeing the man that runs the place**- “Buongiorno!”

**Him**- “Buongiorno, breakfast is upstairs.”

So basically, “Good morning, you can’t sit there.”

Typical.

We found the secret dining spot upstairs and ate a bit of what was left of the simple breakfast, a few deli meats and breads. There was also coffee!

After that, we packed up, bought a few knick-knack souvenirs, and caught the shuttle back down. It’s only goodbye for now Dolomites… don’t cry…I’m not crying, you’re crying….

See you soon!!