Sunday 27th August: Weather: 9°C to 18°C: Overcast, cold and windy, a few spits of rain, NOT 37°C
Puez to Pisciadu: 11.0k walk: 6hrs: 8.15am to 2.15pm: 1 x 30 min stop: Ascent: 876m Descent 759m
Accommodation: Rifugio Pisciadu
Down Val Gardena
Vast alto Pano of Odle-Puez
Cold 9°C and windy leaving Puez
Alta Plano Odle Puez
Coffee at Passo Crespeina and signal
That’s not me in the photo shoot
Down to Passo Gardena
Wildflowers of the Dolomites
Green buses to Passo Gardena
Scramble up the gully
Highllight was surviving an ascent of 500 metres up a gully from Passo Gardena to Rifugio Pisciadu, on cables and iron rungs - the via Ferrata. The most beautiful part of the day was walking across the high alto plano from Rifugio Puez to Forcella Ciampali then up a bit more to Passo Crespeina and down into the valley of Passo Gardena. It’s Sunday so there were many day hikers in the Passso Gardena area but there were definitely no day hikers going going up “The Gully” on the cables.
Such a good nights sleep in Rifugio Puez. We were given the best two bunks in the Rifugio, bottom bunks, near a window with plenty of space to park our gear. And our sleeping sheets that I made last year from ultra light fake cotton, were so much better than a sheet sleeping bag which tangles your feet at every turn. We slept in until 6.20am despite no snorers in the room and a thundersorm at 4am.
Breakfast is like an army barrackes. Everyone is down in the dining room early but at exactly 7am the lights turn on and we all queue for a breakfast tray to put on the cup of tea/coffee, a dollop of jam and butter, then next is the bar attandant who dishes out one scoop of yoghurt and a spoonful of muesli, plus two slices of bread, two slices of ham and two slices of cheese. We don’t feel guilty about saving a piece of bread, one slice of cheese and ham for lunch.
At 8.15am we leave on a cold overcast windy day. But very clear and we can see across teh Alta Plano of the Odle-Puez - a flat stony track leading to a climb up to Forcella di Ciampai at 2,366 m but it’s too cold and windy to stop. So down again teh pother side and up to Passo Crespeina at 2,528m, and we’rte starting to meet teh day hikers who have come up from Val Gardena in their short sleeved shirts and singlets, not realising how cold it is up top. We find a sheltered spot with phone signal and decide to make a few calls home and have a cup of coffee with the jam pancake we rescued from last night.
We descend down to the green pass of Passo Gardena at 2,137m with buses and cars in the car park, and day hikers and tourists ambling around. We’re looking for a path out the otherside to Rifugio Pisciadu, and there’s nothing obvious except for a goats track around teh Sella group of Dolomites. Surely not our track. But it is. We wind our way around the mountain side until we make a sharp turn right up “The gully”, which slices into the rock splitting the mountain. We weren’t mentally prepared for what we were in for a difficult Via Ferrata.
First up is a clamber over rocks and boulders until we see “The Gully”. Then it’s a zig zag path 666 up through the loose scree and rubble until we reached what the Cicerone book describes as an “aided stretch”. Aided means cables, rungs, ladders and spike, all of which we pray are firmly imbedded in the rock - aided really means Via Ferrata. There’s plenty of footholds to step onto as we haul our way up the never ending cables. Half way up there’s a chute of rocks come tumbling down and misses Ian’s cap by a hair’s breadth but one catches him on the shin which immediately spurts blood - ouch! It took us an hour to clamber to the top to a terrace at 2,610metres, where we see the sign - 5mins to Rifugio Pisciadu. We find out later that parallel to this Via Ferrata is the Via Ferrata Brigata Tridentina which is one of the most iconic Via Ferrata in the Dolomites and climbers come from everywhere especially to climb it so much so that it results in people traffic jams at crucial points. They then descend down our gully but there’s no 0ne coming down today.
We arrive at Pisciadu 2.15pm, but it feels like 5pm. It’s overcast and startung to drizzle and we got to the Rifugio Pisciadu just in time. It’s warm inside, with several thru hikers we saw ahead of us up the gully. After checking in and told Room 11, we quickly grab two bottom bunks furthest from teh door near a window and set up our beds with our sleeping sheets and the Rifugio’s blanket. Then back down to teh dining room to have our ham sandwich saved from breakfast woith a beer/red wine.
Time to reflect on the amazing day an marvel that we can still climb the cables up the gully, though not one we want to repeat un a hurry. We order dinner - entre of dumplings/spaghetti, and main of - you guessed it - two fried eggs, speck and roast potatoes, with apple strudenl for dessert - morning tea for tomorrow. We cah to a German girl who is walking from Munich to Venice through the Alps, then Dolomites. She’s doing it in several stages, but today she did a double stage from Genova Hut to Puez, and has found teh same problem as I did - on line it seems the huts are full, but when yo get there they are only half full. It has to be pre-booking from groups who change their mind.
It takes us a while to have a shower - there’s a queue for one shower with a 4 euro token in the slot. The shower is hot, but the wind
Still a long way up the cables
Not at the top yet
Ian up the last of the cables
Made it to top of cables at 2,610 m
