Monday 28th August: Weather: 3°C to 10°C: Cold, wet, raining and windy up on the Altoplano
Pisciadu to Castiglioni: 14.2k walk: 8hr: 10.00am to 6.00pm: 1 x 1hr, 2 x 30m stop: Asc: 1,053m Desc 882m
Accommodation: Rifugio Castiglioni Marmolada
Contemplating leaving Pisciadu 3°C
Leaving Rifugio Pisciadu at10.00 am
Setting out from Rif Pisciadu 3°C
Moonscape of Altopiano at 2,900m
Rifugio Boe a welcome site after 2rs
Hot Minestrone soup at Rif Boe
Down in cable car to Passo Pordoi
Coffee at Passo Pordoi at 3pm
Viel del Pan across to Marmolada
Lake Fedaia beneath Marmolada
Viel del Pan - the bread path
Ian, Jane, Thomas and Jan at Rifugio Castiglioni
Highlights today - a freezing rainy windy challenging day up around 3,000 metres high on the Dolomites Altopiano - and we survived. The cold weather snap had been predicted for more than a week, and it arrived wih avengence with temperatures plummeting to almost zero up in the mountains, accompanied by rain and strong winds. Add to the weather, we had a series of really difficult climbs up slippery cables, steel rungs and ladders - the via ferrata. But it was amazing being on the vast 2900 metre Altopiano delle Meisules (alto Piano - high plains) to Rifugio Boe where we spent an hour unfreezing and drinking hot soup, before attempting the next stage to Forcella Pordoi at 2,829m and hoping the cable car higher up at 2,950m was working. It was - and we descended 600 metres to Passo Pordoi and walked on the Viel del Pan, the bread path, down to Rifugio Castiglioni arriving cold, wet and tired after an amazing 8 hour trek.
We awake in Rifugio Pisciadu to thunder, lightening and rain. Dowstairs to breakfast at 7am, where everyone is wondering whether to go or not to go. The breakfast is bread and jam, or 4 euro extra for a small bowl of yoghurt. We all sit and watch out the window, waiting for the mist and rain to clear. Some hikers have already decided to abandon their walk and head back down the valley to Colfosco, where a series of buses would go to their final destinaltion of Rifugio Castiglioni (aka Rifugio Marmalade). Down is another via ferrata, and we’re not keen to go down slippery cables - going up is safer, but still not good. The owner of the Rifugio, Renato Costa, an experienced mountaineer who has seen many rescues on the mountain, thinks the weather might lift in an hour. We wait.
By 10am, the weather has lightened a little and four other hikers head up to the Altopiano at 3,000 metres. Ian and I make a decision to follow them up the mountain, knowing we could divert to Rifugio Boe - if needed - and it was! The climb on Track 666 up the gully was very difficult and at 3°C or less, the drizzling rain is freezing, and it’s even colder because it’s blowing a gale. The cables are slippery and the rocks even more so as we climb under the towers of the Cime Pisciadu. We reach the top of the Altopiano and follow the signs to Rifugio Boe at 2,871 metres. After 2 hours of climbing in freezing conditions, we arrive at Boe at 12 midday and find two other hikers who have arrived from from Pisciadu have decided to stop there for the night. They tell us the four hikers we followed have continued on to see if the cable car was working or not at Forcella Pordoi. It’s very tempting to stay, but after a luke warm cup of tea that did little more than thaw our hands, and two piping hot bowls of minestrone soup which were the best ever, we decide to go to the next Rifugio Forcella Pordoi, check if the cable car is working down to Passo Pordoi, and if not, stay the night there. Meantime, another German family arrived with their two daughters and decide to stay the night rather than go on in the freezing conditions.
More than an hour later at 1.30pm we leave the warmth of Boe and make a dash across the Altipiano on a much easier, more level track, with only a few cables on a small descent. It’s freezing cold and windy but walking quickly helps and in record time, 30 minutes later, we’ve covered the two kilometres and poke our head in the door of Rifugio Forcella Pordoi to ask if the cable car, hidden from view behind a rock ledge, is working - it was. Another 20 minutes up hill to the cable car station and we see the wheels of the cable car turning. Thank God for that. We pay our ?? euro - I didn’t care what it cost - and wait 20 minutes in the cold alcove for the cable car to get going. We are the only two in the cabin that holds 30 people. No one has come up on such a misearble day, and only hiking fools who have been up on the Altopiano are going down.
We’re at the bottom at Passo Pordoi just before 3pm and it’s still raining but a little warmer at 8°C. Sitting outside the cable car station just out of the drizzle, we have a jetboiled hot cup of coffee with left over strudel and a left over ham sandwich while we contemplate what to do next. There’s still another 7k to go to Rifugio Castiglioni where we are booked in for the night. We have phone signal and google the bus times to take us to there. It's is on a main road at Lago di Fedaia. Two changes of buses with a 40 minute walk between and an arrival time of 5.45pm helps us decide to walk. And we were so glad we did.
The track to Rifigui Castiglioni was the famous Viel del Pan which treks over a historic path used by the flour and bread merchants of yesteryear to get from one valley to another. Linking Passo Fedaia with Passo Pordoi, this walk has amazing Dolomite landscapes, especially of Marmolada! The weather is little bit better. The temperature is about 10°C, not the freezing 3°C up high, the wind has dropped and the mist has cleared and we have some lovely views across to the Marmolada shrouded in mist. The track is wide and mostly level and we can walk quickly. The sign says 3 hrs to Rifugio Castiglioni but we make it in two and a half hours arriving at 6pm after a walk well worth the effort instead of buses.
The Rifugio is warm, and one of the hikers tells us that the hot water is unlimited. We’re given the key to our Room 16. I had booked a room for two, but you never know what you might get. This time, we have a room for 5 persons, but there’s only the two of us in it. You win some you lose some. We quickly have a shower and go down to dinner at 6.45pm. The meal is a little disappointing, not as nice as some of the mountain Rifugios. Starters was a bowl of spaghetti - just spaghetti - not bolognaise, and the main meal was a slice of pork with a lump of green spinach. Dessert was dried chocolate cake that needed a dollop of cream or icing. But it was all still nice as we were starving after a long freezing day.
After dinner, a couple of hikers who were part of the four who had been ahead of us, came up to us to chat. They were glad to see we made it down and were amazed that we walked the last 7k as they had come down from the mountain and had caught the several buses, arriving much earlier. We got to talking to Thomas and Jane who were Polish and were mathemeticians at Oxford University, which explains why they spoke such good English. We exchange notes on a lot of hikes we had done in the past and of course the usual question arises - but how old are you? We feel good that we have met the challenges of the past few days when some of the younger ones stayed back in the high Rifugio Boe. Another feather in our caps.
We’re in bed at 9.30pm. No time to sort photos or blog. Save that till tomorrow which is a shorter easier day.