2023 Dolomites

Wednesday: 23rd August:  Weather:25°C to 37°C: HOT in Bolzano, 22°C Plose Hutte

Bolzano: 5.5k walk:  2hrs 30mins: 11.30am to 2.00pm: 0 stops: Ascent: 405 M. Descent 405m

Day Walk:  Valcroce Cable Car Terminal to Plose Hutte, DAY 1 of the AV2

Accommodation: Villa Anita Apartments Bolzano

Highlight today was visiting Bressanone/Brixen, the original start of our Alta Via 2 Dolomites walk, then taking the cable car up to 2,000 metres and walking to Plose Hutte at 2,447 metres where we were supposed to stay on Day 1 of our Alta Via 2 Walk in the Dolomites.  The Dolomites is such a popular area, that two months ago when I began booking mountain huts called Rifugios in Italy, two strategic huts were full, Genova at the beginning and Pradidali towards the end, which necissated a change in strategy and a slightly different start and finish.  So today, we decided to walk a small section the first one we missed.

Another hot night.  I doubt it got below 27°C. Meteo Italy says 25°C feels like 28°C.  We try to sort our hiking bags as tomorrow we’re leaving to start our AV2 walk in Ortisei, and will leave one suitcase with our airline clothes etc at Villa Anita until we return to Bolzano on September 4th, before heading home.  It’s almost too hot to think, but we’ve done this many times before and always think that less is better.  A cold shower and breakfast before leaving to catch the 9.02 train from Bolzano towards Brenner, getting off at Bressanone.  

The 1k walk to the station is sweltering.  I poke my nose into a backerei to check out the price of krapfen whole donuts - 1 euro 50, thinking to buy two to take on our walk, but then I spy some large slices of freshly made apple strudel for 3 euro.  Thanks, we'll have one to share at coffee.  Bolzano, like all European towns is quiet in the morning and doesn’t come to life until late in the afternoon, the shops closing about 8pm. But the bakeries are the only shops open and full of people early in the morning. 

The train arrives on time and is about to leave, when suddenly a ticket collector and a railway inspector run up and down the aisle.  Everyone is still sitting in the packed train with no air-conditioning, wondering what is happening.  Twenty minutes later there is an announcement - no one spoke English to tell us the problem - but everyone piled off to the platform and we followed.  Another twenty minutes later the dud train backs out of the platform and thirty minutes after that another train pulls in and we all pile back on again, none the wiser as to the problem.  We suspect the air con wasn’t working.  

The train pulls out fifty minutes late, and we’re soon in the Bozen - Waidbruck tunnel, about 15 km long.  Italy has 1,500 km of rail tunnels, the highest number in Europe. At 10.15am we arrive in Brixen/Bressanone to see our Bus 321 just leaving.  It’s too hot to walk the 7k up from the station to the start of the Plose lift.  We wait in the shade for the next bus which takes us to San Andra at the base of the Plose Gondola lift.   In a minute, we’re in the cable car on our way up to 2,000 metres and step out at Valcroce into a pleasant 22°C.  It’s not cool, just much cooler than Bolzano.  

Coffee and apple strudel time at 11.30am with views all round.  The place is busy, but not Tre Cime busy, and there’s several German tourists, a change from all the Italian day hikers.  We follow the signs to the Plose Hutte.  The wide track is steep and we follow several other hikers tramping up to the hut.  There’s signs to another Rifugio saying “NO UPHILL” and most of the walkers go that way as path to Plose Hutte ascends 400 metres.

We’ve really come to Plose Hutte see what it would be like had we been able to start the AV2 from Bressanone.  The problem was not this hut where we would have stayed on the first night but the next Rifugio Genova which was full, so it was pointless booking Plose.  Instead we are starting the walk in Ortisei, and after two nights in Malga Brogles and Firenze, will join the AV2 at Puez.  This worked out better for us as we will get to see the Adolf Munckel Weg and Mt Seceda, two icons of the Dolomites.

It’s a steep climb for more than an hour.  We don’t stay long, and soon head back down the path, through the sheep paddocks to the Cable car and jump on. The heat increases as we descend, and stepping out of the cable car is like stepping into a furnace.  We wait in the shade for Bus 321 which is 15 minutes away, and soon we’re back at Bressanone station to wait for the Merano train which will take us into Bolzano.  It’s even hotter in Bolzano when we arrive, 37°C as we walk back to our Villa Anita apartments.  Keeping the windows shut didn’t help keep the cool in.  It’s been so hot all week that inside is now just as hot as outside.  

A cold beer and a cold shower help cool us down.  It’s too hot to eat a real meal but a fresh bread and ham sandwich is just right with another beer.  I phone ahead to Rifugio Malga Brogles to confirm our reservation for tomorrow night, as when I had made the booking eight  weeks ago, I had a bit of trouble explaining that we wanted to book a place half board for teh 24th August.  She was a bit hard to understand but I heard the word OK and thought it was OK.  Tonight, there’s also a bad line, but again I hear the words OK.  So we hope it’s OK.  A bit more packing, sorting photos then blogging while lying on the bed with the fan whizzing hot air around.  There’s a prediction that the weather will change on Sunday, dropping about 10°C with showers.  It’s hard to pack when clothes when it’s 37°C in the room.