Saturday, September 02, 2023

A Final Dolomites Trek Posting - Days 7, 8, and 9 - Refugio Tissi to to Refugio Carestiato to Malga Pramper to Val di Zoldo

Thank you so much for reading this series of blog postings on my trek to the Dolomite Mountains in northeast Italy! This is the last posting for that trip. I have many adventures lined up for next year and I hope you will continue reading about the places I am so fortunate to visit in my work. 

View of Torre Venezia, south of Tissi

With 2/3rds of the hike complete we began our final push to the end of the trek. A bit of overcast and light drizzle caught up to us Day 7 and we opted for a taxi ride around a difficult description of the route. (In hindsight, I would rethink that detour now). We celebrated Don's birthday at Refugio Carestiato, then trekked in fog to Malga Pramper on Day 8. Sunshine found us again on Day 9 as we finished the trip with a downhill walk into the village of Val di Zoldo.

Map showing the route for Days 7, 8, and 9 - the blue line is by taxi, yellow on foot

Day 7 - Refugio Tissi to Refugio Carestiato

The valley south of Tissi made for pleasant downhill walking

It was a beautiful valley with wide views and turreted peaks

Helen and Don passing a rickety gate along the trail

Outwash from a relatively recent debris flow

The Torre Venezia (Venice Tower) in increasingly cloudy skies

The forcella (pass or saddle) in the distance is where we would have walked

Mountain scenery in Italy

Look at the depth of rocky debris in the wall of that arroyo!

More debris flows near Capanna Trieste - we met our van driver at the bottom of the canyon

Capanna Trieste and our ride to Agordo and Passo Duran - next time I will walk it!

A rural water source along the way to Carestiato

Refugio Carestiato was a pleasant stop with great food

View of the ranges to the southeast from Carestiato

Don and Anne share a moment on the porch of the refugio - view to the west

View to the southeast from Carestiato

Day 8 - Refugio Carestiato to Malga Pramper

Leaving Refugio Carestiato through trees and mountains

This huge debris flow looked really recent and is visible on
Google Earth

A quiet morning walk through the green

This area south of Passo Duran was boggy

And quite lush!

Mountain ferns

This is the ruins of an old farm that took advantage of a large boulder for one of the walls

After the dark forest walk, I really enjoyed this contour path across a rocky slope

We saw so many flowers and I've posted so few photos of them - this one is called Dianthus hyssopifolius.

Looking back to the contour path on the rocky slope

Into the clouds - I'm sure we missed out on some great scenery here

There are many different kinds of preserves in the Dolomites - this is one of them.

A World War I ruin built in 1915

The tail junction to Malga Pramper (malga is Italian for "farm")

The Cima Pramper tucked into the clouds

Look at those debris flows issuing from the mountain!

Malga Pramper sleeps only a maximum of 8 people - there were six of us this night

They make fresh cheeses at this farm with all of the dairy cows

Fresh cheeses made here at the farm

The ricotta was made in the morning and consumed in about 10 minutes in the afternoon

Painting on the wall inside the farm


Day 9 -  Malga Pramper to Val di Zoldo Village

The last day was bittersweet - the trek was over as the sun emerged

The setting of Val di Zoldo

I want to thank my hiking mates who made this trip so remarkable - Thank you!

And to this special lady who is the light of my life!

1 comment:

  1. Wonderful photos, great map and descriptions - thank you! Your posts have definitely fanned the flames of my interest in this beautiful mountainous region.

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