CLOCKWISE FROM TOP:
The hiking is as challenging as you choose to make it,
there are numerous routes through the region; a pleasant
place for some lunch; there's numerous places for more
languid pitstops; epic trails await around every corner; a
picturesque village, enroute.There are eight long distance Alta Via routes in total, plus many
other long-distance routes such as the Via Alpina network, but
sadly for us, we were limited to three weeks. We’d read great
reviews about the Brenta, San Martino, Marmolada,
Rosengarten, Sassolungo, Puez and Braies dolomites (each is a
unique mountain range with great huts), and we wanted to avoid
the tourist hot-spots of the Sella and Sexten dolomites (of Tre
Cime di Lavaredo fame), but none of the official long distance
routes covered all of these areas.
Instead, armed with our guidebooks, maps and a clear set of
requirements, we aimed to spend most of our time in mountain
huts, with an occasional stay in a fancy hotel (with a pool for the
kids), and use cable cars and gondolas tohelpescape the busy
valleys.Weplannedourownlongdistancewalkingrouteover
manylonghoursonourloungeroomf loor.
It was a painstakingly slow process (and also a lot of fun),
because we couldn’t use tracks that had substantial Via Ferrata
sections, and we needed to limit our daily climbing to 1,000
vertical metres (not including the ski lifts). All up, our planned
route required 160km of hiking, up 9,000 vertical metres,
through 10 high passes, over 20 days – with five spare days for
restandbadweather.
DOLOMITES HIKING
86 / Outdoor