Below the rugged alpine landscape were idyllic meadows with
wild f lowers, green pastures and dairy cows, and the tinkling cow
bells were only interrupted by the occasional scream and echo of
a distant Marmot. This was absolute alpine bliss.
On our fourth day, the time had finally come to carry our
packs, including the extra couple of kilos of water and lunch, and
the poor kids were in shock. They only had six kiloseach (clothes,
sleepingsheet,torch,bookandcamera),butasa proportionof
theirbodyweight,theirpackswereasheavyasours.
Our climb from Passo Rolle to Baita Segantini was a slog, but
knowing that it was relatively small compared to the climb later
that day, we rewarded ourselves with chocolate and apple
spritzers at the first hut and relied on excessive positive
reinforcement to keep the kids motivated. And it worked. The
next climb over the remote Forcella Venegia was a breeze. Once
we left the busy track along the spectacular Val Venegia, we didn’t
see another person for over 10km. It turns out that the
fashionable Italian hikers don’t venture far beyond the lunch
huts, cable car stations or track networks within 5km of town,
and it was a revelation.
We stayed that night at our first hut, Rifugio Passo Valles, and
had a hot shower and three-course dinner with local produce and
lovely Trentino wine. It’s safe to say we weren’t expecting such
quality, and this became the theme of the trip – surprisingly good
food, excellent accommodation, and stunning remote hiking.
EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED
The surprises kept coming. The following day on our climb to Col
Margherita, we came across a network of stone trenches
surroundedbyrotten timber and barbed wire. The trenches were
DOLOMITES HIKING
scarily exposed to thesurrounding mountains, and on closer
inspectionof themap,wenoticedthatthemountainto ourwest
wascalledCimaBocche.
We later learnt that we were standing in the First World War
trenches of the Austrian/Italian frontline, which was a nasty
place in 1916. On such a perfect day, in such a beautiful
landscape, it was hard to imagine so much pointless death and
destruction just over 100 years before.
Two days later, we were reminded of a valuable rule in the
mountains – reaching a high pass (or peak) is optional, but
returning safely to the valley is compulsory. We were climbing to
one of the famous high passes of the Marmolada Dolomites –
Passo delle Cirelle – between Passo San Pellegrino and Canazei,
and our relatively well-formed track disappeared towards the top88 / Outdoor