Another beautiful sunrise in the Dolomites. They will never get old - the layers with all of the colors and mountains are breathtaking. I couldn't help but take a zillion pictures. Maya would have joined me, but somehow she couldn't get out of the rifugio's shoe closet and eventually climbed out of the 4th floor via the fire escape to see the sunrise. Everyone else snoozed through Mother Nature's show.
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| Edelweiss at sunrise |
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| Edelweiss is such a cool flower |
We fueled up with a yummy breakfast that even had honey straight from the honeycomb. Originally, we were going to tackle the via ferrata Maximilian and then head back to Compatsch the way we came, but someone told us that the view from Rifugio Bolzano should not be missed, so we changed our route which tacked on a few extra miles. This did not make James' day.
For the other via ferratas, we have been able to take just what we needed, but for this one, we had to take all the stuff we had with us for 2 days since we didn't return to the hut. Nothing like having a little extra weight to throw off your ballist next to massive cliffs. The route began almost right at the hut and went straight up to the ridgeline and then the summit of Grosser Rosszahn or "Big Walrus Tusk". Our guide book describes the route at "airy" and Rifugio Alpes di Tires says that one must have "sure-footedness and relative resistance to vertigo". This is Italian for "the route will scare the pants off you". Most of the route was unprotected. The kids said they were not scared, but I have to admit that I went into 4 wheel drive on some of the sections (hands and feet). This ridgeline made Katahdin's Knife Edge look like child's play.
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| If you look closely, you can see the kids hiking out to the end of this point. |
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| And there are the kids, making their mother very nervous. |
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| Wicked scary death cliffs on either side |
I was quite happy when we reached the summit of Roterd Peak as it was the end of the via ferrata and the highest point on the Schlern/Sciliar Plateau. We took some pictures (and James assumed his usual summit position and took a nap on the edge of a cliff). Unfortunately, we couldn't spend too much time on the summit as we needed to hike all the way to the car and then drive to Austria to meet the Lucas Lehmann family.
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| Looking at Rifugio Alpes di Tires |
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| The kids on the summit with the ridgeline of via ferrata Maximilian behind them |
The way down from the summit was a gravy train. I promised the kids apple strudel at Rifugio Bolzano, so they were willing to hike a little bit further for that. Dan headed directly down rather than go to the hut.
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| James gave the cows a wide birth around the trail |
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| Rifugio Bolzano |
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| The cowbells are all different sizes and combined, make beautiful sounds. |
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| A view of the jagged ridgeline where the via ferrata went |
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| The via ferrata is on that jagged ridge and the hut that we hiked to is on the other side of it. |
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| Lots of thermal currents for the paragliders to cruise around on. |
Of course, we had to find some post-hike ice cream, so we stopped in the town of Castelrotto to get some gelato before we hit the road for Austria.
We were anxious to get to Mayhofen, Austria to see the Lucas Lehmanns, but we hit some stopped traffic and ended up taking an unconventional route around it. We were all a little nervous that we would not survive our creative re-route (hazards of oncoming cars and a very swollen river were worrisome). After counting down the days for weeks and months, we finally got to see our dear friends Paul, Petra, Carla, and Anna. They had pizza waiting for us and the hugs and joyful chatting ensued. So wonderful!
