Tre Cime, Rifugio Locatelli, Via Ferrata de Luca, Super Cool Mt Paterno Summit

I woke up early and was treated to a beautiful sunrise. The rest of the crew chose sleep - still catching up from jetlag and a full day yesterday. Breakfast was at Rifugio Auronzo - the chocolate croissants were yummy. We packed up all of the stuff we needed for Rifugio Locatelli and were ready to roll when we realized that we didn't know where the car keys were. So we played a fun game of trying to start the car with different people in it and different bags too. When the car wouldn't start without Maya's bag, we solved the puzzle. Then we hit the trail.

Tre Cime is an iconic set of three peaks in the Dolomites with a 9km loop around it. It is a super popular hike, so we were hiking with lots of people. Many folks hike out to Rifugio Locatelli for lunch and then head back, but we stayed overnight there. From the hut, there are trails that you can take in every direction. All around, there are reminders that this area was a battlefront for WW1 which is difficult to believe because it feels so peaceful.

Once we arrived at the hut, we had some of the snacks we had packed (notice James' "resting" position - he is the master of energy conservation). There were also shepherds moving their cattle, so the sounds of cow bells were everywhere. The different sounds each bell makes creates music in the mountains.

After fueling up, we headed out to do the Via Ferrata de Luca. This via ferrata followed some of the WW1 tunnels and routes. The combo of tunnels and iron rungs was fun. Some of the tunnels were pretty low, so Dan, James, and Maya had to do a lot of ducking. Hooray for being short!

When we made it to the "saddle" of the via ferrata, there was an optional summit climb of Mt Paterno which we decided to do. The summit was incredible! Even James thought it was worth it to climb it. The views were stunning.

Once we were back to the "saddle", we followed a scree path down to the rest of the route which wrapped around the backside of the mountain to some more cliff bands and tunnels until we were on the Tre Cime side again.

Looking back on the summit from the hut, it was hard to believe we actually climbed it because it looks impossible. The location of the hut was perfect! Mountains and ponds everywhere! Juno took a dip in one of the ponds and reported that it wasn't cold, but everything is relative.

Maya and I still had some energy left, so we went for another little hike a different direction towards some ponds while the rest of the crew chilled.

We got back just in time for dinner. And by the time dinner rolled around at 7:00, we were all hungry. Everyone had assigned tables because of COVID, so there was not much mingling with other guests at the hut.

Mother Nature put on quite a show at sunset. The light on Tre Cime was awesome! There was also a silhouette of a "mother and sleeping baby" that pops as the sun goes down.

I was a little restless in the middle of the night (it didn't help that Dan snores loudly in the dorm), so I got up and tried to take some pictures with the stars. I couldn't capture the beauty on my phone, but it is burned into my brain.