courtesy BConnell
Approaching Passo Zigolade
We could see a large swath of the terrain we'd next have to cover from our vantage point at Passo Zigolade. First was a fairly steep descent of perhaps 500 feet (150m), then what looked like a fairly easy on-the-level traverse across the upper bowl of the Valojet Valley's slopes. We could see the line of the trail trace around the valley and end up at a small (from this distance) cluster of buildings. Those, we surmised, must be the Rifugio Valojet and the Rifgio Pruess (and subsidiary buildings).
After a steep and zig-zaggy descent from Passo Zigolade (and also down a short cliff with the help of a steel ladder), the traverse across the upper bowl of the valley went as we expected - fast and unventfully. The track was narrow but for the most part, smooth and well-defined. It dropped down slightly as we arrived at the cluster of rifugio buildings we had seen in the distance. The Rifugio Valojet is quite large up close, by the way (and actually seems to be composed of two dorm buildings joined together). Very large indeed.
Although Brian and I had indeed managed a very good pace up to this point (almost no stops and a decent walking speed), it was still getting on close to 6pm. Rifugios generally have their dinner hour from 7pm to 8pm, and I knew that although we were now close to the Rifugio Re Alberto, we'd be possibly cutting it close. I would normally have called the rifugio with my cellphone, but I wasn't getting any signal in this high valley ringed by even higher walls of dolomite. I told Brian to give me a minute and then ran over to the nearby Rifugio Pruess to ask if the front desk could call up to our Rifugio for us, and tell us that were going to arrive, but just possibly a little late. The lady at said front desk was very amenable and did so right away. Very nice lady.
With the all-too-familiar "we might be late" call out of the way, Brian and I turned our attention to our final challenge of the day: the climb to the Rifugio Re Alberto.
Final Challenge of the day
While the Rifugio Valojet and Rifugio Pruess are mid-altitude rifugios that are reachable on wide and easy (in fact even mountain-bikeable) routes, the Rifugio Re Alberto the 1st is a much higher alpine rifugio reachable only by more challenging routes. One of those routes was now right in front of us, just beyond the Rifugio Valojet: a steep .... I suppose you could call it... rock valley...?, coming straight down the mountainside from heights above. According to our maps, the Rifugio Re Alberto was at the top of this steep rock valley, and a marked trail (trail 542) was drawn on the map, ascending straight up it.
The trail was also marked as "per esperti" (for experts), and a brief glance at it showed why. Now, when I said "steep rock valley" above, you probably had a mental image of a valley with cliffy walls. And this valley did have cliffy walls, but unusually, it also had a sort of bare-bedrock bottom. As in, the bottom of the valley wasn't filled with gravel or rubble, but was simply bare bedrock, like it had all been scoured away (which was probably the case). And also as mentioned above, the valley had a very steep grade, so much that a ferrata-like wire had been installed for most of the ascent. In fact, there seemed to be two parallel wires, separated by a few tens of metres, in order to support a larger load of hikers.
Protected hiking path
And a load of hikers there were, too! The steep angle and bare rock afforded us the ability to see quite clearly, and there were a large number of hikers traversing this steep, protected path. Most seemed to be headed in the downhill direction, perhaps coming back down to a lower elevation after exploring the high country for the day.
As with most big slopes, this one became a lot less intimidating as we hiked up to it. Sure, it was steep, but the bare rock was full of big, huge craggy holds and the actual grade wasn't so steep that any fall would go very far. On the YDS scale, it probably didn't really rise to the level of a grade 3, and if it did, only barely. The wire protection (which was frequently mounted on long metal poles) was more of a comforting handrail than anything else.
High above Rif. Valojet
We spent the next hour powering up this steep slope, hoping if possible to arrive within the bounds of official dinnertime. I could tell Brian was fading a bit, and by the time the peaked roof of the Rifugio Re Alberto came into view, he was falling behind a bit and taking the occasional quick break.
Rifugio Re Alberto the first
In all, it probably took us only 65 to 70 minutes to climb the 1200 or so feet (350m) of the unsual steep rock valley. And we had managed to arrive only shortly after 7pm, so technically, we were still in the heart of dinnertime. No need to plead for special dispensations!
We went inside and checked ourselves in, noting to them that only two (us two) of the original six people had been able to make it. They showed us up to our bunk room, which at exactly six beds would have fit our original group size perfectly. Maybe we'd be lucky and have no last-minute wayward souls tonight (because if they did, they'd surely put them in with Brian and I).
Patiently awaiting dinner
Back down in the dining room, we awaited dinner. The place was *packed*. Mostly it seemed to be Italians, and mostly of youthful age. This was completely unlike basically every other rifugio we had stayed at so far on this trip. Was it because it was a more popular location, or was it because it was a Friday night? Hard to say - probably a bit of both.
The dinner was excellent. The course choices were diverse, and my first, second, and dessert courses were all great. I'm continually amazed at how good the food is at these rifugios, considering their locations.
Enjoying a fine meal
After dinner, Brian and I decided to do a little alpine passeggiata. The rifugio is in a really spectacular location, if a little austere and remote. It sits in a high alpine valley well above treeline, so there's absolutely no vegetation and everything is rock. But oh, that rock. Soaring walls of white dolomite surround us in most directions, and to the north, a multi-fingered cluster of slender towers - the Towers of the Valojet - steal the show.
It seems that most of the young Italians at dinner also like their passeggiatte, and a whole flock of them are running up to a point below the first Valojet Tower, I guess hoping to take in the sunset. They don't actually get a sunset, however, as tendrils of clouds have begun to settle around our high valley and the towers. There is a very pretty dusky pink glow to everything, though, as day turns to night.
Re Alberto and Valojet Towers
Brian and I turn in for the night before the colors of twilight had faded to black (that is to say, not unreasonably late). We've assumed at this point that we're home free and have the entire room to ourselves, and have laid out our hiking gear on the unused bunks.
This turns out to be an incorrect assumption, however, as an hour or so later, we are awakened by a knock by the rifugio staff, informing us that a couple of late hikers have arrived and will be taking two of the empty bunks. We scramble to get up and pack away our laid-out gear to make room.
Interactive trackmap with photo points - July 14 - click map to view
July 14 Dolomites - Hike Data
Start Time:
7:58a.m.
End Time:
7:02p.m.
Duration:
11h4m
Distance:
11.71 km
(7.28 mi)
Average Speed:
1.1 km/hr
(0.7 mph)
Start Elevation:
6836ft
(2084m)
*
Max Elevation:
8593ft
(2619m)
*
Min Elevation:
6831ft
(2082m)
*
End Elevation:
8544ft
(2604m)
*
* : +/- 75 feet
Total Elevation Gain:
4199ft
(1280m)
*
Total Elevation Loss:
2512ft
(766m)
*
* : +/- 75 feet
Elevation Graph
