Rifugio Passo Le Selle to Rifugio Vallaccia
Wednesday, July 12
Overnight, we were extremely glad of the sturdy stone and concrete construction of the Rifugio Passo Le Selle. The calm evening of our arrival was swept away during the middle of the night, violently displaced by a major lightning storm. Brian and I had left our windows open when going to bed, and we woke up to the flashes, crashes, and torrents of rain pouring in. We quickly battened down the hatches and not before a bit of the room's woodwork had gotten quite wet. As we discussed the storm around breakfast, we couldn't help but chatter about how grateful we were for our warm and dry refuge.
Breakfast at Rif. Pso. Le Selle
Extensive Continental Breakfast
I felt like my reputation (as a guider of trips) was kind of on the line now. For two days straight, I had promised moderate hiking, fun climbing, and great views - but not stressful slogs and continually running out the clock. Today I was absolutely determined to change that. And fortunately, our next rifugio was close enough, and the options to get there amenable enough, for me to declare, with complete confidence, that we were going to have an easy hike, it was going to be short, and we most definitely would not be arriving in the dark !
Once again, we had deliberately not gotten up too early (in compensation for the late bed time the night before). Breakfast was a delicious affair, full of variety and tastiness. We spent some time on the rifugio's wrap-around deck, taking in the amazing views. We could look back east to see the section of ridgeline we that opted to skip because of our lateness the night before, and we could also see a different ridgeline rising up to the west of the pass. There's a trail that continues along this ridgeline, complete with its own ferrata and World War I historical artifacts. It did look mighty interesting, but as I said before, I was determined to take the most straightfoward and easiest route to our next rifugio. And that meant nothing technical; nothing that wasn't the shortest, the most brain-dead way to get where we were going.
We were packed up and ready to head out around 9:30 a.m. As we neared our departure time, the weather outside deteriorated. It got darker and breezier. Soon a steady rain had started to fall, driven diagonally by the wind. Although thoughts of waiting out the rain entered our minds, I wasn't willing to risk any further delay, and we decided to suit up in raingear and head out anyway. Wasn't going to be fun, but we were nevertheless gonna get it done.
We said goodbye to Floriano, the rifugio owner and manager (who by the way, turns out is the son of none other than Bepi Zac himself, for whom yesterday's ferrata climbing route was named), and headed out onto the deck and into the rain.
Departing Rif Le Selle
Our reserved rifugio for the night was the Rifugio Vallaccia, nestled up in a high meadow at the base of a small group of peaks in which we hoped to do a second ferrata the following day. The easiest way to get to that rifugio was to follow the main trail west from Passo Le Selle, down into the Valle de Selle / Valle dei Monzoni. The trail was easy and obvious, if a bit rough at times. Descending down into the valley, the whole scene felt very Scottish Highlands. The wind drove the rain sideways into our jackets, got in under our pack covers, flipped our hats off, and was in general a pain in the butt.
It didn't take too long before we were all pretty thoroughly damp, if not outright soaked. Bigger, thicker vegetation returned as we descended, and eventually the first bits of trees and forest. The strength of the wind diminished as we descended into more sheltered terrain. Then, rounding a corner, we spotted a tidy little block of a structure down in the trees below, sided in stone and with perfect little blue-white window shutters. This was the rifugio Tarquato Taramelli, and it looked like a perfect place to stop for a hot coffee and get out of this miserable wet weather.
We soon arrived at the Rifugio Taramelli. It had not taken us all that long to get here - about an hour - and we had not travelled all that far. But, we needed a break from the wet.
It was an uncomfortable chore to peel off our outer layers and let ourselves into the rifugio, which was clearly older and more cramped in its layout. We were greeted cheerfully by a fairly large staff (many of whom seemed to students on summer break), led by one very talkative fellow who seemed very enamored with bedraggled kids. Everyone ordered something hot to drink while the head staffperson described the history of this rifugio (apparently, it is quite a bit older than the surrounding rifugios and quite historic. It apparently was built right around 1900 and during the first world war, served as a command post for the Austrian army).
After our friendly stopover at the rifugio Taramelli, we exited, still mostly damp and wet and uncomfortable, back out onto the trail. We were happy to note that it had stopped raining, although we weren't ready to put away the raingear just yet.
Setting off for Rif Vallaccia
We continued west from the rifugio, descending steeply down to a crossing of the main drainage stream in this part of the valley. From there, the trail led downwards and northwards to another stream crossing, and finally to a junction with the trail ascended up towards our destination rifugio. This was our low point for the day.
Destination Vallaccia
The weather had taken a decided turn for the good as we continued on. The rain clouds had mostly drifted off and a warm summer sun had started to shine. Temperatures rapidly climbed and soon we were back down to t-shirts. Everything was verdant and summery. Pleasantness had returned to our little corner of the Dolomites.
The hike up to the Rifugio Vallaccia was as easy and as scenic as one could have asked for. Remnants of the rainy weather hung around as low clouds in the valley below us. As we climbed back up into the subalpine, beautiful views of the jagged ridges surrounding us came into view. We could look back and see the tiny form of the Rifugio Selle - our refuge from the night before - silhouetted against the sky in the Passo Le Selle. And we could now see the peaked tip of our next rifugio not all that far ahead of us. And unlike the other days, it was not late - in fact it was not much past noontime. In fact, might we arrive in time for a late lunch?
Pointing back to Rif. Selle
The banter was light and the stress level low as we hiked the easy grades up to the Rifugio Vallaccia. We arrived at an entirely-agreeable 1:18pm, greeted the single hut staff member that was present, then began to lay out our wet packs and clothes on the sunny and warm rifugio deck.
Next stop: Rifugio Vallaccia
The lady staffing the rifugio brought us out drink and food menus as we sat down at the premium table on the front deck of the rifugio. It was one of those sublime moments of extreme comfort that is further sweetened by the tough experiences you had to go through to reach it. And, with a tall glass of cold radler, a warm sun drying us from above, and a beautiful panoramic mountain view in front of us, you really couldn't ask for better.
Our lunch dishes came not long after, and they were quite excellent. I had a plate of tagliatelle with a venison sauce and topped with fresh parmesan cheese, and it was..... good. Really good. Chris had some sort of dumplings and Gillian had some sausages, and Brian ordered a somewhat less exciting but nevertheless likely enjoyable cheese and tomato sandwich. Life was good: it was sunny; it was not late; the food was good. Had I broken my curse?
Tagliatelle con sugo di cervo
After lunch, we were shown up to our room (a perfectly-sized six-person bunk room), where we set up our bedding and organized our stuff. We then headed back outside to lay about in the warm afternoon sun. The kids poked and played around the rifugio. It was nice having downtime to just be able to chill.
Rif Vallaccia Accommodations
Dinner offered another good array of food options (at least as far as I was concerned), including a polenta dish and a dish with ham and potatoes. Owing to our non-rushed arrival, we had the luxury of going to bed at a nice, decent hour, and therefore we also were able to plan to get a nice early start the following morning.
Interactive trackmap with photo points - Pso. Le Selle to Rif Vallaccia - click map to view
July 12 Dolomites - Hike Data
Start Time:
9:47a.m.
End Time:
1:23p.m.
Duration:
3h35m
Distance:
4.66 km
(2.9 mi)
Average Speed:
1.3 km/hr
(0.8 mph)
Start Elevation:
8367ft
(2550m)
*
Max Elevation:
8367ft
(2550m)
*
Min Elevation:
6479ft
(1975m)
*
End Elevation:
7343ft
(2238m)
*
* : +/- 75 feet
Total Elevation Gain:
853ft
(260m)
*
Total Elevation Loss:
1855ft
(565m)
*
* : +/- 75 feet
Elevation Graph
