Has Anyone Here Done Alta Via 1?

[Parma]

Have any of you done the Alta Via 1 route in the Dolomites in Italy? This is now on my bucket list and I want to do it.
Love to get some insight and suggestions.

 

[Janice]

Yup - last summer! We had a fantastic trip, and I"ll be happy to give info. Let me know how much detail you want!

 

[Parma]

I’ll take ad much as you ca. give.
how much of it did you do?
How many days/nights?
What did each hut cost?
How did you book them?
Any suggestions on things to avoid/must dos?

 

[mike_offerman]

Heading out there in mid Sept. We are hitting the trail Sept 21st and started booking rifugios the first of Jan. Was frustrating with the amount of time to get responses back, but eventually got everything booked. On the southern part of the hike, we did run across that most places were closed for the season, but I think that we got things figured out.
Doing it in 10 days right now. The Northern rifugios had websites, but most just had emails. We sent them in Italian and most eventually replied. We are doing private rooms where possible.
Would rather go through the extra hassle and effort to book places myself and do it later in the season to save money and have less people on the trails. I am guessing that the entire process would be way easier if you spoke Italian and would be able to call places (or brave enough to call and admit that you don't have a clue how to speak Italian) instead of relying on emails.

 

[Janice]

I'll be happy to provide info but am in the midst of making a trip report for a fabulous trip we just finished... For now, I'll just tell you that we worked with a small company who did all of our booking for us. We don't speak Italian and were not comfortable trying to figure everything out on our own. The company was Distant Journeys and they were awesome. But I can also give you all the details of what we did. Stay tuned...

 

[priz1234]

I'm in the same boat as @mike_offerman. I'm heading out there later this year and booked all of the rifugios end of December and early January. Some of them were very easy to book and had availability listed on their website and you could book without having to reach out to anyone. Others you just had to send an email or submit a request form on their website. Some got back the next day and others took quite a while to respond. I would be prepared to not get rooms in every one you plan on staying in. Three of the ones I tried to book were full on the nights I needed and had to find a different one to stay at.

The price of the rifugios varied from 60 euros to a little over 100 euros a night per person for the ones I booked. Be sure to check if the price includes half board or just the bed/room for the night. The one I booked for 60 euros only included the breakfast and room so it will end up being more since I'll have to pay for dinner. Most of them didn't require a full payment in advance and only a 20 euro per person deposit up front.

I am planning on doing almost the full thing in 7 days. The only part I am skipping is the very southern end where you really need the via ferrata gear. When I was doing my research it seems like most people skip that section and end at the La Pissa bus stop. That is what I am doing as well.

Happy to answer any more questions about the booking if you have any

 

[zionsky]

Looking forward to some trip reports

 

[Janice]

NOTE: I ended up writing a lot more than I expected to, rather than just listing our rifugios. (I'm sure I could write a ton more.) When I have time, I'll include some photos (of my thousands). Here's one from Cinque Torri (5 Towers) to tease you.

As I wrote earlier, we worked with a small company, Distant Journeys, who did all of our booking and provided us with detailed trail notes. (Prior to making the arrangements, they discussed with us our timing and what we wanted to do.) There are a lot of rifugios to choose among (although some may be full now), so your route may vary slightly from ours.

FYI, we decided in May 2021, when it seemed like covid was getting better, to do the trip in July 2022. We paid our deposit (and then covid exploded again...) and the company was able to book for us very early, which was really helpful because we've been quite cautious covid-wise and didn't want to share a bunkroom. (But I did get covid at the very end of the trip - midway through we let down our guard and stopped asking to eat meals outside etc.).

Anyway, here's what we did:

Pre-Dolomites - I had never been to Italy so we explored in Venice for 1.5 very full days. That was great, and for us that was the right amount of time in the city. Then we took a bus to Cortina D'Ampezzo, which is just east of the Cinque Torri middle section of the Alta Via.

Day 1 - we were driven (pre-arranged) to Lago Di Braies, which is a big lake, aka Prager Wildsee - FYI, a lot of places/mountains in the northern part - south Tyrol - have multiple names that are totally different from each other because this area used to be Austrian so there's German, Italian, and Ladin (that's not a typo) all mixed up together. Once I understood this, I was better able to wrap my head around the details of where we were going. We did a long and beautiful hike to our first night at RIFUGIO FODARA VEDLA, which was a bit off the regular route but a wonderful place.

Day 2 - We did another long and beautiful hike to RIFUGIO SCOTONI, and that was great, too. For the last part of the hike, we had instructions about two different ways to go, depending on the weather. We had good weather and went up the pass/saddle (Forcela di Lech/Forcella di Lago) and then down, down, down toward Lago (lake) Lagazuoi on constructed switchbacks that were so tight I actually started feeling queasy. It was worth it though - quite unique!

Day 3 - We went back up to the lake and then up up up some more to Lagazuoi, which is at the top of a ski area with unbelievably magnificent views. Part of me wondered why we hadn't stayed there instead of going down to Scotoni, especially since I love sunsets and I'm sure the sunset would be incredible from way up there if it's not raining or heavy clouds. However, private bunkrooms weren't available (which we definitely wanted) and it is very very very crowded there. In the middle of the day, it was just like a restaurant at the top of a super busy ski mountain. If you end up there, I'm sure you'll enjoy the incredible scenery, and just know to expect crowds. We walked around up there for awhile and looked across to the switchbacky pass we had hiked down the previous day. Btw, on the switchbacks going up to Lagazuoi, there are awesome WW1 remains that I highly recommend you take time to check out. There was fighting there between the Italians and Austrians. I have very little interest in war history, especially WW1, but this was fascinating. To get back down from Lagazuoi, we went through the amazing tunnel that the Italians built in the mountains. I highly recommend that. To access that you walk on something that seems like a knife-edge, but it really was fine (my husband doesn't like that sort of thing and he had no problem) but I guess if it's raining or storming you should think twice. (There are other ways to get down.) For the tunnel, you need a headlamp and warm layers. It's remarkable and highly memorable. Anyway, after getting down down down to Passo Falzarego we went back up up up to RIFUGIO CINQUE TORRI. This was an awesome day but very long and I was definitely losing steam by the time we arrived just a few minutes before the typical 7:00 dinner.

Day 4 - We did a long day hike from Cinque Torri and stayed there again that night. It was a perfect location for two nights, as there is a lot to explore in that area. Cinque Torri (5 Towers) is fabulous and has lots of climbers to watch, plus there's an open-air, walking around "museum" of WW1 to check out. In addition to that, we hiked up to Rifugio Nuvolau. That would have been an awesome place to stay (high up with magnificent views) but didn't have private rooms so even though I would have loved the sunset, we were glad not to share a room. Also that day we hiked around Averau and with GaiaGPS in hand we had a lot of fun doing a tiny bit of off-trail stuff we wouldn't have done otherwise.

Day 5 - We did another long and beautiful hike (I should stop saying that - they were all long and beautiful) to RIFUGIO STAULANZA. This day had many different parts that were varied and stunning. For several days prior to this, we had been seeing in the distance a formation that we named "Sinking Ship". On this day, we went around the other side of the sinking ship and really enjoyed that, as well as views of Mt. Antelao and Mt. Pelmo. Btw, someone at dinner on Day 2 told us about the PeakFinder app. I downloaded that and really loved using it to identify mountains near and far and see the list of all the visible peaks (visible to the GPS, at least), some of which were many miles away.

Day 6 - We went to RIFUGIO TISSI. The early part of this day was very crowded with dayhikers going to Lake Coldai (kid groups, etc.) which was clearly had lost water and was much smaller than it used to be. After the lake, the hike along Mt. Civetta was fabulous, and there were many fewer people than earlier in the day (and nobody was up at Tissi except for people staying there). Going up up up to Tissi was hard but awesome. The views from the top are fabulous, and we literally followed our trail note instructions to lie down on our bellies by the big cross at the top and peer over the edge down down down to the town and lake below. (Lying down on belly so you don't plummet to your death trying to look over the edge.) We had a private room at Tissi but it was tiny!

Day 7 - We went to RIFUGIO CARESTIATO - more amazing scenery, wildflowers, and pollinators on this long day. Great sunset and sunrise.

Day 8 - Instead of going to one of the rifugios and ending at the bus stop, we were routed to MALGA PRAMPER, a working farm. This was our only shared bunkroom, but we lucked out with no one else there, except for some girls who were staying in an adjacent room that we didn't really see otherwise and weren't sure what their situation was. (Very little English was spoken there.) The hike was very hot with the rocky scree baking in the sunshine, but we saw almost no one and really enjoyed the solitude. When we got to Forcella (pass) Mochesin, we were so hot and sweaty I was thrilled to let the strong wind cool me off. Then the walk down to the farm was lovely.

Day 9 - Before leaving the farm, we watched the cheesemaker make cheese. It was fascinating to see him stick his bare arms into the huge vat of yellow liquid! Then we walked through woods where there was a lot of wonderful forest art (trees turned into sculptures, etc.). We made it to Forno di Zoldo in the early afternoon, got some lunch, and went to our hotel there, where our extra suitcase was waiting patiently for us after having been transported there from Cortina d'Ampezzo. We had a fabulous dinner at a restaurant there, La Tana D'lors.

Day 10 - The next morning we were driven to the Venice airport and flew home.


Some notes:

1) Some parts weren't too busy, but solitude is NOT the focus of this trip. In general, people were very nice, but there are some parts where there a LOT of people doing day trips that overlap with the trek. It wasn't a problem for us, but it's good to know ahead of time. For those who are doing it in September, I assume it will be less crowded.

2) Every day there are rifugios along the way where you can stop for a drink (we got in the habit of lemon soda), snack, and/or full meal. I can't eat a lot while hiking, and my husband didn't want full meals either, so we occasionally bought strudel to eat, but mostly we ate trail snacks during the day.

3) Many rifugios have shared bathrooms even if you have a private room.

4) The food varied from rifugio to rifugio. Some was fabulous, others were ok.

5) Our dates were July 14-24. We saw sooooooooooooo many gorgeous wildflowers and pollinators!

6) I'm super slow when hiking uphill, and there was a lot of uphill, so what took us all day would take faster hikers less time.

7) Try to do (weather permitting):
-Tight switchbacks going down to Lech (lake) Lagazuoi from Forcela Lech/Lagazuoi
-WW1 stuff in the Lagazuoi and Cinque Torri areas and explore in the middle of the Cinque Torri towers to see the climbers and cool rock formations
-Get to at least one of the super high points for fabulous views (Lagazuoi, Nuvolau, Tissi - or maybe there are others at other rifugios that weren't on our route)

 

[Parma]

NOTE: I ended up writing a lot more than I expected to, rather than just listing our rifugios. (I'm sure I could write a ton more.) When I have time, I'll include some photos (of my thousands). Here's one from Cinque Torri (5 Towers) to tease you.

View attachment 119050

As I wrote earlier, we worked with a small company, Distant Journeys, who did all of our booking and provided us with detailed trail notes. (Prior to making the arrangements, they discussed with us our timing and what we wanted to do.) There are a lot of rifugios to choose among (although some may be full now), so your route may vary slightly from ours.

FYI, we decided in May 2021, when it seemed like covid was getting better, to do the trip in July 2022. We paid our deposit (and then covid exploded again...) and the company was able to book for us very early, which was really helpful because we've been quite cautious covid-wise and didn't want to share a bunkroom. (But I did get covid at the very end of the trip - midway through we let down our guard and stopped asking to eat meals outside etc.).

Anyway, here's what we did:

Pre-Dolomites - I had never been to Italy so we explored in Venice for 1.5 very full days. That was great, and for us that was the right amount of time in the city. Then we took a bus to Cortina D'Ampezzo, which is just east of the Cinque Torri middle section of the Alta Via.

Day 1 - we were driven (pre-arranged) to Lago Di Braies, which is a big lake, aka Prager Wildsee - FYI, a lot of places/mountains in the northern part - south Tyrol - have multiple names that are totally different from each other because this area used to be Austrian so there's German, Italian, and Ladin (that's not a typo) all mixed up together. Once I understood this, I was better able to wrap my head around the details of where we were going. We did a long and beautiful hike to our first night at RIFUGIO FODARA VEDLA, which was a bit off the regular route but a wonderful place.

Day 2 - We did another long and beautiful hike to RIFUGIO SCOTONI, and that was great, too. For the last part of the hike, we had instructions about two different ways to go, depending on the weather. We had good weather and went up the pass/saddle (Forcela di Lech/Forcella di Lago) and then down, down, down toward Lago (lake) Lagazuoi on constructed switchbacks that were so tight I actually started feeling queasy. It was worth it though - quite unique!

Day 3 - We went back up to the lake and then up up up some more to Lagazuoi, which is at the top of a ski area with unbelievably magnificent views. Part of me wondered why we hadn't stayed there instead of going down to Scotoni, especially since I love sunsets and I'm sure the sunset would be incredible from way up there if it's not raining or heavy clouds. However, there aren't private bunkrooms (which we definitely wanted) and it is very very very crowded there. In the middle of the day, it was just like a restaurant at the top of a super busy ski mountain. If you end up there, I'm sure you'll enjoy the incredible scenery, and just know to expect crowds. We walked around up there for awhile and looked across to the switchbacky pass we had hiked down the previous day. Btw, on the switchbacks going up to Lagazuoi, there are awesome WW1 remains that I highly recommend you take time to check out. There was fighting there between the Italians and Austrians. I have very little interest in war history, especially WW1, but this was fascinating. To get back down from Lagazuoi, we went through the amazing tunnel that the Italians built in the mountains. I highly recommend that. To access that you walk on something that seems like a knife-edge, but it really was fine (my husband doesn't like that sort of thing and he had no problem) but I guess if it's raining or storming you should think twice. (There are other ways to get down.) For the tunnel, you need a headlamp and warm layers. It's remarkable and highly memorable. Anyway, after getting down down down to Passo Falzarego we went back up up up to RIFUGIO CINQUE TORRI. This was an awesome day but very long and I was definitely losing steam by the time we arrived just a few minutes before the typical 7:00 dinner.

Day 4 - We did a long day hike from Cinque Torri and stayed there again that night. It was a perfect location for two nights, as there is a lot to explore in that area. Cinque Torri (5 Towers) is fabulous and has lots of climbers to watch, plus there's an open-air, walking around "museum" of WW1 to check out. In addition to that, we hiked up to Rifugio Nuvolau. That would have been an awesome place to stay (high up with magnificent views) but didn't have private rooms so even though I would have loved the sunset, we were glad not to share a room. Also that day we hiked around Averau and with GaiaGPS in hand we had a lot of fun doing a tiny bit of off-trail stuff we wouldn't have done otherwise.

Day 5 - We did another long and beautiful hike (I should stop saying that - they were all long and beautiful) to RIFUGIO STAULANZA. This day had many different parts that were varied and stunning. For several days prior to this, we had been seeing in the distance a formation that we named "Sinking Ship". On this day, we went around the other side of the sinking ship and really enjoyed that, as well as views of Mt. Antelao and Mt. Pelmo. Btw, someone at dinner on Day 2 told us about the PeakFinder app. I downloaded that and really loved using it to identify mountains near and far and see the list of all the visible peaks (visible to the GPS, at least), some of which were many miles away.

Day 6 - We went to RIFUGIO TISSI. The early part of this day was very crowded with dayhikers going to Lake Coldai (kid groups, etc.) which was clearly had lost water and was much smaller than it used to be. After the lake, the hike along Mt. Civetta was fabulous, and there were many fewer people than earlier in the day (and nobody was up at Tissi except for people staying there). Going up up up to Tissi was hard but awesome. The views from the top are fabulous, and we literally followed our trail note instructions to lie down on our bellies by the big cross at the top and peer over the edge down down down to the town and lake below. (Lying down on belly so you don't plummet to your death trying to look over the edge.) We had a private room at Tissi but it was tiny!

Day 7 - We went to RIFUGIO CARESTIATO - more amazing scenery, wildflowers, and pollinators on this long day. Great sunset and sunrise.

Day 8 - Instead of going to one of the rifugios and ending at the bus stop, we were routed to MALGA PRAMPER, a working farm. This was our only shared bunkroom, but we lucked out with no one else there, except for some girls who were staying in an adjacent room that we didn't really see otherwise and weren't sure what their situation was. (Very little English was spoken there.) The hike was very hot with the rocky scree baking in the sunshine, but we saw almost no one and really enjoyed the solitude. When we got to Forcella (pass) Mochesin, we were so hot and sweaty I was thrilled to let the strong wind cool me off. Then the walk down to the farm was lovely.

Day 9 - Before leaving the farm, we watched the cheesemaker make cheese. It was fascinating to see him stick his bare arms into the huge vat of yellow liquid! Then we walked through woods where there was a lot of wonderful forest art (trees turned into sculptures, etc.). We made it to Forno di Zoldo in the early afternoon, got some lunch, and went to our hotel there, where our extra suitcase was waiting patiently for us after having been transported there from Cortina d'Ampezzo. We had a fabulous dinner at a restaurant there, La Tana D'lors.

Day 10 - The next morning we were driven to the Venice airport and flew home.


Some notes:

1) Some parts weren't too busy, but solitude is NOT the focus of this trip. In general, people were very nice, but there are some parts where there a LOT of people doing day trips that overlap with the trek. It wasn't a problem for us, but it's good to know ahead of time. For those who are doing it in September, I assume it will be less crowded.

2) Every day there are rifugios along the way where you can stop for a drink (we got in the habit of lemon soda), snack, and/or full meal. I can't eat a lot while hiking, and my husband didn't want full meals either, so we occasionally bought strudel to eat, but mostly we ate trail snacks during the day.

3) Many rifugios have shared bathrooms even if you have a private room.

4) The food varied from rifugio to rifugio. Some was fabulous, others were ok.

5) Our dates were July 14-24. We saw sooooooooooooo many gorgeous wildflowers and pollinators!

6) I'm super slow when hiking uphill, and there was a lot of uphill, so what took us all day would take faster hikers less time.

7) Try to do (weather permitting):
-Tight switchbacks going down to Lech (lake) Lagazuoi from Forcela Lech/Lagazuoi
-WW1 stuff in the Lagazuoi and Cinque Torri areas and explore in the middle of the Cinque Torri towers to see the climbers and cool rock formations
-Get to at least one of the super high points for fabulous views (Lagazuoi, Nuvolau, Tissi - or maybe there are others at other rifugios that weren't on our route)

This is amazing!

 

[Janice]

I had such a good time looking through my photos. It's been awhile, and I had forgotten how many fabulous scenes there were!

Day 1 - Lago di Braies / Prager Wildsee (north end of AV1)


Seekofel/Croda del Becca - you can climb this if you have time and energy (zoom in where arrow is and you can see people)


Rifugio Fodara Vedla


Day 2 - Forcela di Lech/Lago up ahead (see arrow)

Coming down the top switchbacks (you can see my husband if you look closely)

Looking down the pass to the lake (Lagazuoi) and then seeing Rifugio Lagazuoi way up ahead at the arrow

Making our way down the constructed switchbacks


Rifugio Scotoni


Day 3 - Almost up to Lagazuoi, checking out the WW1 remains


Views from the top of Lagazuoi - Marmolada Glacier off in the distance at the arrow (it had collapsed a week or two before we came)

The pass we had come down the previous evening (see arrow) and the lake below

We explored around the top - the arrow shows Rifugio Lagazuoi

The sort-of knife edge you walk partway on to get to the top of the tunnel

Inside the tunnel

One of many windows to the outside from inside the tunnel

Sometimes you pop out of the tunnel for a little while and then go back in - you can see my husband standing a little below & right of the opening

View from the patio at Rifugio Cinque Torri


Day 4 - hiking near Cinque Torri - looking back toward it while heading up to Rifugio Nuvolau

Pano view from top of Nuvolau

Hiking around Averau


Day 5 - I forget what this part was called but we loved it - Mt. Pelmo off in the distance (left)


Town of Cortina D'Ampezzo down below

Tall, stately Mt. Antelao


Day 6 - Rifugio Tissi visible way up ahead at arrow

Mt. Civetta (you can see the trail we had come along in the green part near the bottom)

At the top (beyond the rifugio) - lying on our bellies to see the view below


Day 7 - sunset from Rifugio Carestiato


Day 8 - using the PeakFinder app to identify the mountains visible at the top of the final pass of the trip (Mochesin)


Day 9 - cheesemaking at the farm (Malga Pramper)


I have a zillion other photos that I won't include. But since I can never resist wildflowers and pollinators, here's a sample of my favorites, including the first one which is Edelweiss.




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[Parma]

I had such a good time looking through my photos. It's been awhile, and I had forgotten how many fabulous scenes there were!

Day 1 - Lago di Braies / Prager Wildsee (north end of AV1)
View attachment 119095

Seekofel/Croda del Becca - you can climb this if you have time and energy (zoom in where arrow is and you can see people)
View attachment 119094

Rifugio Fodara Vedla
View attachment 119093

Day 2 - Forcela di Lech/Lago up ahead (see arrow)
View attachment 119099
Coming down the top switchbacks (you can see my husband if you look closely)
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Looking down the pass to the lake (Lagazuoi) and then seeing Rifugio Lagazuoi way up ahead at the arrow
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Making our way down the constructed switchbacks
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Rifugio Scotoni
View attachment 119103

Day 3 - Almost up to Lagazuoi, checking out the WW1 remains
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Views from the top of Lagazuoi - Marmolada Glacier off in the distance at the arrow (it had collapsed a week or two before we came)
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The pass we had come down the previous evening (see arrow) and the lake below
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We explored around the top - the arrow shows Rifugio Lagazuoi
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The sort-of knife edge you walk partway on to get to the top of the tunnel
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Inside the tunnel
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One of many windows to the outside from inside the tunnel
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Sometimes you pop out of the tunnel for a little while and then go back in - you can see my husband standing a little below & right of the opening
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View from the patio at Rifugio Cinque Torri
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Day 4 - hiking near Cinque Torri - looking back toward it while heading up to Rifugio Nuvolau
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Pano view from top of Nuvolau
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Hiking around Averau
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Day 5 - I forget what this part was called but we loved it - Mt. Pelmo off in the distance (left)
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Town of Cortina D'Ampezzo down below
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Tall, stately Mt. Antelao
View attachment 119120

Day 6 - Rifugio Tissi visible way up ahead at arrow
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Mt. Civetta (you can see the trail we had come along in the green part near the bottom)
View attachment 119124
At the top (beyond the rifugio) - lying on our bellies to see the view below
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Day 7 - sunset from Rifugio Carestiato
View attachment 119125

Day 8 - using the PeakFinder app to identify the mountains visible at the top of the final pass of the trip (Mochesin)
View attachment 119126

Day 9 - cheesemaking at the farm (Malga Pramper)
View attachment 119127

I have a zillion other photos that I won't include. But since I can never resist wildflowers and pollinators, here's a sample of my favorites, including the first one which is Edelweiss.
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I'm ready to go right now! Amazing!

 

[Janice]

@mike_offerman and @priz1234 - I'd love to hear your plans. Which rifugios have you booked?

 

[priz1234]

Those are some great photos and are getting me more excited for the trip again.

I'd love to hear your plans. Which rifugios have you booked?

I mentioned I had some issues with booking the rifugios. Because of how long some took to respond I ended up having every rifugio booked besides the first night and eventually found out that rifugio Sennes, Fodara and Pederu were all fully booked on the night I needed it. This made me do a longer first day then planned and then a lot shorter of a second day but here is my planned itinerary.

Day 1: Lago di Braies to Rifugio Lavarella
Day 2: to Rifugio Scotoni - I'll probably find some side hike on this day as well since it is a shorter day
Day 3; to Rifugio Croda da Lago
Day 4: to Rifugio Coldai
Day 5: to Rifugio Carestiato
Day 6: to Rifugio Pian de Fontana
Day 7; to La Pissa bus stop

 

[Janice]

Fun to check out your itinerary. Looks like you'll go to some places that we didn't get to. I'll be eager to see your photos!

 

[Parma]

@Janice One of my concerns is the elevation gain per day. I plan on bringing my wife and two other couples. I don't have any concdrns for myself, but mainly a couple others that may struggle with the steepness of the hike each day. I don't want to go thru all thr planning and money to do the trip, only to have them hate each day because it's too hard.
How did you feel the hikes were each day?

 

[Janice]

@Parma, yes it's really important to consider the difficulty for the rest of your group. Uphills are hard for me, and there's a lot of elevation gain (see below*), so each day was long and tiring for me. But I've gotten used to long, tiring days and therefore don't get upset about them, plus my husband is much stronger than I am and helps me. Because of the backpacking we've been doing, as well as the Haute Route a few summers back, I know how to eat (small amounts throughout the day) and use energy chews (we love the Honey Stingers lime with caffeine - super helpful!) to give me a boost when needed. Eye candy is highly motivating for me, and there is tons of eye candy on this trip, so I enjoyed it tremendously. But if the others in your group aren't ready for a strenuous trip, no one will have a good time.

There are definitely ways to enjoy the Dolomites that are less strenuous. Instead of doing all of the AV1, you can do just the northern part or southern part, or just do the middle with more of a base camp approach. In some places there are chair lifts people can use to get to the top for a great view. There are a lot of roads in the region, so in some parts (not all) people could get a taxi rather than hike. In addition to the AV1, there are other regions of the Dolomites that can be enjoyed. We happen to know other people who were there last summer who worked with a different travel company and had a totally different itinerary in the Bolzano/Ortisei area. They loved their trip, and it wasn't hut-to-hut the way ours was.

If you decide to do the AV1, it might be worth considering a 2024 trip (rather than this summer) so you can get preferred rifugios on a route that doesn't have really long distances to get from one hut to the next. Or if you decide to work with a company who plans and books for you, they can advise about ways to make things easier if necessary.

Have you hiked with the other couples and have a good sense of their fitness level, prior experience, willingness to train ahead of time, and attitude when the going gets tough?

*Prior to our trip, I plotted our expected routes and saved these elevation profiles. Our routes didn't always match these exactly, and staying at different rifugios would of course make your profiles different, but it can give you a sense of things.

Day 1 (two options) and Day 2

Day 3 (steep downhill was from tunnel line) and Days 5 and 6
Day 4 isn't shown because I didn't know ahead of time what we would do that day (since we stayed 2 nights at Cinque Torri) - that was the day we went up to Nuvolau and around Averau and through Cinque Torri.

Days 7-9

 

[Parma]

@Parma, yes it's really important to consider the difficulty for the rest of your group. Uphills are hard for me, and there's a lot of elevation gain (see below*), so each day was long and tiring for me. But I've gotten used to long, tiring days and therefore don't get upset about them, plus my husband is much stronger than I am and helps me. Because of the backpacking we've been doing, as well as the Haute Route a few summers back, I know how to eat (small amounts throughout the day) and use energy chews (we love the Honey Stingers lime with caffeine - super helpful!) to give me a boost when needed. Eye candy is highly motivating for me, and there is tons of eye candy on this trip, so I enjoyed it tremendously. But if the others in your group aren't ready for a strenuous trip, no one will have a good time.

There are definitely ways to enjoy the Dolomites that are less strenuous. Instead of doing all of the AV1, you can do just the northern part or southern part, or just do the middle with more of a base camp approach. In some places there are chair lifts people can use to get to the top for a great view. There are a lot of roads in the region, so in some parts (not all) people could get a taxi rather than hike. In addition to the AV1, there are other regions of the Dolomites that can be enjoyed. We happen to know other people who were there last summer who worked with a different travel company and had a totally different itinerary in the Bolzano/Ortisei area. They loved their trip, and it wasn't hut-to-hut the way ours was.

If you decide to do the AV1, it might be worth considering a 2024 trip (rather than this summer) so you can get preferred rifugios on a route that doesn't have really long distances to get from one hut to the next. Or if you decide to work with a company who plans and books for you, they can advise about ways to make things easier if necessary.

Have you hiked with the other couples and have a good sense of their fitness level, prior experience, willingness to train ahead of time, and attitude when the going gets tough?

*Prior to our trip, I plotted our expected routes and saved these elevation profiles. Our routes didn't always match these exactly, and staying at different rifugios would of course make your profiles different, but it can give you a sense of things.

Day 1 (two options) and Day 2
View attachment 119231

Day 3 (steep downhill was from tunnel line) and Days 5 and 6
Day 4 isn't shown because I didn't know ahead of time what we would do that day (since we stayed 2 nights at Cinque Torri) - that was the day we went up to Nuvolau and around Averau and through Cinque Torri.
View attachment 119230

Days 7-9
View attachment 119229

Thanks. And I'm looking farther ahead...to summer 2026

 

[Janice]

Thanks. And I'm looking farther ahead...to summer 2026

Got it - and as you consider this further, don't hesitate to get in touch!

 

[mike_offerman]

Here is our itinerary with guestimate on hiking times, distance and elevation game, starting out the middle of Sept, so many of the rifugios were closed on the Southern end.

Day 1 Thursday Sept 21st
4.25 hr, 5.6m, 3100'
Sennes

Day 2 Friday Sept 22nd
3.75 hr, 6.3m, 2000'
Lavarella

Day 3 Saturday Sept 23rd
5.5 hr, 8.1m, 3800'
Lagazuoi

Day 4 Sunday Sept 24th
5.5 hr, 7.4m, 2600'
Averau

Day 5 Monday Sept 25th
6.5 hr, 10.3m, 2200'
Staulanze

Day 6 Tuesday Sept 26th
7.5 hr, 12.0m, 2900'
Capanna Trieste

Day 7 Wednesday Sept 27th
5.5 hr, 6.9m, 3300'
Duran

Day 8 Thursday Sept 29th
? hr, 11m, 2100'
hike to Forno di Zoldo or to La Pissa bus stop if feeling frisky

 

[Janice]

Great to see your itinerary - hope you'll have a great trip! Fingers crossed for clear skies on Sept. 23 and/or 24 so you can enjoy the amazing views from Lagazuoi. But if not, maybe it will be clear when you're at Averau and you can head up to Nuvolau (it's not far). If you have extra time near Averau, you might enjoy walking amidst the Cinque Torri and/or exploring the WW1 stuff near there. If you end up in Forno di Zoldo and want to treat yourself to a celebratory dinner, we loved La Tana d'Lors!