Ferda and I coasted down from Passo Sella to Ortisei. We parked our bikes and didn’t touch them for about 10 days. The main goal was to spend time with my parents and my brother and his family for our first visit since covid started. Elise (or was it Kevin?) found a comfortable house to rent in Ortisei. We had a wonderful holiday in Val Gardena. Here I’ll just show some photos of our four via ferrata days (Piccolo Cir, Oskar Schuster, Tridentina al Pisciadù, Sass Rigais).
Having done a couple via ferrata in Slovenia and a couple more in the Dolomites on the way to Ortisei, Ferda and I were clearly the experts (!). For starters we decided to take Kevin, Elise, Jasper, and Zoë up Piccolo Cir. I had read in multiple places that accommodation in Ortisei comes with cards to use the public transportation in Val Gardena. Be warned of two things: renting a house may not include those cards (ours didn’t) and you cannot start your mountain excursion early if you wait for the first bus of the morning. For Piccolo Cir we took a taxi to Passo Gardena, more because we were eight people without bus cards than because we needed an early start.
It was a short walk to Rifugio Jimmy:
Another short walk, and we were at the start of the route. I showed Zoë and Jasper how to use the via ferrata equipment, and they were off and running.
Ferda must have given Elise and Kevin a short training as well.
However, I couldn’t stick around — I had to keep up with the kids. I wanted to make sure they were following the (short and simple) instructions that I gave them.
It was a one person summit so I ended up with a bunch of individual photos (here if you’re interested) rather than a group shot.
What a fun via ferrata for four first-timers.
When Ferda and I crossed Passo Sella on our bikes, we saw the funny looking gondola Furcela de Saslonch that takes you into the Sassolungo Group.
Kevin and I took the bus to Passo Sella and then used that gondola thing to access Oskar Schuster, the longest via ferrata of the week. We started by walking downhill to Rifugio Vicenza.
From there we walked up to the ferrata start and then up to Sassopiato Peak which at 2969m is not the highest peak in the Sassolungo Group. It’s the peak on the right in this photo.
We walked all the way across Alpi di Siusi that afternoon with a short rest at Rifugio Zallinger.
The kids were excited to try another via ferrata so we decided on Tridentina al Pisciadù which may be the most popular via ferrata in the Dolomites. We took a taxi to the start to try and beat the worst of the crowds. I don’t know if we succeeded (with the crowds), but we had a fun day.
The ferrata is broken into four sections, giving nice opportunities to rest, let people pass/pass other people, and even get off the route if necessary.
It gets harder as you go higher.
Jasper started to drag through this section (the third).
We gave him the option, even encouraged him, to skip the last section and take the trail up to the hut. He sat down, ate a little, got his head together, and said he wanted to finish the route. He’s super self-aware and ended up doing a good job.
At the top I was surprised how quickly the five of us finished all the sandwiches we brought. We also ate peanuts, raisins, cookies, and chocolate before sitting down at the Rifugio Cavazza al Pisciadù for beers and more food. Jasper and Zoë devoured the bowl of spaghetti they shared.
I guess we probably all could have eaten a bit more, but dang, it was cold! The route down was an unexpectedly steep adventure.
The final via ferrata before Kevin, Elise, and the kids had to start their trip back to Alaska was Sass Regais. Kevin, Elise, Jasper, Zoë, and Ferda spent the night before at Rifugio Jauc. I took the Col Raiser gondola up in the morning and met Kevin and Ferda at Refugio Firenze.
It was about an hour walk to the start of the route.
Many via ferrata are (almost) always done in one direction. Sass Regais, however, is commonly done in either direction. We chose clockwise mainly because that’s the way the two guys in front of us went. It seemed on this day that about half the people on the route went counter clockwise.
We didn’t spend much time on the summit (3025m) because a storm was moving in.
Seems like most of the rain fell during the steepest part of the descent.
It didn’t last though. The sun came out for the rest of the afternoon.
We rested for a bit to eat here:
and then for beers back at Refugio Firenze.
Thank you for a fantastic 10 days in Ortisei.
Just beautiful! Derek and Jennie
Look, it’s me!