The 'Selle Runde' and more!

Back to the posts after a long time in the hills! My last post, as you will probably know, was sent from Cortina D'Ampezzo, where we stayed in Carravanamania campground. Hundreds of caravans, virtually nowhere to tent and the place was desserted, very odd. We spent a day there lazing around before packing up and taking a 'shortcut' up to Falzarego pass, via a rediculously steep 4wd track, and then a walking track that is illustrated wonderfully in the following image! Chris's 'Fantastic Short Cut', hmmmm!

So, after some time shuttling bikes, panniers etc we made it to the main road, for a remarkably gentle climb up to Falzarego Pass (2016) and another warmupachino. Then we cruised over the final bit of the pass in the evening light and were given the most amazing view down valley with all the pines turning golden. We drifted down valley, excited that all the snow seemed to have melted and found a nice spot beside a pretty lake to camp just before it got dark.

Emily cooking the most gigantic Italian pasta shells!

In the morning we continued down valley and located a supermarket to do another big load up. We seem to be terrible at buying vast quantities of food to lug, because we can't be bothered stopping at supermarkets all the time, and keep planning overnight excursions into the mountains. So with laden panniers we climbed the Passo Gardenia, part of the Gruppo di Selle which is a loop over four passes in the Dolomites. We planned to only do 3 of the passes, bacause that fitted in better with our plans.

The pass was a 600m climb, then a descent to about 1800m, then another 400m climb to Passo Selle. There were heaps of Roadies out, it seems this is a very popular cycle route (and lots of buses and motorbikes too).

Unfortunatly (and for a reason that will not be disclosed in this blog!) we ended up having to drop down 800m to the town of Canazie from the Passo Selle(2244) instead of continuing up to Passo Pordoi (2388). Then in Canazei we had to keep going down to Pozzo di Fassa, so by the time we had sorted out what we needed to sort out we had over 1000m to climb back up to where we needed to be! We got back to Canazie in time for a yummy pasta dinner, then continued up the winding road to Pordoi in the dark. The few cars that drove past must really have wondered what we were up to.

We camped in the forest, and in the morning it was raining with some thunder (brrr), so we waited in the tent till it stopped around 1 pm. After that we cruised the last 400m climb up to Passo Pordoi in time for yet another warmuppachino and a repack for another little hiking mission.

We stashed the bikes up the hill beneath a gigantic gondola, then wandered up the steep rocky slopes to the first Refugie, which was shut. Then on up to the Piz Boè (3152) there was a wee sign pointing us down to the winterroom at the next hut about 30 mins away. So we descended on a bit of easy via Ferrata, and made it to a very cozy little winterroom (a wee room with some bunks) just on dark.

In the morning we sat out in the sun and laughed at the trails of people making their way out of the gondola towards the huts "early bird catches the worm again" we laughed - it was 10 oclock in the morning! Then we hiked back up to Piz Boe refuge and cooked up a brew in the sun, and admired the spectacular view. We wandered back down to the pass beneath some wonderful towers, admiring all the Via Ferrata routes we will have to come back and do! Once we got back to Passo Pordoi we retrieved our bycycles and headed down some switch backs to another turnoff half way down the pass.

From this point we had yet another cunning plan to bike around some ski roads sidling around the hillside, the to pop over a wee pass up to a bivy we noticed on the map. The late afternoon sun looked great on the tussocky slopes, and it was wierd biking past all these huge buildings and ski tows which were deserted, but looked as if they were bristling in anticipation for the coming ski season. Getting up the pass actually consisted of us pushing our bikes up a freshly mowed ski slope, which was rather tough! Once at the pass we stashed our bikes behind some rocks again, and did another 'transition' to our tramping packs and walked for half an hour up to a cool Bivacco. It was nestled amongst some big rocks, looking directly out towards Mt Marmolada, which is one of the biggest mountains in the Dolomites with a glaciated face and a hut right on top!

The bivvy was cozy, and clearly a climbers hangout. There is a huge via ferrata starting right by the hut. In the morning we wandered up to the very top of the hill and had the most amazing view over the Dolomites, as well as an eerie drop off a cliff looking back down to the valley we had sidled around yesterday. We lazed in the delicious sun for some time before mustering the enthusiasm to head down from the 'molto bella' spot.

This cunning side excursion meant it was only a small descent down a very rocky 4wd road and we were at the top of another pass to add to our belts (-: We hit the main road at Passo Di Fedaia (2057) then wound down the valley on yet another fantastic descent to Alleghe were we bought a record number of new supplies from the supermarket, mmm. We continued down valley and once the sun set it was freezing, so a little hunting and a suitable flat spot was located beside an old 4wd road. Sleep and food... delicous, and we readied ourselves with some map planning for our next expedition starting the following day!