Reliving Dolomites Trip

We planned the Dolomites Alta Via 1 hike almost a year ago. As we prepared, trained, and learned more, our awe of the Alpine mountains grew. We had seen pictures and heard stories. Trekking 60+ miles in a week was a challenge, too.

So happy and grateful we were able to make it – truly a memory for a lifetime.

As I looked at all the pictures and started thinking about how to capture it on the blog, the experience came alive. The memories and moments flooded in, feeling even more vivid. I let them flow and emerge. Here’s how it came back to me as I relived it while writing.

The day was hot and humid, and I was drenched in sweat right at the start of the first ascent – not exactly what I was thinking or imagining for the Alps. However, the sight of the glowing Dolomites peak was enough to keep me going. It’s quite a story – the region was a tropical, shallow sea filled with coral reefs, shells, and algae. The collision of the tectonic plates forced the seafloor upward, creating the dynamic alpine peaks 30 to 100 million years ago. The resulting stone is a magnesium-rich calcium carbonate that glows white by day and turns pink or red at sunset—a phenomenon known as enrosadira or alpenglow.

We were totally exhausted after close to twelve miles of trekking, gaining about 3,000 feet of elevation and then dropping about the same. At the end, we were literally following Jay and Nilesh. Little did we know they were following Kaustubh and Vikas to a different hotel, probably three-quarters of a mile away from ours. Never laughed as hard after a long day of 12+ miles of hiking.

The extra mile turned out to be well worth it. As we turned back, Rainbow showed up on the horizon. It was also fun being a group of 30+ people. I could follow without having to think about every single detail.

We had amazing pizza at a local restaurant in San Vigilo, and sleep felt so good.

One blessing of the planned setup with Macs Adventure is that they provided the detailed hiking plan, trail maps, and hotels along the way. The guidelines and trail map connect all the way to hotels or bus stops on days when we had to take a bus to start or end the day. They transferred luggage, too. Sanjay, Bela M, Prasad, and all our leaders planned and coordinated meticulously, thinking through every detail. We were nicely tucked in the alpine beauty of the Dolomites.

We boarded a bus to Peduru to start our trek. It was about twelve miles to San Cassiano, with an elevation gain of about 2,600 feet and then a rather steep decline of 3,000+ feet.

The range of perspectives and shift in the views we saw were second to none. I gained a profound appreciation and, once more, awe for how incredibly beautiful, breathtaking, stunning, and enormous the Dolomites are. Pictures can’t do it justice, and words are wasted. Still, here it is. 🙂

As we started going up, I stopped every other minute – literally – to look around and soak in the moments through all my senses.

At one point, after a mile or so in, I looked back at the trail and the Dolomites behind me. The trail showed a white path among the mountains, and the scale and majesty of what surrounded us “grabbed” me.

We had a refreshing break and a quick bite at Refugio Fanes – our next one. The rifugios are such a neat concept- the people serving there are super friendly and helpful – they prepare fresh meals right up there in the huts.

I learned Fanes is the name of the plateau we walked for probably the next 3-4 miles. It’s an expansive space with a lake and streams. Hills line the horizon on both sides of the trail. As our trail wound through it all, the splendor and imposing, yet rejuvenating presence of the mountains yanked me totally into the moment.

While the refugios on the first two days were good, too, this one was in the heart of nature, almost like a movie scene. The food there was awesome, with a restaurant-style menu. One of their servers came over and started talking to us in Hindi. Ganesh is from Rajasthan and is working there. They prepared soup, pasta, pizza, and a range of other food items with heart. It was one of the best minerstone soups I have ever had. We saw chutney paired probably with cheese for one of their menu items – liked that connection. 🙂

The trail after that was mostly downhill, about 2,000 feet. The hotel for the day was also in San Cassiano, and when we reached, we had about seven miles of mostly downhill walking for the day.

We had the day marked for Ortisei and Seceda – more of a sightseeing excursion than hiking. We hired a bus to go to Ortisei, then took the gondola to Seceda mountain peak. It’s probably 8,000+ feet high.

The weather at the peak was cold. We were all layered up to stay warm. It was an overcast day, and clouds and fog covered all sides of the peak in the morning. It was white all around us. The peaks in the distance might get their tips above the white once in a while.

The dramatic ridgeline has jagged cliffs on one side and smoothly tapering green slopes and alpine meadows on the other. The moving clouds created quite a spectacle as we watched it. The contrast between the two sides probably stemmed from different tectonic plates when the whole area was under the ocean 200+ million years ago, and from softer rock giving way to millions of years of ice, melting water, and freeze-thaw cycles.

Thick clouds and fog behind the sharp, falling cliffs made me wonder for a second whether it was just floating.

Walkways and trails all around let you see and experience Seceda Peak from different angles. There are hiking trails there. The thought did cross my mind – what if we did more hiking there from one of the villages down there? Sounded exciting, but then my body reminded me to enjoy the break from hiking, too.

We had lunch at the rifugio in Fermeda – the ambiance there gave me picnic-type vibes. Food was good, as always with rifugios – we were getting used to it now and expecting it.

We had a few hours in Ortisei, and we went to the UNIKA Art Fair featuring local art from sculptors, painters, photographers, and woodturners. They had organized the art fair inside a tennis center. When we were inside the big open space, we saw a very different way to present art, and in some ways a different type of art, too. It was a fun change of pace.

When I checked my phone at night, I had walked 9+ miles that day. It’s wild how much walking adds up when we are outside, even if we’re not on hiking trails.

The next day’s hike would have 4,000+ feet of elevation gain. Sleep well.

Bela and I reached the top of the initial crazy steep incline. The trail curved a bit, and what opened up completely shocked and overwhelmed me. It saturated every sense. The floor was white or bright yellowish-orange, with eclectic hues; clouds above framed the view from the top, and the mountains on both sides showed an incredible range of colors. Did we hike into a different planet? We were in fantasy land, enjoying an experience and memory of a lifetime. As clouds moved, spots opened in the sky, and light fell on just one small segment of the mountains.

Thinking about it now, if someone asked me what my number one thing from the Dolomites hiking trip was, this would be it. The experience renewed my respect for Mother Nature’s abundance and majesty. I surrender my mind, body, and intellect to it all in the universe. I felt connected and healed by it all. I am part of the interconnected whole that is way beyond my life as I know it.

We took a taxi to reach Alleghe in the afternoon. There is a beautiful lake. We took group pictures in our matching Prana T-shirts. The Alleghe village is nice, too, one of many that we saw or drove by during the week. The entire Dolomites area is set up for skiing in the winter and hiking in the summer. Villages, gondolas, chairlifts, and cable cars are everywhere.