Dolomites 2018 #6 - Monte Piana, Lago di Braies, Lago di Misurina

The streak of high pressure, sunshine days finally came to an end. We were spending our last 3 mountain nights of the trip in Misurina, so we were just hoping for at least one day with clear skies at Tre Cime.

With rain in the forecast for Friday afternoon we decided to hike up to Monte Piana instead doing a ferrata route that would leave us more exposed to the elements. This ended up being a very cool hike - the top of the mountain was a key front during WW1 and is essentially an open-air war museum. We explored for a while and then made our way down as thunder and lightning got a little too close for comfort.

Rain was in the forecast again on Saturday, and we realized that Lago di Braies was very close to Misurina, so we decided to finally take an easy day and go there for the morning. Another stunning lake with a color that is hard to describe.

Lago di Misurina was a good base for the end of the trip. After our "easy" recovery days, we were re-charged for two more days in the mountains.

Dolomites 2018 #5 - Lago di Sorapiss

This is one of the best loops in the Dolomites. We figured the lake would be cool, but we underestimated that the ENTIRE hike has amazing views.

We started from Passo Tre Croce and walked on a nice trail out to the rifugio and lake. The color was just unreal. After taking it in for a while, we took a less popular trail heading north into a big cirque between the mountains. The views were stunning - down to Misurina and Tre Cime, over to the Cristallo group... we did a lot of stopping, sitting, and staring. And once we left the lake, we didn't really see many people the rest of the day. We did see a couple Ibex, up close and scaling cliffs.

I would repeat this day if I ever got the chance to. It was that good!

Dolomites 2018 #4 - Col Rosa and Cortina

Getting from Passo Giau to Cortina required no gas... the car just basically rolled down the road. We were treated to an absolute bluebird day, so we opted to climb the Ettore Bovero via ferrata to Col Rosa, a small (but isolated) peak that had 360 views to the Cortina valley and surrounding mountain ranges. This was a fun 3B route that basically went straight up the left side of the ridge in the first photo below. The descent was an absolute beatout, dropping over 2500 feet in less than 2 miles.

After finishing we dropped our stuff at Hotel Regina then rented bikes for a couple hours and rode out and back on the old railroad which has been converted into a beautiful rail trail. We capped off the day with dinner outside on the main square in Cortina, and fully realized how lucky we were to be doing what we were doing!

Home for the next two nights...

With decent balcony views...

Renting bikes once again proved to be the best 10 euros we could spend.

Dolomites 2018 #3 - Croda da Lago and Passo Giau

We left Alleghe in the morning and headed to nearby Passo Giau, where we were spending the night at the hotel at the top of the pass. With good weather in the forecast (again), we decided to hike the Croda da Lago loop that we wanted to do in 2016 but got rained out. Our hiking book ( Shorter Walks in the Dolomites ) suggested a loop that we followed and it was really great. The part after the lake was definitely the best part of the loop.

That book I linked above has proven to be useful. The "shorter" walks are mostly in the half day to full day range, and a lot of them are loops, so we've used it extensively in our two trips to the Dolomites.

The other necessary guidebooks if you are into via ferrata are:

Via Ferrata of the Italian Dolomites: Volume 1 - Volume 2

Back to Croda da Lago...

After finishing the hike we went back up to our hotel and enjoyed dinner and a beautiful evening at the top of the pass.

Not that I ever want to be inside, but our bedroom view was pretty good.