The third day of my hike in the Dolomites had me being driven from the Sasso Lungo area to a cable car (funivia) leading to Sass Pordoi. It is a nice way to ease into a hiking day to start with a short drive as, unbeknownst to me, this day was not going to be an easy one! But the whole day was full of experiences and views I would not trade as we made our way from Sass Pordoi (9,343 ft – 2,848m) to the Rifugio (Hütte) Kostner (8,366 ft – 2,550 m) at the Sella Group (east of the Langkofel, north of the Marmolada). Hiking and -then- chilling in the Dolomites is for me!
The grandeur of the Dolomites
The views from the cable car exit point at Sass Pordio were fantastic. It was 41F (5C) when we got up there around 9:40AM but, with those views, who cares!
The back trail to Rifugio Kostner
We walked a short distance and we got to a small rifugio (Forcella Pordoi). It was too early in the day’s hike for a stop so I knew we would continue along the nice trail ahead. Looking to the right, flanked by two large stone massifs was a path down that I assumed would be a black slope in the winter if not a double diamond. And then I learned that was the path we were going to continue one.
I t was quite the sight… Ahead was a snaky path down over scree that required a lot of skill (we were reminded of the technique to handle the terrain). I can’t recall how long it took us to make it all the way down but I “mastered” the technique after like 10 mins when I decided I needed to pass those who had not quite mastered it yet as watching people take mis-steps sort of put me on edge and I was risking a solid slip-n-fall. I ended up catching up with two of my fellow hikers in the lead and we got a nice break while we waited for the rest of the gang to make it down to the lowest point we would hit, before hanging a left.
Rocks-n-Slopes ‘R Us
Right when we made the left, we hit a very rocky path along route 626. It would be on-and-off rocky / boulder-y which was a little scarier than the downhill scree as a fall would be potentially more painful / risky. I walked with good care and had a couple of almost-falls that felt painful on my left arm as I suddenly swung my hiking pole to prevent the falls. Those brusque movements contributed to a partial tear on my rotator cuff as I would learn weeks after the hike. But, no pain, beyond a fleeting moment, those couple of times or during the remaining part of the trek, thankfully…
We seemed to be hugging a large massif. At some point we ran into WWI barbed wire. This whole region was engaged in WWI skirmishes and battles on-and-off for three solid years; the highest altitude battle site of that scale. More died due to particularly bitter winters or due to avalanches… There were a few mountains that were partially blown-up for tactical reasons during those years. The next day we would stay atop one of those…
In any case, at some point, we turned a “corner” and off in the distance we could see our rifugio for the night. It seemed so close… yet, it would take another hour to reach it. So close, yet so far…
Perfect spot for chilling in the Dolomites
But what a reward for our efforts! Rifugio Kostner was my favorite of all the rifugios and that is saying a lot because I liked all. It is run by the Agreiter family and you can tell by looking at the staff that most are related. They were not the typical loud, smiley, friendly Italian but were very service-oriented and ran the place ship-shape; my kind of place! It was neat to see them take their dinner together after they cleaned up from our dinner.
It had a great outdoor deck to enjoy the views after finishing the hike, a generous piece of their apple strudel loaded with real cream, and some vino (we discovered Lagrein wine during this trip – it became one of my favorites).
Seeing that piece of strudel and the cream you may understand why after days and days of hiking I did not lose a pound of weight (thankfully, neither did I gain).
Sunset & sunrise in the Dolomites
The views were magnificent in broad daylight, sunset or sunrise as the pics below will show (though they will not do justice).
Food at Rifugio Kostner
Of course, the meal deserved its own homage through this small collage – as did the breakfast…
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Fabulous post! 😍
The Sella massif is one of Italy’s highest mountain ranges. It includes some 3,000 mountains, some with over 13,000 meters in height, making it the world’s fourth highest mountain chain after the Hindu Kush range, the Pamir and Taiwan mountain chains and finally Nepal’s Himalayas. The Sella lies within the boundaries of Lake Como and its towns such as Locarno in Switzerland or Bolzano and Trentino are all on it. The town is a major tourist destination where many hikers, climbers, alpine-bikers, ski instructors etc visit to practice their sport here. On the slopes of the Sella summit, the tourists can also enjoy hikes around Lake Como such as climbing up via di San Carlo Pass on Piz Daje in the municipality of Tasso in northern region, hiking down via Santa Teresa Pass or along the river from Riva del Garda (at about 1 hour drive from Fosdinovo, on foot) or along the Lake Como in the direction of Monte Rosa. Of course lakeside strolls or boat trips and fishing with local guides are other favorite activities of…
I love hiking and am always excited to know about what I can do on my hiking trip. Recently I added dolomite sin my bucket list and was looking for an article on the same. I came across this article, and I don’t regret spending my time reading it. Kudos to you for explaining everything in detail.
The hiking photos are awesome and they say a picture is worth a thousand words.
Looks like the perfect place to go on a hike. The scenery is also beautiful.
We added an extra two days on our musical group tour trip to Italy so that we could go through that area and see the Alps and the Dolomites. It was worth the extended stay.
In fact, our time spent up there in the mountains was much more relaxing and enjoyable than the time we spent in Rome, Florence, Pisa, and Venice.