Ortisei ("Sankt Ulrich" in German) is a charming town, a bit larger than either San Candido or San Cassiano. We are now in the Val Gardena on the western edge of the Dolomites, only about a 40 minute drive from Bolzano where we started a few weeks ago. You can definitely see the Austrian influence in the architecture here.
To get familiar with our surroundings, we decided to walk the length of the valley. The Luis Trenker path is a six-mile pedestrian-only walking path that connects Ortisei with the towns of Santa Cristina and Selva. Luis Trenker was a famous director/actor, mountaineer/skier, and author in the 1930s-50s who was born here in Ortisei.
The route took us past the Castel Gardena, built in the early 1600s. Over the centuries the castle was used as a hunting lodge and residence for the noble family of Wolkenstein, until in the 1860s Count Leopold von Wolkenstein donated it to the community for use as a poorhouse. It fell into disrepair and eventually was bought by a Baron in the 1920s and restored as a private residence. We enjoyed the walk and especially liked the small community of Selva, where we were able to catch the bus back to Ortisei.
On Monday, we booked a farm excursion through the Ortisei tourist office. Our guide Simon led a small group on foot up the hillside to the Chalet Tiscion alpine farm. There we met Barbara and Elmar - they have a family farm with cows, goats, sheep, rabbits, guinea pigs, turkeys, chickens, and various other birds. Currently Elmar is in the middle of bringing in the autumn hay from all their surrounding fields. It is hard and dangerous work, much of it needs to be done by hand because the hillside meadows are very steep. Barbara noted that the alpine hay has medicinal properties -- it can help ease arthritis and sore muscles if you lay on a bed of hay. Who knew?
Elmar brought out Sarah (their most patient goat) so that guests could take a turn milking her. Or I should say we took turns trying to milk her. Turns out milking a goat is a tricky skill to master -- no one in the tour group was able to do it successfully.
My favorite part of the morning was when Barbara handed me one of the three-day-old baby bunnies to hold. The little guy hadn't even opened his eyes yet, and he was very soft! It was a very cool experience to see a working farm and learn about daily life here in the mountains.
While we are here in Ortisei we decided to splurge a bit and buy a six-day unlimited lift pass. Several of the hikes we most want to do can be accessed by lifts and we know we have a good weather window for at least the next week or so. One of the most popular hiking areas is the Alpe di Siusi just south of town, accessible by the Mont Seuc cable car. The Alpe di Siusi is the largest alpine meadow in Europe - 56 square kilometers of pastureland at almost 6000 feet elevation. But...watch out for snakes.
Since our apartment was actually just around the corner from the Resciesa funicular we decided to head over there after our Alpe di Siusi hike. The Resciesa plateau is directly across the valley, so after the 8 minute funicular ride we could see the green meadows and mountains where we'd just come from. Resciesa is a smaller alpine meadow about a thousand feet higher than Alpe di Siusi. Unlike Siusi there was still an awful lot of snow on the ground at Resciesa. From Resciesa we also had a great view of the Sassolungo mountain group. Sassolungo ("Langkofel" in German) means "long peak" in both languages -- it's the tall rounded peak on the left in this photo. The flat sloping part on the right is called Sassopiatto or "flat peak". It's one of the most recognizable mountain groups in the Dolomites.
You never know who or what you'll meet on the trail. We saw an older man leading a donkey and then several minutes later we were passed by four or five more, walking single file, not on leads or anything -- just following their friend to the next pasture.
On Wednesday we really tried to get a good value out of our lift pass. We took the bus back over to Santa Cristina and took two lifts (Monte Pana and Mont de Seura) to get to the base of the north side of Mount Sassolungo. It was pretty darn cold in the shadow of a 10,000 foot mountain and there was plenty of snow still lingering.
We turned around when the trail got icy, took the lifts back down to the valley and then crossed on foot to the other side of the valley (which was a hike in and of itself) to take the Col Raiser cable car, followed by the Fermeda chairlift up to the Seceda ridge. THEN...from the ridge we took two more cablecars back down into town. We are definitely making the most of the lift passes - Kevin is keeping a tally of how much we've "saved" because the lifts are expensive! We had to hurry because we had booked a brewery tour and tasting at Monpiër brewery that evening. Monpiër means "one more beer" in Ladin. It's the first craft brewery in Val Gardena and we had a chance to sample some interesting brews including an American-style IPA, a British Bitter, and an off-the-wall sour. The owner said that it was a bit tricky to get the place going at first because the locals are more into traditional German-style beers like lagers, pilsners, and hefeweizens. But the brewery is starting to have some success, especially with the tourists, and we've seen their beers on taps at several of the rifugios on our hikes.
Yesterday, we headed back up the cable cars to the Seceda area to hike. The Seceda ridgeline is one of the iconic sights of the Dolomites. It's usually a lush green meadow on a slanted plateau framed by a succession of jagged peaks behind. In the guidebook the meadow is bright green and the sun is shining down on the peaks and it looks almost otherworldly. Well, our photo doesn't look much like the guidebooks, that's for sure. Somehow the big patches of snow and overcast skies kind of ruin the effect. We are crossing our fingers and hoping that the snow melts enough so that we can come back on a sunnier day and get our snapshot. For now, this is what it looks like:
We hiked down from the ridge over a slushy, slippery, muddy trail that was crowded with a couple hundred other hikers. I was very glad to have hiking poles and definitely saved myself from falling a few times. But once we got midway down the mountain, the snow started disappearing and the trail conditions improved. The crowds started to thin out, too. We stopped at the Troier hut for a slice of strudel and some coffee.
Then we got to what I considered the prettiest part of the hike. There's a very cool rock needle area called Pieralongia where two formations form an enormous V.
Then just beyond that you hike down into a bowl where you are just surrounded by peaks. For about forty minutes we only saw two other people hiking in this area so it felt very untouched and almost desolate.
But then just around another bend we found the bustling Rifugio Firenze (also known as the Regensburgerhutte -- have I mentioned that everything here has at least 2 names?) We had an excellent lunch here.
Today (Friday) we drove up the Sella Pass to the southeastern side of Sassolungo. We got to ride one of the most unique lifts in all of the Dolomites -- the Telecabina Sassolungo.
This lift is nicknamed the "coffin lift" because of the size and shape of the cabins. Inside is just enough room for two people. The Telecabina Sassolungo was built in 1972 and the technology back then was a bit more primitive than it is today. The lift moves at a constant speed, meaning that there is no slowing down for boarding or unloading. The shorter rider grabs onto the side of the swift-moving car and hops in, then the taller rider (who is standing a bit further along) has to basically chase after the cabin and launch themselves into it. The lift operator then locks you in from the outside and you begin the 1600-foot journey up the mountain. It takes about 20 minutes. Then, you both have to turn around and face the door and leap out with the assistance of the lift operator at the top. It's pretty thrilling, actually.
At the top of the lift is the Toni Demetz hut. Toni Demetz was a mountain guide who came from a family of mountain guides. In 1952 he was guiding two tourists on the mountain when they were struck by lightning. Tragically Toni and one of the tourists lost their lives. Toni's father constructed the hut in memory of his son and to provide a refuge for climbers.
On the way back down the mountain, we parked the car in Selva and took the Dantercepies lift up past the Gardena Pass. The Jimmi Hutte is just below the peaks of the Gran Cir and overlooks the valley to the Sella Massif on the other side.
We had a really good meal to go with our beautiful view. The bright pink drink that I've got in front of me is a sort of raspberry lemonade called "skiwasser". We split a very generous bruschetta appetizer that was topped with burrata, ham, figs, and arugula.
Behind the hut we could see the Gran Cir which is a popular Via Ferrata route. Via Ferrata translates to "iron path" and is a set route up a mountain that uses fixed steel cables and ladders to assist hikers and climbers. The climbers are still clipped in with a harness but they don't have to fix their own ropes and anchors. You can't see them in this shot but we did see a few guided groups heading up these peaks while we were hiking past. I enjoy watching them defy gravity but to be honest I prefer to keep my own feet on solid ground!
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