Adventure / Italy
The Dolomites on Foot
Dolomites · 8 min read
The Dolomites are the friendliest serious mountains in Europe. The peaks are vertical and dramatic, but the walking between them runs on well marked trails with a rifugio serving lunch every couple of hours.
It is alpine hiking with an Italian attitude to food, which is a good combination.
Hut to hut walking
The Alta Via 1 runs north to south over about eleven days and is the classic route. You can also walk any three or four day section and get most of the experience.
Rifugi provide a bed, dinner and breakfast. Book them from spring onwards for summer dates, bring a sleeping bag liner, and carry cash for the smaller ones.
Day walks from a base
If huts are not your thing, base in Cortina, Ortisei or San Cassiano and use cable cars to gain height. The Tre Cime circuit, the Seceda ridge and the Sassolungo loop are all achievable day walks.
Cable cars turn a serious ascent into a gentle traverse, which makes the range unusually accessible for mixed ability groups.
Via ferrata
The protected climbing routes here were built in the First World War and are now a sport of their own. With a guide, a beginner route is achievable on a first visit and is genuinely thrilling.
Never attempt one without a harness, lanyard and helmet, and check conditions. Afternoon thunderstorms are common and exposed steel is the wrong place to be.
Why it is worth the effort
You get high mountain scenery without a technical mountaineering skill set, and lunch is pasta on a terrace at two thousand metres.
Start with a three day hut section. Most people book a longer one the following year.
