August 26, 2022 - Rif. Rosetta - Rif. Treviso

Early light in the high alpine greeted us outside Rifugio Rosetta, but we had a fairly lengthy day that started with a plunge below Croda Di Roda.

After dropping down for a long stretch, the trail climbs up and traverses to a loose climb up and over Passo di Ball. Views of Cima di Ball dominate for much of this traverse and the climb. 

Nicole lounging below Cima di Ball

In a shady little north pocket below the climb a protected bit of old glacier still hands on. I scrambled over and stepped up on a few imbedded rocks and peered into the bubbles. The glacier seemed to move, and then, the rocks above actually did. I took the hint and scampered back to the trail.

Nicole below the vesteges of a glacier Ball (?)

Via Fretta to get to the Pass-o

Nicole just about topping out on the pass

At around lunchtime we pulled up to a little plateau where Rifugio Pradidali sits. The views from the rifugio were quite stunning, as well as the apple struedel. We ate our packed lunches (key time and cost saver!) and then pushed on. The exposed and sunny stretch coming up would get a little warm, but we were thinking of the many thousands of feet we'd need to drop to get to our next stop: Rigufio Treviso.

Nicole naer the Passo delle Lede

The clouds closed in a little while we topped out on our last climb of the day - Passo delle Lede. Though the possible rain in the forecast mostly held off - we only heard thunderclaps and got drizzled on. Similar to other days of the trip a downpour would open up the skies, but only once we were safely in the rifugio eating food :)

Starting to drop down Vallon Delle Lede

We got some Italian pronuciation lessons from a cool family as they were coming down some via ferreta sections as we were climbing up. We thought we understood that they caught their kids packing tons of candy in on their trip so they made them leave it at the upcoming (for us) bivouac. Unfortunately we found the bivouac mostly empty, save for some emergency rations, which we of course left. We'd need to wait for the next rifugio for more desserts...

Bivouac C. Minazio

The long long descent down Vallon Delle Lede was... well... long. And the drizzle didn't help some of the slippy and exposed sections. But thankfully we got down without much incident, other than being tired. We did note, however, that the rifugio was a few hundred feet up the other side of the valley... so we had one last "small" climb up at the end of the day.

Rifugio Treviso

After we got settled in, watched some climbers ascend a nearby via fretta just above the rifugio, the weather finally decided to roll in for real. Sheets of rain hammered the outdoor deck and everyone ducked inside to get ready for dinner and the next day. There were some clearings between periods of rain, and the lightshow was quite nice! We came down the main valley in the center of the photo below:

Evening light from rifugio Treviso

 

August 25, 2022 - Rif. Mulaz - Rif. Rosetta

Beautiful views continued in the morning

The climb out of Riffugio Mulaz started with a loose scree field assisted by logs driven, mostly securely, into the hillside with rebar, and ocassionally cables from secure outcropings above. Despite the sketchniess of this appearance, this initial climb went smoothly. A long high traverse led us up to the bottom of the climb up to Passo delle Farangole - including one of the more airy via ferrata sections on the route.

Looking back down to Passo Mulaz from below Passo delle Farangole

Nicole above the most exposed part - a few moves of actual climbing thrown in there (if you skip the ladder rungs)

Nicole topping out the via ferrata below the proper Passo delle Farangole

After topping out on the pass, the descent is technically more straightforward, but plenty loose. A few cable sections takes you down a narrow rock chute (fill in with snow and bring your skis!?) before the terrain opens up. The slope doesn't immediately ease, however, and the steep loose trail keeps boming down the hillside, eventually leveling out in grassy terraces high above the Valle di Garé.

Nicole looking down the descent

Off the cables, onto the scree!

Clouds rolled in a bit, but stayed up high all day.

Nicole down below giving some scale to the grand scenery

The trail on the vegetated terrace cut a high and sometimes exposed path far above the bottom of the valley. The guidebook mentioned climbing all the way down to the river, which seemed like thousands of feet below us. Which it was. Thankfully, however, as we kept hiking, dry waterfall steps stair-stepped the valley up to us much more than we dropped to it. After a few smaller via ferrata sections as steep gullys passed through the trail, we dropped down to the river and could see the last remaining climb to the (as of yet not see) Rifugio Rosetta. It was getting hot at this point, and we were quite ready to sit outside and relax, so the last climb seemed to take forever.

Nicole traversing above the Valle di Garés

Nicole traversing above the Valle di Garés

We eventually did pull up on to the moonscape around Rifugio Rosetta, and as was typical for most days in the second half of our trip, the skies decided to open up and rain and thunder about an hour after we had arrived. I think they spaced these rifugios out just right!

The rifugio! And a lift down to town (which we didn't take)