40 Italy 41 Feast your senses The Alta Via 1 is the classic Dolomite’s most classic trail, bringing the peaks within arm’s reach as you hike between homely refugios and visit historic war-time fortifications. Story by Andrea Oschetti GATEWAY BETWEEN WORLDS Lago di Braies, the mythical entrance to the underworld of the Fanes, and trailhead of the Alta Via 1. — September/October 2019 September/October 2019 — 42 Italy 43 THE HELICOPTER CLAMBERS INTO THE of rock. There, my childhood self is still running sections of the route per day. Most printed guides sky and reveals the quiet dance of wild peaks. barefoot in the grass and throwing snowballs on to the Alta Via call for moderation. Though the Sheer limestone walls, treasured by climbers, jut frosty winter mornings. distances appear short on paper, the terrain is heavenward. Their faces now blush the gentlest As a boy, I was a restless explorer. I have not rugged and there are a few tricky pitches. pink in late sun, stretched skyward, immovable shaken the habit entirely, but age has refined me. I aim towards Rifugio Biella, the end of the and solemn. I am elated as we rush past sights After returning to Earth, I check into Hotel Ciasa first section in most guides. The trail immediately rich with memories and associations. The Salares in the village of San Cassiano. I rush to turns uphill, some 700 metres of elevation Marmolada mountain: site of the Dolomite’s last the sauna, to be enveloped in the light aroma of gain. From Braies’ turquoise waters, I climb up glacier and the name of the street on which I grew the wood. The aromatics on the hot stones open through pine forest and soon arrive at a lunar up. Passo Giau, the location of many epic battles memory’s furthest reaches, the cold mountain landscape beyond. in cycling’s Giro d’Italia. The green fields of Alta water balances the smouldering heat, and the The Dolomites’ dramatic geology is unique: Badia, long my favourite valley in the Dolomites herbal tea has just the right notes. I am enveloped the home of dolomite rock. The rarity of the ores for adventure and gastronomy. in Nature. found in these peaks is echoed in the gastronomy In a few days I will be scurrying through in the region’s mountain huts. Quite often, such these mountainscapes on foot on the famous STAGE 1: HIGH AMBITIONS refuges are spartan places devoid of pleasure. 150-kilometre Alta Via 1. This is the original The trailhead to Alta Via 1, the High Way to the Here they are temples to good food, wine and high-level route through the Dolomites of mountains, is on Lago di Braies, a fairytale lake hospitality. I stop for tea and strudel, a typical northeastern Italy, one that spices its scenic feasts said to be the location of a gate to the underworld dessert of the Alto Adige, or South Tyrol. with historic and culinary treats. of the Fanes, legendary mountain dwellers. This I resume walking until I reach the sheer Nevertheless, the thought brings a slight alpine lake usually attracts many fair-weather descent to Rifugio Perderu, 500 metres of shudder. Even from the air, the verticality of hikers. To avoid any semblance of a crowd, I have elevation loss. A drizzle begins to fall. This change the landscape is not smoothed. Jagged teeth of chosen my dates carefully. It is September and in the weather is typical. I enjoy a plate of cold rock rear towards the helicopter, threatening to the tourists are gone. cuts – speck is another local speciality – while I swallow it whole. I have opted to climb some I take in the sunrise and shoulder my wait for the rain to pass, chasing it down with a of those teeth using via ferrata, ‘iron path’, a backpack. The skies are perfect, with not a cloud glass of wine. technique born in these mountains. to be seen. The colours of autumn have not With a stomach as full as my pack, I tackle In blissful contrast, the valleys between yet overtaken the green that still lingers in the the ascent to Rifugio Fanes, my stop for the night. PINNACLE OF SUFFERING seduce with gentle beauty. They are an invitation mountain pastures. It is a delight to be outdoors It is a six-kilometre uphill stretch. The light turns Lagazuoi, a peak steeped in history and to the idyll of a sanctuary, enclosed by harsh walls early – and also a necessity as I plan to do two and a deepening pink glow announces the day’s tragedy, seen from Passo Falzarego. end. As the stars begin to come out, I navigate at carbonate rock and glacial ice instead of clay best way is to descend through the via ferrata and towards the huts’ beckoning pricks of light in and sand. To help with troop movements on the WWI tunnels. the distance. For over a century, Rifugio Fanes crags, ladders, cables and pegs were placed – the Nature remains indifferent to the tragedies has been taking in mountaineers and I savour its inspiration for via ferrata. Military manoeuvres of human history. Conflicts, nationalities comforts modern and traditional, after a long day in the mountains were daring feats of alpinism, and frontiers mean nothing. 19th-century in the mountains. admirable but for the fact that they were aimed at philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, a hiker himself, death and destruction. railed against the conventional moralising STAGE 2: THE SCARS OF WAR As with any military mountain expedition, attitude towards Nature of the time, especially My second day on the Alta Via starts with a steep from Hannibal onwards, the armies would soon that towards mountains. descent through a conifer forest. I soon reach the learn that the environment can be more deadly In The Birth of Tragedy, he argued that uphill struggle to the high plateau of Lagazuoi, a than any artillery fire. Many perished under all meaning we find in Nature is “the offspring stony landscape beautiful in its austerity. avalanches or in the freezing cold, earning it the of a longing”, ultimately “the offspring of The Lagazuoi saw the bitter confrontation name La Guerra Bianca –The White War. fear”. We are profoundly moved at the sight between Italian and Austro-Hungarian forces Many of the tunnels and galleries built of mountains and meadows, out of a primeval during WWI. It is almost unthinkable today that during the war remain. Some require special habit, born of trepidation. Further meaning these peaceful peaks could have been a battlefield, equipment and a couple of the via ferratas are then emerges to the point we can find immense the silence cut by the crack and hiss of flying difficult. Volunteers have turned the area around pleasure in Nature. But make no mistake, bullets, and the din of men labouring madly, Lagazuoi into a museum, to bear testimony to Nature has no opinion of us. exposed to weather and enemy fire, to carve out one of the calamities of the last century when this Attached to a vertical wall, I am exposed refuges in the hard rock. beautiful place was awash in blood and fire. on three sides to the void and feel very much in WELCOME RESPITE As unlike the trenches in the war’s western At Rifugio Lagazuoi, a stunning panorama touch with that primeval fear. Via ferrata has Rifugios have guarded mountain passes theatre as it’s possible to imagine, here too there opens up over the valley of Cortina, the its physical demands but is more challenging to such as Passo Giau since the early days was only bloody stalemate. Soldiers on both sides renowned ski destination which will host the the mind than the body. Thanks to its carefully of mountaineering in the Dolomites. attempted to dig mines under enemy positions to Winter Olympics in 2026. There is a cable car placed aids, a harness and carabiners are all blow them up, only here they were chipping away from the rifugio to the Falzarego Pass, but the that’s necessary to climb routes that would be — September/October 2019 September/October 2019 — 44 Italy 45 reserved for professional climbers elsewhere. see cyclists toiling up the road below, paying their While you’re there… This is controversial among some true climbers. respects to a different legendarium. Alpinist Reinhold Messner, who hails from As its name suggests, the Alta Via always THERE ARE PLENTY OF OTHER these very valleys, holds that true alpinism is an takes you to altitude. All day I gaze at, then walk active ways to get among the Dolomites, inward movement rather than a flashy display of beneath iconic towers, under walls of majestic starting with Alta Via 2. Another epic daredevil techniques and heavy-duty equipment. dimensions. The names of the peaks ring strange, long-distance route, it features 12,500 Still, the essence of alpinism also includes even for an Italian like myself: Spiz di Mondeval, metres of climbing, broadly running going beyond what you thought you could do. I Corda da Lago, Becco di Mezzodi, and others north-south from Brixen down to close am clinging to the wall, looking for a foothold. I I fail to remember. I make excellent progress, to Feltre. soak in the view outwards: it is reserved for gods reaching the skirts of Mt Pelmo, a highlight of the Then there’s Dolomites Bike Day, and demons and yet I get to see it! Self-doubt and Alta Via. I am hungry and despite my high spirits held every June, which sees three famous fear fade away as a rush of endorphins forces me my legs are protesting a little, so I decide to ease passes – the Falzarego, Valparola and to focus.