This year we decided to try something different for our vacation. A few past years we spent at least one week of our vacation time being on the seaside. Although it is always nice to be by the sea and go and cool down in the water when it gets too hot, we felt that we can only use the small part of the day and most of the time, when it is too hot to breathe, we just lay down and try to survive. If you’re not under AC, it gets unbearable. So, we needed something literally cooler.

As passionate mountain lovers, the choice was self-imposing. Summer mountain tourism is on the rise and for the first try we opted for a really popular and relatively close destination – central Dolomites in Italy. We only heard stories of this legendary place where every view is breathtaking. We were hiking for six days in a row and because the video material is vast, and the experiences also, I decided to cut down this article in two parts: first three days and then second three days. Let’s begin with the first part named „Whistling wildly with the marmots“.

Day one: Cinque Torri wandering

During all seven days (one being lost on traveling – five and a half hour drive from Zagreb) we were stationed in Badia, in an apartment. About our stay there, maybe few words sometime later but everything will be alright if you reserve your place on time – remember, Dolomites are a really Instagram-able place, as they call it these days. So, the plan was to use our car and make daily trips to the locations of interest.

When you first come to Dolomites, you are lost in the beauty. Wherever you look, there are this huge rocks and you don’t know their names but you want to visit all of them! Thanks to my partner, Ana, we were well prepared – I have never seen someone so into planning the routes and being prepared like Ana. She even bought a book which helped us greatly in our adventures („Day walks in the Dolomites – 50 short walks and all-day hikes in the Italian Dolomites“ by Gillian Price). If you’re planning a randezvous with the Dolomites for the first time, I would gladly recommend this valuable pocket-sized book!

It is funny because almost immediately we saw all the „main“ mountains in the area but we didn’t, at least I didn’t, know their names. They all were impressive looking and from the start I got this feeling of being overloaded with awesomeness.

„Oh, how will I write about all of these when I don’t know the names of the mountains, valleys, peaks…?!?“

„Don’t worry! If you have time, the understanding will come! Oh, also please try to wake up early and come early to the parking from where you plan to start the route because later, the quantity of cars and people will remind you of Zagreb.“

Oh, okay, thanks brain! What we didn’t know but found out the first day, from Badia to Falzarego (eng. the false king) pass, there are some road works so we had to deal with and wait for some traffic lights. What can I say? I just cannot get rid of the convoys and waiting.

With our car well parked, because we are early and motivated birds, we start our journey on foot. Bai de Dones (1889m) chairlift is already taking people up to the Rifugio (the Italian word for mountaineering huts of all kinds – get ready to see this word a looooooot of times) Scoiattoli (2255m). We are going into the forest with a mild ascend at the beginning. The route leads you around and in the end you would reach the same destination as the chairlifters. Oh, yeah, maybe you’ll sense somekind of animosity towards people who use chairlifts and you’re not wrong – we smirked and looked down onto them all the time! Only one chairlift is okay if you ask me but about that „fearbreaker“ a little later. The amazing views impose themselves and you start getting to know Lagazuoi, Tofana di Rozes and Cinque Torri emerge as werewolf teeth from the grassy land. If you wanted, you could have just stopped here and it would be already great! We continue on.

We are making this route a little longer and grab a chance to continue up to the Rifugio Averau (2416m) which is located near the Averau rock/peak which also has a ferrata way to the top which we skipped this time. I made a promise to return and climb this one. The Rifugio itself looks pretty commercialized but we see some vegan burgers on the menu and just nod in approval.

Nevertheless, we continue to the Rifugio Nuvolau (2575m) (nuvola meaning cloud in italian). The views just get more and more breathtaking and I start to feel a little dizzy. It is time for some refreshing beer! Rifugio Nuvolau is on a better position and looks more like a traditional hut so we enjoy the views a little bit. We were lucky to be able to grab our Dolomites passport pass immediately on the first day of our stay in Dolomites!

Next up is descend towards Rifugio Scoiattoli and in that moment we decide it is time for lunch. Of course, at Rifugio Scoiattoli, there are just too many people for our taste, all these chairlifters and cheaters, so we continue down to the Rifugio Cinque Torri (2361m), again, in search for something more like a traditional mountaineering hut. We are such conservatives, right?!?

Since recently I became a huge Hideo Kojima and his videogame Death Stranding fan, I would like to take a little bit of your time and talk about something I saw in Dolomites which immediately caught my full attention and sparked great interest. This beer and food transport system is just brilliant! When you can take people with a (chair)lift (and ruin their whole walking and waking up their body experience), why wouldn’t you carry food and beer up the mountain with it?!? I was absolutely amazed every time we ran across such installations. On these photos you can see a beer transport system running from Rifugio Cinque Torri all the way up to the Rifugio Nuvolau. I cannot stop looking at it! The operation is glorious!

After a really nice meal, we are returning back up to finally visit the famous Cinque Torri, the wild pack of rocks, longing to touch the blue sky. We visit some of the trenches there – soon, you will understand that all of the area was a battlefront in WW1 and there are many leftovers from it, as is a rich playground for historians and other humanists who are interested in all aspects of human history, not just pretty and pink ones. We got lost in this jungle of rocks and official maps on the way didn’t help us – who got the idea that it would be just great to not include the YOU ARE HERE point on all of the maps?!? We got out with the help of our smartphone apps (OsmAnd and Gaia – thank you Ivana!) and a little bit of our own navigation. Some more of the trenches, then concrete road a little bit, some more forest stroll and you are back at the Bai de Dones parking. In one moment you start in sweat and in a second, your first day in Dolomites is over.

Route breakdown:

Bai de Dones -> Pian de Menis (forest clearing) -> junction near Rifugio Scoiattoli -> Rifugio Averau -> Rifugio and peak Nuvolau -> Rifugio Scoiattoli -> Rifugio Cinque Torri -> Cinque Torri -> circular return to Bai de Dones

Cca 15 kilometres, around 7 hours of total time breathing the fresh mountain air.

Day two: Kaiserjäger Steig und Lagazuoi tunnels run

Many times when you open your eyes in the morning, you have no clue what awaits for you today in the store of life. I also didn’t have a clue what I’m gonna see on our second day in Dolomites. Our plan was to go on the Kaiserjäger ferrata and then through the WW1 Lagazuoi tunnels down.

It is nice to ascend and see how you’re slowly but surely getting higher and higher. The views are once again rewarding, of course, considering those are the same views from before only from another mountain. Lagazuoi was the first thing we saw when we started climbing on our first day so it was nice to see the other perspecitve. Gaining altitude through the stony terrain, we rose first above Sass de Stria (2477m) only to be amazed at the views of queen Marmolada (3343m).

After something over hour of hiking, you get to the ferrata part of the route. We put our helmets and gloves on and started crossing a fascinating, and for some scary, bridge. Ferratas are something that could be discussed in length but most of the ferratas I faced were more scary in pictures and in words than in reality. Of course, you should be prepared and if something is chained in ice and snow, I would think about it, but these „dry“ ferratas on popular routes usually get higher praise than they deserve. We had some fun on Kaiserjäger ferrata, so you shouldnt be scared.

At some moment, closing in to the Lagazuoi Piccolo (2778m), there is a bench with a magnificient view of Marmolada. Then, in the moment of silence, while sitting beside one another, there was some movement in the rocks on the right and below. A big, fat and marvelous wild marmot appeared and honored us with his presence. I don’t like superstitions in general but I like signs in form of animals. This sight really made me happy and I decided it is a blessing. The creature thrives amongst the rocks. Amazing!

After coming to the Lagazuoi Piccolo, we sit again to enjoy some views but soon leave towards the Rifugio Lagazuoi (2752m), in search for food. We firstly, by mistake, come down to the gondola and there is a crowd. We came to the wrong place but I manage to take some cool photos of WW1 equipment and weapons.

Nevertheless, we are just in time to have a nice seat at one of the tables at Rifugio Lagazuoi and we order bean soup, grilled cheese, polenta (cornmeal) and some italian freedom fries. We also ordered two IPA-s and I was amazed that when I came for a second beer, the woman at the bar didn’t know what I’m talking about when I uttered the whole, holy words: Indian Pale Ale. They call it just IPA, spelled like in primary school spelling competition. Sheesh, but still better than gondola people!

The food was great but when we saw Asian girl who made pictures of french fries in front and Marmolada in the back, we knew it is time to leave this place. Instagram is a horror and probably the cause of all this crowds. But this is relatively good, Tre Cime are for example one of the Instagram places which attract all kinds of idiots just to take a picture, not really knowing anything about hiking, doing it all just for the Internet fame. Am I just old?!? Nope, those are idiots. Mountains always used to be holy places and we should honour this, not transform it into idiotic shallowness of modernity.

It is time to pass some trenches and enter the famous Lagazuoi tunnels! The pathway goes right close and down near the gondola. Tunnels are well known amongst hikers and other höch-tourists because it is one of the unique „hiking“ trails, preserved like nowhere else in the world, where you need to use a lamp, a helmet and gloves. Do I need to state the obvious? Yes, of course the Höchtouristen come here equipped only with their mobile phones.

We enter the hole in the ground and suddenly there is no strong sunlight, there is only dark. Stairs are slippery in some places so you need to watch your every step. As is written in the book of miss Gillian Price, we pass down the storage depots, cramped sleeping quarters and eerie side tunnels. There are windows that give amazing views on the outside. Until you remember that in WW1 somebody could shoot you through those windows or, even worse, throw a grenade or something bigger in it.

I think we were good 45 minutes down there, counting stairs was impossible – there were just too many. The horror those men endured here, it is just insane, never knowing when the mountain could just crumble down onto your head. It was a war within a war. A special kind of war, one for which you had to have a special kind of stomach and nerves.

When we finally reached daylight, we just needed to climb down a little bit and then a short walk and we were at the beginning of our route and close to the car. Wow, those tunnels are really something. I will surely remember this hike and strongly recommend to anyone who has a desire for something different.

Route breakdown:

Passo Falzarego -> Kaiserjäger Steig -> Lagazuoi Piccolo -> Rifugio Lagazuoi -> Lagazuoi tunnels (galeria) -> circular return to Passo Falzarego

Cca 10 kilometres, around 6 hours of total time watching Marmolada and whistling wildly with the marmots.

Day three: I swear mr. Messner, we didn’t use oxygen for this one!

The third day of our stay in Dolomites was special for two things: 1) the meteorological situation was rain and thunder and 2) we had reinforcements! My colleague and a good friend from previous job, and also current job, Marina and her husband Tompa came to Dolomites to enrich our hiking adventures! This was planned as a day of rest and preparation for the next big thing (suspense, yes I know, suffer a little bit!). We decided to take Marina and Tompa to Krönplatz, to visit the museum of the alpinist legend Reinhold Messner.

If you would have told me a couple, close to ten years, back that I would visit one of the legendary Messner museums, I would have told you: REALLY?!? At the time, I was obsessed with the man. Seriously, if there is a great alpinist, a little bit self-important (but who wouldn’t be when you are the greatest?!?), and the philosopher of Alp style hiking, there is only one name that jumps right up, on a neon light jumbo screen – Reinhold Messner!

And yet, after this great introduction to what will happen next, I must tell you I have failed and I was forced to enter the chairlift. Krönplatz 2000 (sounds like a broom from Harry Potter) took us up for 35 euros, price of the return ticket. Because of the rain threat, we decided it is not wise to risk it and climb up for 4 hours. Next time I will do it, just to redeem myself, I promise!

The gondola was interesting but we thought it would be more modern. The glass on the windows was kinda dirty and/or damaged. The ride itself was fun and afterwards we did a little circle around Krönplatz, nothing special to see there except some views and some kind of wooden egg course. Let it be known that Ana didn’t buy me a wooden egg so I couldn’t play with it.

Next up and finally, we approach the Messner museum. Already while entering, we see a lot of hiking merch and even books (but, fortunately or unfortunately, they were all in German and Italian) and we started kinda fangirling. Anyway, and I’m not sorry for this, now we will dwell a little bit in the theoretical part of mountaineering. I needed time to read all the writings on the walls, to look at all of the equipment, all the little things.

There is a lot of philosophy and spirituality in this museum. There are also artworks representing mountains and everything related to them – paintings, statues and models, equipment used by alpine climbing legends, books written about mountains and human spirit which climbs into the higher spheres of existence. I felt at home. Something was silently screaming in my head that I belong here. I get this feeling sometimes when reading authors like Aldo Leopold.

Let’s be clear on one thing: Reinhold Messner is a sportsman. He certainly has something that we gamers would call „conqueror“ type of personality. He was and is in constant battle with others and himself. He needs to beat heavy, almost beyond human power obstacles to find himself and be happy with the person he finds in this way. When people are younger, then it is all about beating others, they sometimes calmly say that it is only important to be better than yesterday’s yourself but deep inside we know that those are words uttered by someone older, a little wiser. Nothing wrong with being young and powerful and wanting to know how you fit in the bigger picture and the bigger picture is always other people, other, similar situations and in the end – results.

Reinhold Messner also insisted on minimal help by gadgets, technology and/or performance enhancing drugs. The Alp style hiking is really a crude thing although some of the technical „toys“ have evolved with time. When you strip it down to what it really is, it is man against the mountain. When you enter the Messner museum, at the door you see an oxygen bottle on which it is written: NOT USED BY REINHOLD MESSNER (Everest 1953.). Maybe that is all you need to know about the guy.

Personally, and it is always in the end about us, about the brain (or is it?) that makes all these thoughts and assumptions, I know that I will never be anything close to Messner or any of the alpine hiking greats and I think I really don’t want to risk my life so badly. Maybe because I love life too much or just don’t trust my fat body and abilities? However, I can understand the sentiment behind those words, yearnings and extreme attitudes of never using any help, making it almost impossible to do it. That is why we have hardcore modes in videogames. Also, I like solitude and with time, more and more, I feel that people with their little, everyday problems and foolishness pollute the clean thought process, always blurring the real thing, the truth that lies behind the veil. If veil is everywhere, I feel that in the mountains, in the solitude, maybe even in the whistle of a marmot, is thinner than anywhere else. Zaratustra must have felt those things also. But then he ran back to the people because he wanted to share his knowledge with others. Little did he know, or he was just plain naive, the valley-dwellers are not yet ready for that kind of knowledge.

Thanks to the mountain gods, we bought two beanie hats, one black and one green, because I was all dreamy and full of thoughts while we were approaching the end of the exhibition. Messner once again played with my head and it was great!

After getting my head out of the clouds, it was time to return to regular Höchtouristen activities like eating and looking out of the window, of a fancy restaurant or coffee place. Actually, we took cover from the rain and ended up in a restaurant that is a part of the Lumen Museum. The cakes were okay, some more adept eaters told me that it was better looking than tasting but it is all just sugar to me.

Carrot juice was really good though! This was intended to be our day of rest but something was itching me: „But there was not so much rain! Why couldn’t we also go somewhere else?“ This was start of a nightmare for Ana and she was already, the day before, in the evening while in bed, checking anxiously for places we could go to avoid rainy clouds. I will tell you, it is not good to break Ana’s well thought out plans.

But anyway, we were driving towards Lago di Braies, one of the amazing lakes you can see in the Dolomite region. The rain clouds were gathering seriously and we waited a little bit for the satellite to show us that situation is good enough to make a circle around the lake.

It was a 6 kilometres walk around the lake and somewhere around 60%, the rain started to pour and we needed to put on our raincoats – yellow Mickey Mouse raincoat always invokes some good laughs. I think my father gave me this raincoat, long time ago, when we were hiking in Paklenica and it was also a rainy day like this one. We ran towards the car, got in and drove back to Badia. The third day was over and tomorrow we are taking the big bite. Stay tuned!

Route breakdown:

Krönplatz 2000 -> Reinhold Messner Museum and around -> Lago di Braies around the lake

Cca 7.5 kilometres, around 2.5 hours of total time breathing the fresh mountain air and swallowing a little bit of Dolomites rain.

To be continued…