ᑐ O L O ᗰ I ᒣ ᑕ S: Part One

For a long time, I had mixed feelings about via ferratas, mainly because of the mandatory use of equipment. The time had come to reevaluate that prejudice of mine—and what a nice surprise!

I’ve always had this calling towards certain places, but I struggled to describe why. It wasn’t just the adventure or the altitude. Finally, I found the word I was searching for: dramatic! What a queue in front of the mountain hut shower can teach you! The Dolomites are indeed quite dramatic.

Now, you can criss-cross the Dolomites from east to west, north to south, so it's good to have a plan (and book those rifugios in advance). In case you are into fairies, I recommend infairyland.com, though GPS could be more accurate. It’s best to combine both.

From the vast amount of information available online, I would highlight the handbook from via-ferrata-dolomites.com for their funny illustrations. Although everyone advises that you must always be "clipped in," I found that not to be the case at all. If you were "raised" on the mountains of the ex-Yugoslavia, where it’s common to encounter unmaintained routes and pre-war rusty cables with missing top sections, you learn to rely solely on your feet and hands. On the other hand, if you’re honest with yourself about your limits and "know thyself" (for which the mountains are the best teacher), the only rule is to pay attention and breathe (in that order). You will know when it’s time to clip in.

Oh, and in case you book half-board, please note that I haven’t burned as many calories climbing up to the mountain hut as what was served for dinner!

Look for the "ant people" (in this and similar shots).

Catching signal in front of the Alimonta Hut.

Can you spot the climbers on the vertical wall? Breathtaking!

Rifugio XII Apostoli in the distance.

The comedown from the high.