Hey guys,
I wanted to share with you some photos of my trip in the Dolomites. For the people who don't know the Dolomites is a mountain chain in Alto Adige, an Italian province in the north-eastern part of Italy, near the Austrian border. The Dolomites are particularly known for its Vie Ferrate (don't know how to translate this in English ,but my best way to say it would be: ironed paths). These are sections of the trail which are extremely exposed and dangerous, thus steel cables were anchored onto the rocks for you to attach yourself to.
I've been wanting to go to the Dolomites for a very long time and decided to dedicate 2 weeks after graduating university to do some hiking there. I wanted to hike through the mountain chain from North to South. The route which I took was the Alta Via 2 (translates to high route 2). It's number 2 because there are many of these high routes in the Dolomites. The trail is 185 km long with a net elevation gain of 11,000 m. It would take approximately 12-14 days to complete.
Here is a picture of me after having compelted a Via Ferrata. As you can see there is a lot of exposure in some areas. The Dolomites is filled with these tall steep mountains. In my opinion it's this what makes them breath-taking. The Dolomites seem colossal giants even when the tallest peak in the Dolomites is only a little over 3000m (la Marmolada).
I was camping most of the time. I felt a little bad for doing it because it wasn't allowed but I didn't have enough money to stay at the mountain huts every night :P. The weather at night was crazy. Almost every night there was a thunderstorm and rain and wind. On the other hand, the weather was great almost every day, so I can't complain :)
Here's a picture of my tent. I made sure to leave the campground as I found it every night to minimize my foot print on the environment.
The Dolomites has a lot of history too. The Italians fought the Austrians here during World War I. There are a lot of tunnels and trails that were constructed during the war to carry troops and equipment to the various battle grounds in the mountains. Unfortunately some mountains literally got blown up during the war. As you walk around you'll find some historic areas. It's quite fascinating to think a war was fought here around 100 years ago.
This is me doing a Via Ferrata. The cables which I'm anchored to is what I meant before.
The mountain on the right is the Marmolada, the highest mountain the in the Dolomites. I had crossed the mountain over the Forcella there (that V in the middle which allows an easier crossing ). I was alone up there and had a really scary experience where I could have easily fallen and seriously hurt myself...
Unfortunately I wasn't able to complete my trip because I injured my knee. I'm thinking to go again this summer. If anybody is interested to join me I would love some company! my tent is quite big and I also have cooking supplies and an extra sleeping bag for somebody to borrow. :)
I wish you all a great day.