Day 5 of our Dolomites trip begins at Falzarego Pass, where we take the gondola to the top of Lagazuoi, 2835m bove sea level.
The way up is impressive, almost vertical, with approx. 700m of height difference in a very short distance. Moreover, once close to the arrival, it feels like the bottom of the cabin is scratching the rock below us… Creepy isn’t it?
The view from the top of Lagazuoi is simply breathtaking, a 360° wonderland from where you can easily see for hundreds of kilometers in all directions.
It’s hard to describe in words what the eye can see from up here. I’ll let images speak for themselves. Here you see the Valparola pass on the bottom right corner, , the Sass de Stria, the Settsass, the Marmolada on the top left corner, the Piz Boè, the Pordoi Pass, the Gardena Pass. Basically most of the top locations in the Dolomites.
Again, it’s hard to describe the feeling you get from these mountains.
In this picture the The Lagazuoi group in it majesty, with the Lagazuoi lake, our destination in day 2, down in the bottom left corner, hidden by the foreground rocks. On the far right, the Tofane.
Several paths are available in the area to walk around or climb these mountains with hiking trails.
Chough birds surround us, they got used to the human presence and don’t just pay attention to our presence.
We end up spending a couple of hours in the area, just looking around us and enjoying the spectacular view. It is so beautiful that it’s really hard to pack up and take the gondola to go back to Falzarego Pass.
A long day is still in front of us, and our next destination is Limides Lake. The path begins at Falzarego Pass, and takes us less than 30 minutes to get there.
Unfortunately, while walking, dense clouds start surrounding the area, a pity considering that the early morning was clear, with exceptional blue sky. However, we don’t get to decide about the weather, so we take it as it is. Weather forecast call for rain later in the day, but this was the same in the days before, but at the end it did not rain.
Hoping the trend continues, we drop our backpacks, and enjoy our sandwich on the edge of the lake.
The Averau is there, in front of us, with its reflection on the lake. We still have a lot of time and we have no plans. We haven’t walked that much yet, so we start thinking about hiking up to Forcella Nuvolau, next to the Averau, but the uncertainty about the weather and the fact that we’re still tired by the previous days bring us back to a more conservative decision. We stay a little more, and then decide what to do next… Or at least, this is what we decided to do. but then something happened… The rain, the rain that didn’t happen in the previous days, just decided to remind us that weather forecast tend to be reliable. A few drops hit us, just in time to let us save al the electronic gear in our backpacks, and a few minutes after a heavy rain start falling on us. We literally have to run as fast as possible to get to our car, despite the mud, despite the slopes, despite anything. When we get to our car were 100% wet down to underwear and socks, and mud has covered our legs up to the knee level.
We have no choice but to go back to the apartment, have a hot shower and wash our clothes to get rid of the mud. When we’re done it’s still afternoon, so we decide not to give up. We get dressed for a colder weather, as we know we’re going to be late, and start driving towards Rifugio 5 Torri, not far from Falzarego Pass.
Fortunately, when we get there the road is open, the sky has cleared up and good light is starting to happen. we now we’re not going to hike, but in front of us we have a spectacular view of the Lastoi de Formin, illuminated by a warm light coming from behind us. Simply amazing.
The day is not over yet… There is still time to drive to somewhere not far from the area we’re in for sunset. At a quick glance, the only location that we haven’t been yet but is close enough to let us be there in time for sunset is Giau Pass. There’s not much to decide. We just get into the car and drive towards our next destination.
When we get there the the light is still good, but we need to climb to a small peak in front of the major rock formations to get the the most out of it. It’s quite a rush, as light is quickly fading away, but we manage to get to the perfect spot just in time to set the tripod up, set the camera and shoot what is, in my opinion, a fantastic picture (i know, it sounds like self-celebration, but i love this picture). We’re simply speechless. The light is smooth, warm, it perfectly fits the grass at the bottom, but also the rocks on top of it. The sky is blue, with interesting clouds and beautiful colors transitions.
There you have it, the Giau Pass in its magnificence.
Our fifth day ends here and, despite the rain, it couldn’t be better than this.
Note: Some of the places shown in the posts from our Dolomites trip were dramatically hit by unexpected severe weather conditions at the end of October 2018. Strong winds and heavy rains damaged several woodland, villages and hiking trails. Images and descriptions on my blog refer to a trip we had almost 3 months before (beginning to mid August 2018). What shown in this blog may differ from what is the current status. I’m not aware of all the damages created by the weather, therefore this general note will be inserted in all the following posts. For those areas that I know for sure were damaged, I will point it out in the description.
Today’s Image Gallery
