Today we leave the Hotel Plaza at Compatsch and walk over
to the Sporthotel Floralpina at Saltria and with it a further opportunity to
climb to the top of the Sciliar. We awake early as we know it will be a long
day. I get up and look out of the window to see what the weather is like. The
forecast said it would be overcast but dry in the morning, becoming sunny in
the afternoon. I peep round the curtains and start to laugh hysterically.
Outside it's a winter wonderland, everything is covered in snow!
Outside on the balcony it feels like a cold winter's day.
There is a brisk wind too. Well there will be no climbing of the Sciliar today
either. Alistair cannot hide his disappointment. I tell him we need to take
today for what it is, which I have to say is very different from how I imagined
our holiday!
We go down to breakfast unable to decide what we're going
to do today. Inntravel offer four options for today, an eight kilometre route
to the Hotel Floralpina via the Almrosen Hutte (which we've never been able to
pinpoint on our map). We decide this option will get us there too quickly, as
will the second option following paths 30 and 7/S3 - a seven kilometre walk. A
third option is to go via the Rosszahne Gap and the Tierser Alpe Hutte, a
beautiful 15km walk, but this is a high route and not suitable for today, the
fourth is the long high route via Rifugio Bolzano, the Tierser Alpe Hutte and
the Sciliar, which we've already discounted.
After breakfast we go back to the room, pack up our
stuff, then study the maps for inspiration. As I mentioned earlier, the paths
around here are really well signposted and, except on the high mountains, are
quite wide tracks, so we decide to make up our own route. We plan a route where
we can switch paths / easily turn back if required. I have to admit I'm only
half listening to what Alistair is saying. On these holidays he has control of
the map and I have control of the notes, as we're planning our own route, there
are no notes and I leave everything to him.
We leave Compatsch on route 7. I'm wearing a long sleeved
t-shirt, long trousers, my waterproof /wind proof jacket and my hat. I still
have a fleece, my waterproof trousers and gloves in my rucksack, which I can
put on if needs be. Alistair is kitted out in long trousers, a short sleeved
t-shirt, a fleece, gloves, a woolly hat and sunglasses. He too has further
clothes to put on in his rucksack. We felt a bit silly packing all our winter
walking gear a couple of weeks ago, but not today! As walking is our main
hobby, we do it a lot and have spent quite a bit on good gear. It certainly
pays off on days like this. Although it's freezing I'm like a little furnace as
we walk up past Santner.
As I expected, there are loads of people out walking the
lower paths today, everyone wants to take pictures and experience the snow.
Just before the Goldknopf Hotel, there is a party of about twenty five to
thirty people ahead, we overtake them one by one. The paths here are also roads
and they are clear of snow, but the surrounding fields are still covered and we
pass a poor horse trying to find some grass to munch.
Later we pass the Almrosen Hutte, which we discover is
only marked as "Schwaige" on our map - hence the reason we could
never locate it. Past the Mahlknecht Hutte, the path stops being road and is
quite slushy and slippery. There is a stream we have to cross, which is quite
icy, afterwards Alistair tells me there was a woman helping a blind man across!
They are two very brave and determined people!
Just before the area where the Dialer Hutte used to
stand, we turn off onto route 8. We're getting higher now (2145 meters above
sea level) and the snow has drifted a bit and the path is covered in ice.
Alistair reminds me that we can turn back at any time. I'm not really worried
by the ice, it's no worse than walking through Glasgow City Centre a couple of
winters ago. There are no steep drops, so it doesn't seem all that dangerous.
There are far fewer people on this track. Our progress is obviously spotted by
some marmots, as although we cannot see them, we hear their shrill calls
reverberating around the mountains.
We finally pick our way through the snow and ice and make
it to the very windy Tierser Alpe Hutte at 2440 meters above sea level. It's
warm inside, but that is the only thing going for the hutte. We are approached
by a really arrogant waiter who rattles off something in German so fast that we
cannot make out anything he is saying. Finally, after Alistair tries a couple
of times to speak a bit of German to him to find out what he is saying, he says
in perfect English that we need to order from the other waiter. I'm not sure
why he needed to come over to tell us that! We order and a few moments later he
comes over with two bowls of soup in his hands. Alistair has ordered soup for
himself, but pasta for me, so he checks that he's only bringing us one soup.
The waiter brusquely tells us he knows it was one soup. The cappuccino coffees
he serves us are awful, the coffee is really bitter, like it's been burnt, but
we can't face the bother of complaining. We jokingly say we wouldn't be surprised if he spat in
them on the way over! We leave thinking it's just as well they've got such a
captive audience, as their customer service leaves a little bit to be desired!
As we leave, I ask Alistair which direction we're bound
next. He tells me back down to Dialer, along route 8, then route 9 to the
Floralpina. So we slithered all the way up to Tierser Alpe Hutte just for the
hell of it, better still we've now got to negotiate the icy paths on our way
down! Alistair says he told me this all along and that was why he said we could
turn back at any point. Actually I'm glad I misunderstood him, otherwise I'd
not have agreed to go up to the Tierser Alpe Hutte, which felt quite an
achievement given the weather.
The rest of the walk is a doddle, as it's much warmer
once we pass the area where the Dialer Hutte once stood and it's all downhill.
The snow has disappeared completely from the lower paths and the sun is trying
to come out.
When we arrive at the Sporthotel Floralpina the
receptionist confirms that snow in early September in the Dolomites is a very
rare occurrence. So we decide to think we have been lucky seeing it in such a
different light.
No comments:
Post a Comment