The Dolomites. Day 1

This is where we begin: Lago Di Braies, beautiful, picturesque, and full of rowboats. We arrived here a little later than we wanted, there was an issue with the bus ticketing system, and a single lane alternating closure on the ride up. Instead of starting our hike at 9:30, we started at 10:00. No big deal, or was it? 

You can see from this elevation profile, we had our work cut out for us: 1200m of elevation over about 5km. The weather was overcast, so not at all hot, something that we were thankful for. As we ascended, the scenery began to change, the trees started to thin, and the clouds darkened. Soon we were putting on our rain covers and rain jackets as the first few drops quickly turned to a steady rain. Then came the thunder, at first from a distance, but close enough to quicken our steps. Rifugio Biella was near; we just didn’t know how near. Every crest became a disappointment because the rain was getting harder, the wind stiffer, and the thunder louder and no Biella in sight. We climbed the stony path with the storm on top of us. At one point I counted only 4 seconds between lightning and thunder. Then finally after reaching the top, Rifugio Biella appeared. Wind whipped and soaking wet we made the quick descent to the Rifugio, waterlogged boots squishing the whole way down. We went in and had some lunch and waited out the storm. We weren’t even half way to our destination.

We continued on our path for the remaining 8 ish kilometers through rain that came and went. The rest of the day was pretty much uneventful, that is until we made our final descent to Rifugio Pederü. A series of unrelenting switchbacks that were made slippery from the constant rain zigzagged steeply into the valley where, on about the third to last corner, I slipped. Luckily unhurt, just a bruised elbow and a sore knee, a misshap that could have been much worse. After being helped up, and scraping the mud off my sleeve we made the last steps to our home for the night at about 5:30.

We were greeted with a hot shower, a fantastic meal and of course, mountain beer. Exhausted, we went to bed, blissfully unaware of what lay ahead. Day one was done.