Bucky's nights have been getting better and better. Today he decided to try going for a hike again. Hopefully for longer than fifteen minutes! We drove up to the Tre Cime de Lavaredo area which is supposed to contain the quintessential Dolomite landscapes. Unfortunately everyone knows this so you have to pay 24 euros just to drive up to the parking area! The original plan was to climb a 14 pitch route called the Yellow Edge. When we got to the base of the climb, even though we knew we weren't going to attempt it, Bucky just had to hike up to the base and get a closer look. We split ways with Laura and headed up to the base. It looks like it would be a really sweet climb, that's all we can really say, and hope that maybe, some day, we can come back and try again. With Laura off taking pictures, Bucky
and I just went exploring. I saw some people hiking up to a cave high on the hillside and thought we should go check it out. The cave exited on a ledge and we realized we were on a "via ferrata" trail. The via ferratas are like extreme hiking trails that some people wear harnesses on and clip in to iron cables through the exposed sections. Without our harnesses, though, Bucky and I just went for it. We didn't have any issues, but we did get to see some serious views. And leave the beaten path a little bit. The trail ended up crossing through a tunnel to the far side of the ridge and descended into the wrong valley. We found a saddle that looked like it might get us back to the right side. It certainly did, eventually, but there was a short sketchy downclimb and some serious scree surfing down a couloir before we met up with a trail again. We continued out to a Rifugio, hoping to run into Laura, but she was not there. Bucky
bought some food; which was a pretty big deal, since he hadn't really eaten in three days, and we headed back toward the car. We decided to hike through some boulder fields around the South side of the Tre Cime formation rather than going back the way we came. The Tre Cime area is certainly gorgeous, and, despite my limited experience, the quintessential Dolomite landscape! We had to make it back to the car early to meet Bucky's little brother at the Venice airport and spend the next few days exploring the unique city. Upon arriving in Venice we tried three different parking areas before we finally found one that wasn't a blatant rip off. We walked to the flat we had rented for the next two nights and all of us got really excited to explore the city more the next few days. Sometimes you see a city so much in the movies and they just pick out the really cool or pretty places so it looks like a cool city, but it isn't really (ie. Las Vegas; total crap hole of a city, but looks cool in the movies). Venice is not that way. Venice is freaking sweet!
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| The Tre Cime Formation, with cloud between the Grand and Oest towers |
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