It was supposed to be just the weekend of Pearl Jam concert in Padua but, as usual, we wanted to use the weekend to the maximum. So, we added 400-500 km into that calculation and decided to look for some easy hiking destination, when we were already “there”. The finger of fate chose Piz Boè (3152 m) because it was probably the easiest mountain higher than 3000 meters in all groups of the Dolomites. We just couldn’t tackle on something more demanding and risk not experiencing the concert properly because of fatigue… we were no longer 20 years old, everything was clear 😁.
We started our trip on Friday morning and used this travel day to drive through some great mountain passes, photograph the fantastic views and talk about what we could climb some other time. We were most impressed by the legendary Marmolada, whose highest peak Punta Penia (3343 m) was immediately thrown in our bucket list. There was also the fantastic mountain Monte Civetta (3220 m) with a mighty rock face towering over the valley, in a panorama above the town of Alleghe – it was also put on a list for some future ascents. We passed Lake Fedaia (2053 m), located at the foot of the Marmolada massif, a final touch to this marvelous panorama.
We arrived at our final destination, the Passo Pordoi mountain pass (2239 m), late in the afternoon. We had just enough time for a short walk to explore the surroundings and prepare for an overnight sleep in the back of our car.
We climbed the nearby Sass Bece (2534 m). As there was literally no one but a couple of campers who would spend the night in slightly more luxurious accommodation (unlike us, sleeping in the car), we were incredibly lucky to see a few mouflons grazing on the grassy slopes, professionally ignoring our excitement of seeing them so relatively close.
At the summit we got an insight into the trail that awaited us tomorrow and the very top of Piz Boè, which looked like a fortress with huge rocks surrounding it. Unfortunately, I couldn’t persuade her to make a circular tour so that the climb goes along the ferrata of Cesare Piazzetta, and the returns via normale – because “it will be too much and we have a long concert day ahead of us, and before that a lot of driving, blah blah blah ” – I know, she was completely unreasonable 😁.
Anyway, we enjoyed the sunset and looked forward to the day ahead of us. We slowly got down to prepare our sleeping bags before the night catches us. The morning started with quite a crowd – we were not aware that it was such a popular mountain pass. This was due to the relatively affordable cable car that leads almost 3000 meters to the top of Sass Pordoi. Additionally, we didn’t even know that the Giro dei 4 passi, a recreational bike race, was being held that day. Italians really love cycling and it is not surprising, considering such a beautiful landscape they have. Amount of cyclists who met us on the way back was huge and fun to watch.
Day was beautiful. After the first hour of hiking, some of the climbers separated into the rock of Sass Pordoi where they would start their climbing section, and a few of us continued through a relatively simple ravine to Rifugio Maria (2950 m) mountain hut. We just started our hike so we didn’t spend too much time around the hut, except to take a couple of photos. But, almost with disbelief we watched the early morning crowd created by the cable car at the top of Sass Pordoi. Arriving at this part of the mountain, it was as if we had entered another world – rock all around! A few hundred meters below the views of endless grass and rocks perishing out of it dominated, so typical of the Dolomites. But here, on this plateau, sand and rocks with patches of old snow and short peaks breaking out of them prevailed, looking almost post-apocalyptic and as if you had come to some rocky desert.
The climb to the summit was relatively short. We checked the map along the way to see what other options were available to us and whether we could make a circular route – our usual talk and the urge to “see something else”😁. Luckily, we didn’t decide to extend the route. Arriving at the summit we realized that there were literally a few hikers there. We almost didn’t believe that we would enjoy the solitude of the summit, previously seeing how many people were crowded at the cable car station.
I wouldn’t and couldn’t describe the views, I think the photos say it all. After cracking our arsenal of panoramas, we settled into a rock formation to eat something and enjoyed a game with yellow-billed chough birds that have already mastered all the tricks of pulling out a few bits of food from the visitors. Of course, I took out a map and guessed the peaks for a while, what they were called and when we would climb them, which trail will we do, which two we could connect…and similar nonsense that was the result of my enthusiasm that has no timing – even during the climb I somehow manage to plan the next climb and the next and the next… 😊
We headed back slightly earlier because we still had a few hours of driving to Padua, or the place Dolo where we rented the apartment for the concert. Fortunately, the early return allowed us to watch cyclists from the nearby meadow, constantly rushing over the pass. We didn’t, of course, realize that the road was closed and that we had to wait for the race to end. But, seeing as we were going nowhere like this, lying in the grass with food and drink around us, we were completely fine with the situation 😁. We can watch the mountains without ever getting bored, so we indulged in resting and sunbathing for a while.
On our trip to Padua, we didn’t continue our usual exploration of local roads but returned directly – a phenomenal concert awaited us!
