My YL, Randi N7OLE, and I are planning a trip to Cortina D’Ampezzo next July. We are hoping to fit in some SOTA summits along with some stays in Rifugio along the way. During my initial ideation, I learned about via feratta and have a few SOTA hikes combining some easier via feratta. I am looking for recommendations or experiences with mountain guide services that could help me with gear, take us on an intro via feratta and help with organizing stays in Rifugio.
I’d appreciate any insight for other SOTA ops who have organized a trip like this or have experience operating in this area. I’ve never been to Europe so its all a bit overwhelming.
These guys run walking holidays with luggage transfers. They have a route in the Dolomites so maybe an email to them might get you the name of the local company they use for the transfers?
I just recently got back from a holiday to the Dolomites (non SOTA sadly)
You should have less snow than I did, there was quite a fair bit.
Snow Service in Cortina is where I hired some Via Ferrata equipment from, I chose some easier (A/B) grade Via Ferrata solo and felt it was challenging but safe.
There was also a summit I visited (I/VE-157) that is unactivated. If you have a car, you could try parking at Passo Cibiana and activating this one. It’s a relatively easy hike up, but the final path to the summit is quite hidden, and a little bit scrambly, but nothing majorly technical, if you want an unactivated summit. If I was licensed to operate abroad it would have been mine - Could be paired nicely with Monte Rite (I/VE-140), a summit with a museum on top!
For easier via ferrata I chose the Fanes Waterfalls via ferrata and Ra Pegna, I did want to do Nuvolao (I/VE-053) that has an easy Via Ferrata but it was too high altitude and the snow made it impassable, but you might have more favourable conditions.
I hope you enjoy your trip nonetheless - it’s a really lovely part of the world.
- Could be paired nicely with Monte Rite (I/VE-140), a summit with a museum on top!