The Vagabond Hiker

Hiking, trekking, and climbing the world

Dolomites hikes and ferratas: the Pale di San Martino

Update 3 October: My plan was to be hiking in Turkey the first two weeks in October (see the final paragraph of this post). Unfortunately, the night before my departure I learned that the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) removed Turkey from its travel corridor list. Needless to say, my two first group trips since March’s shutdown were immediately cancelled. Hence I am staying in Hastings until my planned departure for Lanzarote in mid-November. Whether I post again from here is questionable, but make no mistake, I am planning some local hikes!

About a two-hour drive northwest from Venice lies a portion of the Dolomites that I had yet to explore. The territory of the Parco Naturale Paneveggio Pale di San Martino is located in eastern Trentino, at an altitude ranging from just under 1100 m to a maximum of about 3200 m on the summit of Cima Vezzana. It includes the catchment areas of three streams, comprising the Trentino part of the Pale di San Martino group to the east, the eastern offshoots of the Lagorai chain to the west, and to the north, the Paneveggio State Forest, one of the most famous forest complexes in the Alps. Amazingly to me, the park has no English Wikipedia page, but the Parks Italy website does have a comprehensive English version here.

I stayed in a typical Airbnb apartment in the main north-south valley of Primiero, in the village of Siror. With gorgeous views of the valley and mountains, it was a dramatic change after my five-plus months in England and an ideal base for exploring the area.

As I’ve now published uncounted blog posts from the Dolomites*, I limited the photos considerably. In particular, the photos of flora either had to be substantial improvements on my earlier attempts or of species I had not previously shared. Even so, with the amazing Dolomite landscapes, more than thirty made the cut. My sources for the hikes were the free version of the Alltrails app on my phone, Kompass map #622, Pale di San Martino, Cicerone’s Shorter Walks in the Dolomites (on my Kindle) and their Via Ferratas of the Italian Dolomites: Vol 2. The Parks Italy website above also it a good source, had I known about it ahead of time.

*Actually, this post is the fourth, excluding the Lago Garda post from last year

Evening view of the Gruppo del Cimonega from my south balcony. Parts of the town of Primiero and the village of Tonadico are in the middle ground.
Siror village, looking north up the Primiero Valley from my west balcony. There were many walks possible along the Torrente Cismon (out of the photo to the left) as well as on the slopes above the valley.
Siror and Torrente Cismon. Multi-use paths extend for miles along the banks of the river through the Primiero Valley.
The picturesque Hotel Siror, five minutes’ walk from my apartment. The village featured a few basic shops and a couple of cafes and restaurants.
A view from the slopes above Siror, about an hour’s walk from my apartment. Sass Maor in the southern Pale di San Martino is in the clouds here.
A cute woodshed, taken from the same spot as the previous photo
Grass of Parnassas (Parnassia palustris), seen later on the same hike. A much better photo that the one I shared a couple of years ago.
Lunch view at Lago Pradadali. My first major hike was a loop of about 6 hours on the altopiano of Pale di San Martino, at elevations between 2200 to 2630 meters. Very desolate indeed!
Moretti’s Bellflower (Campanula morettiana). Peeping out of a rock crevice, I believe it’s the first time I’ve spotted this bellflower with its distinctive hairy leaves.
Another lunar landscape, this of Cima della Fradusta with its glacier remnant on the Pale San Martino
Alpine thrift (Armeria alpina) with pollinator, still blooming late in the season. Another flower first for me.
Rifugio Rosetta set amidst the landscape of the altopiano. The Rosetta funicular top station is just off to the left here. Taking it this day eliminated the brutal 1100 m ascent/descent from/to the resort town of San Martino di Castrozza.
A stream above Lago di Calaita. For my next hike I did a 3 plus hour loop to the west of the Primiero Valley. Starting at a lower elevation, it proved quite a contrast to the altopiano! This so-called “holistic” trail had many interpretative placards.
Val Pisorno, heading up to Cima Grugola. This was just above treeline, at about 2000 meters. Geologically, the mountains west of me are the “metamorphic basement,” comprised primarily of gneiss. Thy are quite distinct from the dolomitic limestone of the Pale di San Martino group.
German Gentian (Gentianella germanica). These were a fairly common sight at lower elevations
Marmot on the trail up the headwall to Cima Grugola. Usually I just heard them whistling, but this fellow was very bold.
Single-flowered knapweed (Centaurea nervosa) detail with fly. I’ve shared a so-so image of this flower before. Despite its name, I think it’s cool-looking.
Lago Colbricon, near the Passo Rolle (1980 m) at the head of the Primiero Valley. I did a 4-hour loop hike that took in this popular destination, complete with a rifugio (on the far right here), before climbing further up into the mountains.
“View” east from Forcella Ceramana. Just to disabuse you of the notion that all my hikes invariably featured glorious weather and fantastic views!
View east from Punta Ces. Of course, an hour later the weather had cleared sufficiently for this photo! Lago Colbricon is on the left here. Cima Vezzana can be seen on the right, emerging from the clouds. At 3192 meters, Vezzana is the high point in the Pale di San Martino.
Returning to the Pale di San Martino altopiano, I spent two days climbing via ferratas. At this point, at Forcella Stephen above the clouds, I had just completed the easy-to-moderate VF Gusella.
After VF Gusella, I added a second ferrata, the VF Vecchia. Here I am looking down at its start, an easy 45 minute descent into Cadin Soraranz. A large part of this ferrata was aided with an excess of stemples (shown).
Adenostyles (Adenostyles alliariae). Not particularly rare, but the first time I’d identified this flower in the Dolomites.
Willow-leaved Gentian (Gentiana asclepiadea). A close up of a flower I’ve shared previously on my blog. While the two ferratas just described started at the Rosetta Top Station on the altopiano, the long descent to Castrozza afterwards was on foot through the forest, not by funicular!
View NW to Catena del Lagorai from Cima Tognola. This was an easy 3-plus hour loop hike – almost all descent – starting from the top of the cable car which ascended directly west from San Martino di Castrozza. Many mountain bikers used some specially-made trails that descended from the cable car top station, not shown to the right here.
Perhaps a pale morph of Campanula barbata, the hairy bellflower, glistening in the morning dew.
Cima Vezzana with San Martino di Castrozza below. This photo was taken on a splendid trail that gradually descended from one rifugio to another back towards Castrozza on the Cima Tognola loop hike.
Crossing the Tognola stream, nearly back to my car. I saw almost no one on this pleasant midweek outing.
Back on the altopiano for a second round of ferratas: Porton and Velo. Rhaetian poppies (Papaver rhaeticum) at the base of VF Porton. I’ve seen (and shared!) many of this species, but always find enjoyment in their sunny dispositions.
Photo taken during the ascent of VF Porton; note the cable on the lower left. Rifugio Pradadali is situated on an outcrop near the center of the photo. The peaks to the right boast some popular technical climbing routes.
Val Primiero with San Martino di Castrozza and the Catena del Lagorai in the background. Following my descent route on VF Velo (no worthwhile photos to share), I repeated my previous walk-out back to Castrozza, with an extra hour of descent from Rifugio Velo thrown in for good measure.
The final via ferrata I did was an expert one up Val Canali, a side valley 15 minutes drive to the east of Siror. Thought very short, VF Canalone was the toughest ferrata I did this year. Even with the approach hike in and back out, I was easily home for lunch. Here the Pale di San Martino can be seen in the morning light to the north of the path up to the start of the ferrata near Rifugio Treviso.
Due to the high contrast, a not-very-good photo of Rifugio Treviso and the Pale di San Martino from VF Canalone. (Yes, I could have taken a burst shot at incremental exposures and then combined them for a far better photograph, but remember that I was hanging off the ferrata cables at the time)! Below treeline, the route reminded me of the ferratas around Lago Garda with the roots and mossy rock. Fortunately, nearby was a much easier descent route.

The weather has just turned distinctly autumnal, with heavy rain and even snow expected in the next couple of days. Although the snow line is a bit above Siror, the Dolomites are definitely entering a hibernation stage, to be awakened in late November for winter sports. I instead am heading to Venice for the weekend before returning to England on Tuesday. Four days in La Serenissima without cruise ships should be an experience indeed. Following a short layover in England, during the first two weeks of October I will be hiking in Turkey: first in the otherworldly Cappadocia, and then along the Lycian Way on the southwest coast. My first group trips since the shutdown in March, those too promise to be interesting experiences.

Until next post, enjoy nature where ever you happen to be.

l’escursionista vagabondo

Comments

  1. Those rifugios!! How they were able to build them up high on solid granite is beyond me!

    Looking forward to seeing Cappadocia!

  2. The photo of the hairy bellflower is incredible….well all your photos are amazing. Someday I hope to go back to the Dolomites.

    • Thanks. Yes, sorry you couldn’t make it last year on Bob’s trip. If only you had known 2020 was going to be a washout for travel!

  3. Once again thanks Kent for another lovely & informative introduction to a new part of the world for us! We enjoy these blogs immensely as we are sticking to Western Canada these days. Interesting to see many of the same flowers we encountered on our Rocky Mountain hikes this season.

    Keep safe!
    Karen & Joss

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