The Vagabond Hiker

Hiking, trekking, and climbing the world

Tragedy on Marmolada

Returning to northern Italy yesterday from Oslo, Norway, I was barraged with images and commentary from the Italian Dolomites, perhaps my favorite mountains in the world. After little winter snow and extreme heat the prior month, a serac on the Marmolda glacier had collapsed. Marmolada is the highest peak in the Dolommites and features a very popular Via Ferrata to Punta Penia, its summit. Seracs are stabilized by persistently cold weather, so the severe global heating in the Alps in recent decades has not only melted 80% of the Marmolada glacier’s volume, it has causes this beautiful landscape to be an increasing source of danger to alpinists. I had climbed the Via Ferrata Marmolada in 2018 with a guided group (see my post from September of that year). Below are some photos taken both by me and another client, Ron, who was our unofficial photographer, highlighting the Marmolada glacier.

Marmolada (3,443 m, 10,968 ft), the highest peak in the Dolomites, taken from Via Ferrata Trincee three days prior to our ascent. Our route was around to the right (North) here.

Our group photo at the start of the Marmolada Classico. Walter, our guide, is on the left and I am in the yellow t-shirt. The glacier is behind us here.
Ascending an ice field on Marmolada. Note the complete lack of snow this low on the mountain late in the season. Here I am leading the ascent.
Ascending a snow field on Marmolada, leading to the West Ridge.
Crossing the Marmolada glacier just below a crevice. Intersections of crevasses can create seracs.
Descending the Marmolada glacier snow field. Note the crevasse. ahead of us

My thoughts are with those killed, injured, or still missing on Marmolada.

This week I will be working on a blog from another amazing mountain range I trekked across last week, the Jotunheimen in Norway. Stay safe outdoors.

The Vagabond Hiker

The Mediterranean Steps, Gibraltar

The northern of the twin Pillars of Hercules, the Rock of Gibraltar rises 1400 ft above the otherwise uninteresting (for walking) British Overseas Territory. Attached to mainland Andalusia, Spain by a narrow spit of land, it certainly has an interesting history ever since Greek times. I had been considering a quick weekend trip earlier in the year, before Spain closed its borders to Americans and I wound up here for two weeks instead (see my last blog post).

Fortunately, however, it does boast one interesting hike that any visitor should do: the Mediterranean Steps, the focus of this short blog. Most visitors are whisked up to the top of the Rock in 6 minutes by cable car. They miss the whole experience of the Rock.

Since this blog is notably shorter than most, I took the liberty of appending a few photos from my weekend in Venice in September.

Map of the Gibraltar Nature Reserve. It is known for its semi-wild population of Barbary Macaques, a tail-less monkey. It is also an important resting point for migrating birds. Purple lines are paths, the darker ones roads. The Mediterranean Steps start at the Jews’ Gate, on the right.
Trafalgar Cemetery and a portion of the Charles V wall near Southport Gate. I started my hike from my condo, to the north of the city near the airport. At 2.5 square miles, Gibraltar is not exactly large!
Gibraltar Botanic Garden. A small bit of green in the city. Unsurprisingly, not much was blooming in November.
The start of the Mediterranean Steps.
View from Pillar to Pillar: Jebel Musa, Morocco in the distance across the Strait of Gibraltar.
A view along the Med Steps. With the lock-down in England barring most international travel, not many tourists were visiting.
View out from one of the twin Goat Hair Twin Caves. They were given this name as they were goatherd refuges in the 19th century.
Higher on the Med Steps, the view North to East Beach in the distance, beyond which is Spain.
Paperwhite (Narcissus papyraceus), one of the very few wildflowers blooming
Looking down the switch-backed Med Steps
An unknown white flower. I was a bit desperate for some macro photography!
The gun turret at Ohara’s battery, on the highest point of the Rock. An interesting exhibit, it provided a nice rest after the climb!
Ohara’s gun, a 9.2″ MK 10. Pardon the violent, phallic imagery, but I thought it was a good photo.
View from the glass-floored Skywalk with a Barbary Macaque staring out into the mist. With some precipitation from the prevailing easterlies off the Med, I shortened my walk a bit, skipping the famous St Michael’s cave.
Mommy and baby Macaques. There are about 300 of them on Gibraltar.
The upper portion of the Charles V wall, a defensive fortification dating from the 16th century. The brown lumps on the wall are Macaques.
The Tower of Homage, part of the Moorish Castle. It was rebuilt during the second Moorish occupation in the early 14th century. The pond is populated with tadpoles, frogs, and a turtle.
View from the Moorish Castle. My condo was part of the Ocean Village complex, the tallest buildings seen here. The western end of the airport’s runway is on the right, extending into the bay. The road to and from Spain crosses the runway, and is blocked with concrete barriers when planes take off and land.
Although my second floor condo balcony only had a sliver of water view, this morning the superb sky compensated.

Although I managed to complete the Rock of Gibraltar hike in 4 hours, one could easily spend a whole day, including exploration of St Michael’s cave, WW2 tunnels (closed for maintenance), the extensive siege tunnels from the Napoleonic era (where I spent a half hour), as well as additional paths and roads in the nature reserve. Allowing one day for historical sights in the town, and another relaxing on the artificial Eastern Beach, Gibraltar certainly makes for an interesting long weekend in either the spring with the flowers out or early autumn with warmish water and the birds migrating. Summer is too hot, and the winter from November through February generally cold and wet.

And now for a few bonus photos! My time in Trentino, Italy in September was spent largely in the Dolomites. However, as I mentioned in my earlier blog, when the weather deteriorated at the end of the month, I journeyed to Venice for a long weekend. With three days to wander around the largely depopulated city, I took a number of photos, a few of which are shown below.

Piazza San Marco, about 8.30 AM on a Saturday. I’ve never seen it remotely this empty. Amazing.
Basilica San Marco
Rio dei Giardini, Castello. The gardens are just visible in the distance.
Grand Canal with Gondolas near Rialto Bridge. In contrast to the overcast on Saturday, there was great early morning light on Sunday.
View of the Grand Canal from the Accademia Bridge. The Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute is seen on the right
The Hotel Bauer (left), Grand Canal and Campanile San Marco
A canal in Dorsoduro, one of my favorite parts of the city

I returned from Gibraltar to London yesterday, a couple days early after my flight was cancelled (British Airways is down to only two flights per week to Gibraltar during the lock-down of England). As my overseas options are extremely limited, I have decided to return to the United States. My flight to Texas via Chicago leaves tomorrow. I will spend the Thanksgiving holidays with my brother and sister-in-law. Afterwards, my winter plans include the Coachella Valley in Southern California, followed by 3-4 months in St George, Utah. My very first Vagabond Hiker blog post, from December 2016, was of a hike in the Coachella Valley Preserve. In a sense, then, I will have come full circle in four years.

Which begs the question, should I continue this blog? I will stick with the vagabonding lifestyle for now, staying in the western US at least until the world opens back up. Perhaps I’ll be motivated to continue the blog from California, Utah, or points beyond. Stay tuned,

The Vagabond Hiker

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

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