We headed up through the trees with views back over the village, constantly winding upwards.
We came to the foot of a long steep ski slope with a safety net down one side to prevent people skiing over the edge.
Our route was to take us westwards below the cliffs and above the forests.
Coming across a ski lift that was not closed for maintenance we decided to use it as we had a long day ahead of us. I had never been on a ski lift so I was given some quick instructions. Luckily we went in in pairs and Wendy pulled down the bar to secure us.
She then took a close up photo - I think I look pretty relaxed considering?
Last year's Canopy Tour in the Drakensburg mountains had definitely lessened my fear of heights. I can still recall the day when I froze at the top of the Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria and couldn't move for several minutes, eventually crawling down the steps on my backside!
The route ahead looked scary, the path wound along a steep scree slope at the foot of the cliffs. In parts the slope appeared to be convex with plunging drops.
I was eager to get started instead of standing looking and worrying.
It wasn't as bad as it appeared, the path was well worn. The worst parts occurred where snow drifts had blocked the path and we had to skirt around through the loose scree. In one section we squeezed through a tight snow filled gap between the cliff and rocks below.
We followed the red and white markers for route 626.
Even up here there were still signposts and we passed a via ferrata, one of the iron staircases used to ascend the mountain during the great war.
Across the valley we could see the Marmolada glacier and bad weather building up in the east.
Mark spotted one of the elusive chamois and it stopped running and posed for a Kodak moment.
We ate lunch on the slope admiring the views across the valley.
After a couple of hours we started our descent following the route of a cable car down from Sas Pordoi to Passo Pordoi. How DO they string those cables across??
Below we could see that the cycle race was still in progress.
We stopped for beer and ice creams and waited for the rest of the party to catch up.
Although it was already mid afternoon we still had a long way to go to reach the hotel. We set off down towards Canazei and looking back could see where we had been walking.
The descent took us across a route that had been used for a mountain bike race over the weekend. We passed through a field of marmets who didn't seem bothered by the intrusion.
Luckily there was a gondola down to Canazei which saved us another hour's descent.
Once in Canazei it was still quite a walk through the village to Campitello. We passed Sunday crowds enjoying an umpah band.
We eventually arrived at the Hotel Crepes de Sela with just enough time to shower and get ready for supper in the hotel dining room.
Location:Dolomites
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