Dolomites - Hut to Hut Hiking - Alta Via 1

For a while now all I wanted was to try out European hiking. I've been to Europe so many times, but never on the trails. This year I discovered the magic of hut to hut hiking. Climb mountains all day, and then relax in a cozy rustic mountain hut in the evening, with homemade pasta, a beer or Aperol, and the company of other fellow hikers from around the world.

For my first European hiking adventure, my friend and I chose the Alta Via 1. Mainly because it's a popular route, and we wanted to meet other hikers on the trail. And it's doable without advanced technical sections. It's a really amazing trail - super varied with stunning scenery.

*We travelled mid June (June 15). The weather was perfect. I highly recommend this trek.

Huts:

We stayed in Rifugio Biela, Rifugio Fanes, and Rifugio Scotoni. Distance wise, I'd say we planned it perfectly. We hiked from around 9 till 4 or 5, without much pressure, and plenty of time to pause for photos. Some people cover the distance between Lago di Brais and Lagazuoi in 2 nights instead of 3, but I think it's more fun to take your time, and have time to enjoy the experience of the huts in the afternoon and evening. Rifugio Sennes is pretty close to Biela, so you can stay there also. And Rifugio Lavarella is very close to Fanes.

Booking huts - for the second two was online on their websites, and the first through email. It's not the easiest to book the huts - unless you book well in advance. We managed about a month before our trip, but we took the only dates available.

I loved Biela and Scotoni. Biela was the most rugged, and surrounded by rocky alpine landscape, so it felt like a true authentic mountain experience. Scotoni was very cozy, had great food, and in both we had excellent company. Fanes was nice too, but more fancy - and therefore the vibe was less young and cool. But all were great.

Getting to the Alta Via 1 Trail Head:

Surprisingly easy. We took the ATVO bus from Venice Airport, which I had pre-booked. ATVO and Cortina Express both are nice buses, mostly for hikers, that go to Cortina D'Ampezzo. From Cortina we took a bus and a short local train to Olang, and in the morning we took the local train and a bus to Lago Di Brais. All super easy to figure out on google maps, and don't need to be ordered in advance. Olang was a bit off path - you can sleep closer to the trailhead

Day 1: Lago Di Brais to Rifugio Biela

Lago di Brais is the stunning starting point for the trail. You walk around the lake and then start climbing on the far side. The beginning doesn't really look like the trail, my friend tried to convince me that we should continue circling the lake. As you start climbing, the begining feels kind of daunting - it's fully exposed in direct sun, and looks desert like - small piles of bare rock everywhere. But then after you pass the first bit of forest, it starts to get interesting as you get into alpine scenery. It's not super difficult, but you are climbing up the entire day.

Day 2: Rifugio Biela to Rifugio Fanes

The first part is through a really beautiful medow, and we stopped at Sennes for coffee. You continue through the forest, going down a lot till you reach rifugio Pedereu which is accessible by car, and where you can stop for lunch. Then to get to Fanes you climb up in the sun for the rest of the afternoon, which is quite annoying.

Day 3: Rifugio Fanes to Rifugio Scotoni

The third day is very interesting and varied, but not easy. First part is very beautiful - through medows and near lakes. You feel really happy that the trail is chill but stunning. Then you start climbing towards a mountain pass, which seems close each time you make some progress, but takes a while to get to. And then you have a giant steep decent to Lagazoui lake. It looks very scary, but it's doable - go slowly and watch where you are going. It actually feels like it will never end - probable a hundred small turns back and forth. But some Europeans skipped down like mountain goats ahead of us. After that decent, you have another 45 min of descending to Scotoni.

Day 4: Rifugio Scotoni to Rifugio Lagazuoi

On the last day we climbed up to Lagazoui. It looks easier than it is. We encountered snow which was annoying for me. And the last part is very sleep. We planned to continue on to Cinque Torri, but I hadn't gotten much sleep and felt like taking a rain check. We had lunch at Lagazoui (not as great as the other meals we had), and took a cable car back to civilization. At the bottom we hitch hiked to Cortina D'ampezzo with a nice French couple in their caravan. You can take a bus, but in Italy even the bus has a Siesta. Siesta is between 1 and 4 pm, so we missed the bus. Also in the Lagazoui mountain there are some tunnels to explore from World War 1 - the Italians and Austrians battled it out in the mountains.

Map:

We bought a paper one that we didn't use at Lago di Brais. You can use mapy.cz, and search for the Alta Via 1 trail when you have wifi in the hut. Then during the day, as long as you don't close the app, the GPS will show where you are on the trail and it's enough for navigation. Also the trail is pretty well marked with white and red paint.

Snow:

We went mid June and the snow wasn't a problem for us. There were some sections though snow on day 4, but very doable. My friends went a week before us and had a hard time in the snow. Apparently a few days of sun make a big difference in the trail conditions. Also we had perfect weather - no rain.

Packing:

I took a Gregory 28L, but definitely used every inch of space. Really try to take the bare minimum - it's not easy lugging around a backpack while climbing up and down and also carrying water. I didn't take very much so I was fine, and I could have taken less.

I carried a puffy coat, and a rain jacket. But the weather was warm so I didn't need these.

Packing list:

- Day pack between 28L to 38L

- Short sleeve - one for hiking (best dry-fit), one for sleeping

- Long sleeve - 1-2 for hiking (best for sun protection)

- micro-fleece (this was warm enough for evenings)

- 2 hiking socks

- shorts for sleeping

- sleeping bag liner (if staying at biela)

- rain coat (didn't use, but seems can be useful, depending on weather)

- puff coat (didn't use)

- flashlight

- hiking poles (i didn't have a problem with taking these on board)

- hiking boots

- flip flops (for shower and for huts)

- ear plugs

- eye mask

- water pouch - 3L

- Hat

- Sunscreen

- Minimal toiletries and meds

- Back up portable phone battery and chargers

- A waterproof bag cover

Water is available at the huts - at Biela we had to buy bottles. At the others they had clean water we could fill our pouches with.