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The easiest (not by much) is the route directly underneath the Cinque Torri chairlift which starts at Baita Bai de Dones just 25 minutes outside Cortina driving toward Passo Falzarego. You can easily spend an hour exploring and then another hour taking in the views whilst lounging on one of the many deck chairs that belong to Rifugio Scoiatolli. To turn it into a full day excursion you can extend it by hiking further to rifugio Averau, 45 minutes away on an uphill path nr 439. If you’re a keen adventurer like me, and looking for challenge you could also consider combining this hike with a scramble to the summit of Mount Averau, but you will need to bring your via ferrata equipment along and plan accordingly.
And What To Expect There are 4 paid car parks along the road close to Lago di Braies. The two closest are a couple minutes stroll from the lake's shore and cost as much as 20 Euros per day. On a busy day car parks fill up as early as 10am and the road leading to them is stuffed with traffic. If you can't make it there before 9am go somewhere else such as Lago di Dobbiaco just around the corner, or Lago di Landro about 30 minutes away and come back later in the day when the crowds disperse.
The alternative lower trail nr 434, which starts near Ponte Pezie de Parù adds an extra 200m ascent and doesn’t increase the splendour of the scenery. The main route from Ponte di Rucurto starts with a lovely jaunt along a wide path through thick forest. At this point you’ll have achieved a quarter of your total ascent and it’s where you’ll have to decide whether you’re circumnavigating clockwise or anti clockwise around the Croda da Lago mountain range. This is the point where the Croda da Lago circuit breaks away from the world famous Alta Via 1 by turning right onto path nr 436 and then shortly right again onto path nr 435.
The first small stage of this long hike begins with the well trodden path to the scenic Baita G Segantini, one of the iconic photography spots in the Dolomites. It’s more of a road than a hiking path to be honest (see photo above) but you won’t care much, the views are so phenomenal you could be walking on a bed of nails Turning right onto path nr 710 passing underneath large cliffs the route quickly steepens and several switchbacks take you into the heart of the Pale di San Martino. If you’re really keen on hiking, don’t fancy staying anywhere overnight, and still have loads of energy left, you can continue uphill to the summit of Monte Mulaz.