I keep a mental ledger of outstanding hikes that I have taken in my life, and more or less rank them. I’m prone to take a myopic view of new experiences, so today our walk beneath Tre Cime feels like the greatest hike ever. I’m sure that over time it will settle in comfortably in my memory with the other greats, which of course are all so distinctive that you can’t really rate them. There’s no doubt though that this will remain one of the brightest stars on the ledger.
First off, I want to give thanks to the weather gods with blessing us with such an outstanding day for the hike. Cloudless, crystalline, warm, the day could hardly be improved upon. I’m sure this hike would always be stunning, but we sure feel blessed right now. I assume that many of you have been following the Classens also, and know that they were here just a few days ago also. But just in case you missed it, here’s their look at this hike under quite different conditions.
Our hike began at the parking lot below Rifugio de Auronzo, where we locked up our bikes in a secure location. From there we hiked to Rifugio de Lavaredo beneath the southern face of the three famous chimneys, surely the most popular walk up here because it is so easily accessible (we even saw a woman pushing her child in a stroller), and stopped there to polish of the remains of last night’s pizza and chase it with pastries from the refuge. Afterwards we climbed over a low ridge and passed beneath the peaks on the northern, shaded side. With enough time, we could have continued on and completed a loop; but the trail choices were getting rougher and we were starting to get concerned about time so we just backtracked the way we came in. Awesome both ways, of course.
The view southeast from Refugio Auronzo. At the far end of the canyon is Auronzo di Cadore, where we stayed the night before last.
The scar across the scree slope is the hiking path. It looks precarious from this perspective, but it’s wide, level and very safe - as long as the rocks above stay put.
This area is littered with giant disc shaped rocks like this one that look like the remnants of a collapsed chimney. For scale, note that there are several tiny hikers beneath it to the right.
Looking back at the Tre Cime from the east. The nearest and shortest is Cima Piccola (Little Peak), and the larger one visible immediately behind it is Cime Grande (Large Peak).
The north side is the best vantage point for the formation. The light is better on the south side, but the trail is too close to their base to get them all into the frame. From left to right (east to west): Cime Piccola (Little Peak), Cima Grande (Large Peak), and Cima Oveste (Western Peak).
