Dolomites Hike Day Five: 17km

Day Five: Lagazuoi → Forcella Travenanzes to Focrella Col dei Bos. Traverse → Rifugio Dibona.

Distance: 17 kilometres

Our day started with a gondola up to the peaks - a gondola that could have comfortably accommodated fifteen people and backpacks but as we were packed in like sardines, uncomfortably accommodated thirty people and backpacks. Thankfully, I was a middle sardine so didn’t have the chance to become nervous about the drops all around us as we made our ascent. Could we have walked up the mountain? Yes - but it would have been another day’s hiking to get there, and taking the quick route up allowed us to hike across and down the mountain, which was a very picturesque way to travel. Even so, there was a lot of up hill hiking before we began our descent.

One of the highlights (in human terms) of today’s hike was the young Italian man I met in the queue for the gondola. He had excellent tattoos! The pine tree on his arm first got my attention, and when I admired it (bear in mind my Italian is terrible and he didn’t speak English) he showed me the rest of the ink on his arm which was also mountain related - there were fabulous inkings of a number of mountains including Drei Zinnen which we’d been hiking around all week! I intended to ask whether I could have a photograph with him, but didn’t get the chance as once we’d reached the starting point of our hike, he set off at a run (literally) and proceeded to run down a very steep and winding slope in the direction we were headed. Was he racing or trying to beat an earlier time? I suspect he was. Needless to say, we didn’t see him again on our hike today.

Interesting facts: it’s lovely to see so many young Italian women hiking together in groups of two or more. They are fit and friendly and clearly putting time into enjoying their beautiful mountains just like groups of young men and others in the mountains. There were some really interesting sites in the first part of our hike as well - gun shelters and other WWI relics from the Austro-Hungarian and Italian conflict. There’s a photo of one of the tunnels here - soldiers fought and lived in these spaces and provisions were brought to the soldiers via steep mountain tracks (though the winter months made many routes impassable).

Today was probably the route most filled with danger - though not as dangerous as the route where helmets are recommended. Helmets in case you fall? No, because if you fall that’s probably the end of your hike on the Earth. The helmets are in case there is a climber (as in rock climbing person with ropes and hooks) who dislodges a rock and it falls on your head. The danger was only in a short section of the hike however, and didn’t worry those who were comfortable with heights. Those of us less comfortable with heights (me) had not only myself to worry about but everyone ahead and behind us (they were not worried, just me). STAY AWAY FROM THE EDGE!

A challenge of a different kind was the bus trip back to Cortina, where the passengers were packed in (and still some passengers missed out). The buses in this region are clean and very much on time, but if you miss a bus or there’s no room for you, it could be another hour or more before another bus turns up.

Tonight we are staying in Cortina, the town for the 2026 Winter Olympics, though we have had little chance to explore as we only arrived at our hotel late afternoon and will leave early tomorrow morning. No pool (Day 3 was a one off) but there is a sauna. Saunas are very popular here. Why? In winter after a day of skiing I can see why some would want this, but saunas offer something I don’t want after a full day of hiking. A shower though, is something I definitely appreciate!

Post dinner edit: A nice restaurant in Cortina but it was like a sauna! And fortunately I was given the vegetarian option (lasagna with eggplant - excellent) as the meat option was beef cheeks which I didn’t approve of even before we farmed cattle. After dinner, and excellent drink (and chips!) at an outdoor bar with our intrepid team of walkers.

Health check (just in case you are wondering). My gel big toe condom is working. Though I’m actually not sure if it is making any difference at all (maybe the steep ascents and descents put less pressure on my toe than the Roman roads did in Scotland), but at the very least the gel big toe condom is a talisman and I’m not changing anything!