Walking in the Dolomites

Tre Cime

We wake up to snow on the hilltops. Him Outdoors is like a puppy dog who can’t wait to get his paws cold, so we eat a hearty breakfast of warm croissants and cappuccino and head off to the mountains.

Snow has made the roads impassable and some crafty Austro-Italian is charging twenty euro to get through a barrier, but that cannot deter the intrepid Him Outdoors. Pack on back, he is soon yomping up the road to the foot of the Tre Cime.

The footpaths are way too deep in snow for our insufficient summer hiking gear – trainers; tights and thermal tops – but the views are spectacular and the memory card gets another hammering.



There are various routes around and up the Tre Cime ‘world famous Dolomite peaks’ but we content ourselves with floundering about in the snow, walking up to a glorious little church, quite spiritual in its simplicity with a couple of world war graves blanketed in snow – it’s not the worst site for a final resting place.

Back down at Misurina Lake we walk a quick circuit admiring the reflections of the mountains in the calm surface. The guidebook states that ‘if you are looking for health, pure, fresh air, then this is the place for you.’

On the lakeshore is a prestigious clinic specialising in treating childhood asthma. It alleges that, ‘The climactic conditions of the area have proved to be extremely beneficial to asthma sufferers.’ I reckon that because the air is so thin at such altitude no-one can breathe properly anyway – I am certainly gasping for air as we march up the mountain – so everyone feels equally belaboured.

Just as we are leaving, a rally of Mercedes vehicles come through. They all pull up to the lake shore for a quick photo opportunity before heading over the pass to Austria.

Pian dei Boi

Our local guides informs us, ‘The last tepid rays of sunshine bring out the best and brightest in the warm shades of autumn. The woodlands are still glowing with the reds and yellows which the winter rainfall has not yet dampened down. There’s still time for a trip or two into the mountains, up to a moderate altitude. Just enough to admire nature slowly, gently drifting into a thoughtful, dreamlike state.’ So we do.

Pian dei Boi is apparently a ‘photographer’s paradise. The plateau lies at an altitude of 2000m amid cols, wide stretches of pastureland and woodland with beech, hazel, fir, larch and mungo pine, which in the autumn burst into a feast of colour.’ Indeed they do. I take photos of Dolomites all around but fear I might have peaked too early – I actually make that ‘joke’ aloud and Him Outdoors simply groans.

The drive up to the plateau is extremely hairy – very narrow and with massive drops, but it is incredibly beautiful with the autumn colours. We walk a massive circuit, which doesn’t go exactly the way Him Outdoors intends, and we end up tramping through freezing woods on a track that descends for ages before climbing back up to the plateau. The views really are stunning though.

There are lots of military reminders as well; barracks, forts and observatories used during the First World War when it was feared the Austrians might attack over the mountains.

The views are expansive and the scenery exquisite, but it is pretty extreme up there and you have to wonder whether anyone would really have gone to all that effort to get up there. Now the buildings are crumbling – as we stop by the barracks, bits of rock are just dropping off as they thaw out and expand.

The Dolomites are actually ancient coral reefs and are named for the French geologist, de Dolomieu, who was the first person to identify the composition of sedimentary limestone was formed from calcium carbonate and magnesium – or so says my tourist pamphlet.

It claims you can find marine fossils on the mountain tops, although I don’t think that is what Him Outdoors is searching for when he goes off for a run – I haven’t managed to exhaust him sufficiently it appears.