Sterre (27) joined the hut tour through the Italian Dolomites in the summer of 2023. ''One of the most beautiful trips ever made and well organised. You really feel like a mountain resident and mountain hiking guide Nicky prepares you to go out alone in the future. Beautiful!
Wednesday, July 5, the long car journey from the Netherlands begins: on to the beautiful and overwhelming Italian Dolomites. After a night in a hotel, our hut tour started on Thursday. A quick check whether all equipment was complete and off we went, with Nicky (our guide this trip), up the mountain. The group consisted of 10 participants between the ages of 19 and 29, all from the Netherlands with a heart for nature and outdoor sports. Nicky taught us many mountain hiking tools along the way. We learned what walking pace you can maintain, how to descend properly, how to cross sections of snow safely and how to read a map.
I thought the first hike was perhaps the most challenging: straight up the mountain! Which brought us very high up in the mountains very quickly. Soon the views over the rugged rock walls appeared. Every day we stopped at a food hut around lunchtime, because the hut density in the Dolomites is high! This way we could have lunch every day at a lovely Italian-style hut: tasty pasta and good coffee. We didn't have to arrange packed lunches. We left on time because there was a thunderstorm coming, we wanted to be at our cabin on time.
Our first cabin was immediately a gem in a place that is not accessible by elevator. This made it quiet and you could look out over the valleys. After arriving it slowly clouded over and that evening we had hail and thunder. The result was a nice meal and playing games in the hut, with short walks outside between the showers: between the mountain peaks!
The second day we went along the mountain towards a lunch spot and then it started to get exciting: we were going to do a real climb! So: put away sticks and use hands and feet. The paths are very well marked and in difficult places you had cables to hold on to. What a victory this was for everyone! Nicky had confidence in us, because there turned out to be an easier route, but she often chose the challenging and educational parts for our group.
The routes were on average around 11 kilometers with quite a few elevation meters. This day we arrived at our cabin fairly early: a busier cabin because there was a lift to it. Optionally, you could walk an extra loop with Nicky every day, but without a bag. This time we went to the mountain top where there might be a small lake. Unfortunately, the lake had dried up, but we were able to practice climbing here again! You could also choose to relax at the hut and read a book. There was something for everyone and you could organize the tour according to your own energy and needs. Around dinner time all the day trippers had disappeared and peace returned to the hut. You are left as if you really lived there for a while. Living in the mountains; Who would not want that?
From here we went into the moonscape! No more green, no more animals. During these trips we received a lot of technical explanation from Nicky: how to best slide if you fall, how to read the clouds in bad weather, and how to put as little strain on your knees as possible. At the end there was a large mountain lake where we could all dip in: cold!! There was also an extra summit here and the sunrise was viewed at 5 o'clock in the morning.
After this the landscape changed: more valleys, which meant: more green and many more flowers! We learned to use the map to decide how to choose a route 'off road'. After a delicious lunch and seeing Jaks it was quite a climb to the hut, but what a sweet little hut this was! There are also large tourist huts, but Nicky specifically chose the nicest one for our group.
After this, another short trip towards the last hut, but optionally another big climb in between. The last hut was really the icing on the cake: built between the mountain peaks and with a gigantic view. The food here was the tastiest and with Italian liqueurs at the end we watched the sunset from the veranda.
After a long walk back, we took the ski lift back into the valley, after which we took a beautiful forest path back to the starting point. This day we walked the most kilometers, but the least elevation gain. Distance therefore does not mean much in the mountains. We ended together in the village with delicious pizza and souvenirs.