Alta Via 1 Hike: Meet Scree...

Wide eyed and an hour delayed, I skipped out of the bus that delivered me to Day 0's hotel at Pragser Wildsee / Lago di Braies. I was in South Tirol / Süd Tyrol and everything from here on out was going to be a healthy mix of languages – thinking it was merely German and Italian was my first mistake.

I bid farewell to my bus driver who had driven slowly so I could gaze in childish wonder at the approaching limestone mountains that were breathtakingly unique as they pierced the sky and jettisoned out from the traditional Alps in my foreground. This was my playground for the next 10ish days and I could not contain my excitement. And neither could Jens…

Jens: hotel concierge, hiking expert, dog owner, phone operator and all around good guy had me booked into the first 3 huts for my hike before he even gave me a room in his hotel for the night. He uttered hiking and must-see tips along the route in a mixture of German and English then sent me out for my first glimpse of Lago di Braies - a legendary lake that held secrets of times past under its ever changing emerald green waters. I was captivated and started to plan my immediate retirement – why do the hike when I can set up camp here on the beaches until the end of time?

I loaded up on a protein fueled dinner, a traditional German breakfast and got underway the next morning. Starting from the signpost of the Alta Via 1, I began my journey dwarfed by mountains and trees equally impressively reflected into the morning's green waters. With a parting wave and a postponement of said retirement plans, I began my first uphill climb and met a few familiar 'faces' on the way and a few not so familiar…

Little Miss Out-of-Shape came first: 1000 meters incline was a nice introduction to my own procrastination and excuses that I worked too many hours to properly get in shape. None of those excuses were going to drag me up the mountain.

Professor Over-Analysis joined me next: Now this is one visitor I knew would be with me from time to time on the trip although I pledged to kick her over the cliff at every chance, but during this first climb I was flushed with thoughts and critical analysis of everything in life in a rapid succession as transient as the path beneath my feet.  

Outperformer Extraordinaire came too: While a voice in my head repeated parting words spoken the day before 'remember – small steps', the athlete of my past seemingly awoke from her long retirement and told me to go faster, push harder and for goodness sake – DO NOT LET HIM….okay, go ahead and let him pass you – he looks like he has done this before….and well – OK, him too, I mean he is clearly training for an endurance marathon...anyone else want to pass?

Future English friends seemed to play a game of leap frog with me. Pete and Cathie - as I would find out a few days later. I first heard Cathie about 30 minutes before her husband Pete passed me (the first one above). She was screaming something about refusing to go on if the rest of the trek was going to suck as much as this incline did. I tried to think 'suck it up', but I was too tired and thinking 'I completely agree'. 

Mister Scree was my favorite trail companion: rock fragments that are omnipresent in the Dolomite ranges. Combine rocks with just the right angle of incline and you find yourself in an 'oh-so-charming' game of two steps forward one step back. This was my first introduction to a healthy dose of limestone scree, but it would by no means be my last.

I learned a few things on Day 1, besides the bit of being tired and out of shape:

- 2400m plus no forward momentum plus a shirt on your back covered in sweat is frighteningly cold in no time at all

- In an emergency situation, I will not survive if I have to rely on rationing Clif Bars to myself

- Drink more water and your pack weighs less

- Respect your elders – they will also kick your butt on a race up one of these mountains

- Prayers to limestone rocks prior to plunging your body weight on it has a 7 to 3 success rate for not crumbling

- This trekking thing is probably going to be my new favorite hobby – assuming I survive my first night in a Rifugio

 


Hikers Hints - Day 1: (more notes collected for the further stages) 'Trekking the Dolomites' is one of the only English guides out there, but the trail can also be completed with the necessary maps and some initial internet research - I went without reservations to most huts (early in season). Day 1 is straight forward. Sennes accommodation was top.