El Perro Negro's Day to Day Ramblings
Dolomites Alta Via 2 day 1- Tough first day on the trail. Bressanone to the Prose Hutte and then onto Rifugio Genova. 16 km and over 1100m ascent. Enjoyed the spectacular scenery and the apple strudel lunch. Didn't enjoy the post lunch brutal ascent that eventually led to the lovely Rifugio Genova.
An extremely frustrating day of tiring travel on crowded trains with many changes and much confusion. But, we've ended the day with some cold beers and tasty pizza in the lovely south Tirol town of Bressanone/Brixen. Tomorrow we head into the mountains for 13 days on the long distance Alta Via 2 trail. Its going to be tough. It will stretch me to the limit and who knows what adventures are just around the corner.
Although Italian in many ways is so similar to Spanish I am really struggling to convey a sentence in Italian without adding in the odd Spanish filler word. Its automatic, I can't stop it! The result is a Spanish/Italian mix that confuses everybody. Fun though 🤣🤣🤣
Benvenuti a Treviso, Italia 🤣
Treviso airport - thunderstorms in the Dolomites to the north
Just taken delivery of a new lightweight harness in preparation for the Dolomites. Replacing my Black Diamond Couloir harness (240 grams) with a Camp Alp Race (68 grams)! Said to be the lightest harness in the world! Extremely compact, it folds down inside a special case to the size of a wallet. Should be fine for low grade via ferratas that I am likely to meet.
Short (44 secs) video of the Barranco de la Luna hike today before I dropped my video camera into the water whilst clambering down some rock steps 😱. Camera is now resting in a bowl of rice 😂
https://video.infosec.exchange/w/5yqMEC3b9y9gtGfhCxx9qJ
An early start today to walk the stunning Barranco de la Luna at Saleres before it got busy. Justifiably popular, an early start rewards with quiet and dramatic gorge scenery. Only problem is that it is quite short and leaves you wanting more.
We start the long distance trek Alta Via 2 in the Italian Dolomites soon. Conflicting reports over whether its necessary to take Via Ferrata gear which weighs nearly 1kg (helmet, harness, lanyard). Desperately trying to reduce pack weight & I feel confident about doing the route without safety gear BUT I couldn't then take advantage of interesting Via Ferrata alternatives met on the way .
Choice is a balance of Weight v Safety v Interest?
An interesting conundrum.
FB blocked my blog post about camping in the mountains, citing that it didn't meet "community standards"! 😱 What? You've got to be joking. A genuine attempt to write real content, not AI, no adverts, no bad language, no politics, no affiliated links & not even one link to my own business. Real content, hoping to assist others & written by a human, well me 🤣. Well **** you FB. Thank goodness for the Fediverse, a drop of sanity in an ocean of madness.
Time to leave FB for good methinks.
I wrote this for a friend of mine who is interested in preparing an overnight camp in the mountains but is a bit wary of the weight to be carried. This is to encourage her and give her a place to start the journey of what to bring and what to pack. I then thought I would share it with you here on my blog in case it assisted anybody else.
https://elperronegro.com/posts/2024-06-26-lightweight-backpacking-gear/
1/2 Sometimes when we head into the mountains, things don't always go according to plan. Yesterday, we ran into some tough challenges on a trail that was overgrown with waist high, spiky shrubs, leaving us with some bruises and cuts on our legs. To escape this, we decided to veer off the trail and make our way directly uphill to a ridge line further away.
Last night, as part of the annual fiesta we had the "Noche de Agua", the world's biggest water fight. An hour of mayhem that finishes at 1am and is followed by hours of partying in the town. Exciting, vibrant and uniquely Spanish!
After living here 22 years though, and not getting any younger, @khusky and I had a few glasses of wine before retiring early with a good book 🤣
A successful afternoon. This might not seem much, to you tech wizards out there in the Fediverse, but I managed to get my first containers (docker) working on my Synology NAS.
I now have a Hiking Trail database (Wanderer) and Recipe database (Mealie) working locally.
The view from our "dinner table" (a flat rock surrounded by soft grasses) a few nights ago as the sun started to set. All we could hear was the sound of the cascading waters of the Rio Lanjarón. Ahead and to the right is the Cerro de Caballo.
Morning light on Cerro de Caballo (3009m) reflected perfectly in the small lake by Laguna de Nájera as we get ready to strike camp
A marvelous 2 day backpacking trek into the upper reaches of the Lanjarón Valley in Spain's Sierra Nevada mountains. Still lots of snow which form tunnels through which the river flows. Beautiful scenery of mountains, rivers, wildflowers and a feeling of remoteness.The trek is 26km in total with 1500 metres ascent/descent.
Video 3:52
Did I tell you I like snow tunnels? This image from the upper Lanjaron Valley a couple of days ago
All packed up & ready for tomorrow's jaunt up the 15km Rio Lanjaron valley & reaching the Laguna de Lanjaron at 3000m tomorrow pm. Returning following day via the Verea Corta & lagunas at Bolanos, Cuadrado & Caballo. Maybe summiting Cerro de Caballo along the way? Taking spikes as I have heard some trails still affected by hard snow in the mornings.
Pack weight is 5kg + 1.5kg consumables and 0.7kg camera equipment.
@[email protected] it's 11am and its 100°C. It will generally cook from 10am until whenever we are ready to eat. Afternoon temp expect 150°C. We adjust the direction of the oven/shields if we want lower temps
The ultimate slow cooker, nothing overcooks
Our trusty sun/solar oven at work early this morning. A dhal curry is gently going to cook for hours during the day.
We bought this oven some 15+ years ago and its given excellent service. Anybody with some DIY skills could make this (I have none!). Its relatively simple, a black box with a parabolic aluminium shield. A very efficient, free energy resource.
