Grumpy old mountain man living in Spain
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Dolomites Alta Via 2 day 5
Rifugio Castiglioni Marmolada to Passo San Pellegrino. 14km, 1000+m ascent.
Very tough day ascending through the humid, oppressive pine forests near Malga to the pass at Forca Rossa. Then nice descent through colourful alpine meadows lined with wild flowers to San Pellegrino.
I'm finding the bedroom via ferratas much more dangerous and exposed than the mountain ones 🤣
Dolomites Alta Via 2 day 4
Rifugio Pisciadu - Rifugio Castiglioni Marmolada
Threat of afternoon thunderstorms had us leaving refuge early at 6am. Had these glorious mountains to ourselves as we climbed steep snowfields & scrambled along cable assisted passages. We crossed over the alti plano, lunar landscape of the Sella Group to drop down to the busy road pass at Passo Pordoi and onto our overnight stay at the base of the magnificent Marmolada.
Some photos taken by a friend from today's trip between the Rifugio Puez and the Rifugio Pisciadu on the Alta Via 2
Dolomites Alta Via 2 day 3
Rifugio Puez to Rifugio Pisciadu
Another tough day of startling contrasts. From the beautiful early morning departure and excellent traverse to the dramatic Cir pinnacles to the crowded mass of noisy humanity at Passo Gardena.
The final 450m climb up the gully (Val Setus) to the refuge was as expected, very gnarly with cables assisting uplift in the upper section. Stunning scenery though.
Dolomites Alta Via 2 day 2
Rifugio Genova to Rifugio Puez today. An exciting and interesting day travelling 11 km with 900 m ascent/descent. Up and over steep passes, stunning views and the added interest of mid morning coffee stop in a beautifully situated refuge and an optional via ferrata along the route, that we loved.
Wild flowers galore, chirping marmots, dramatic scenery. A tough day certainly but extremely rewarding.
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.
