Dolomites Trip - Day 8

Chris was finally starting to feel better. We drove back up to Passo Giau with its 29 hairpin turns—tornanti. They even numbered them with a sign at the bottom of the mountain telling us exactly hairpin turns there would be. The pass links the valleys of Ampezzo and Livinallongo.

You'll climb a nonstop 9% average incline passing many bicyclists along the way. It is one of the feature roads in the professional cycling race, the Giro d'Italia (similar to the Tour de France).

Today we planned to hike around Cinque Torri—5 Towers. We took the gondola to the top of the mountain and hiked first to the Nuvolau Rifugio (the hut at the tip top of the mountain). They use a small gondola to bring supplies up to the hut.

There were so many people hiking with us. We sat at the top for a couple of minutes, before returning to the base and climbing down the mountain side to Cinque Torri.

We sat on a grassy area and ate a picnic lunch overlooking the towers before starting our hike around the towers (one of which collapsed back in 2004 due to erosion). The 5 towers were the main view on the right with Rifugio Scoiattoli on the left (the 5 Torri Chairlift brings tourists up from the base of Baita Bai De Dones in the valley). The Dolomites were the setting for many WWI battles; we hiked around the battlements and fortifications. 

We walked on pathways through and around the towers.

Instead of walking straight up the hill back to Rifugio Averau at the chairlift station, Chris found a path around Mount Averau. We had two young girls following us for a bit, overtaking us, and then suddenly stopping in the middle of the trail to rest. They weren’t happy that we continued on around them. They tried to overtake us again, but we out-hiked them.

We followed another narrow path around the mountain until we were back at the Rifugio Averau. I noticed that they served hamburgers, so we stopped for a proper lunch. The burgers were huge. I finally folded my top bun in half like a taco shell with the hamburger in the middle, discarded the bottom bun, and ate my hamburger like that. Too many carbs with both the top and bottom bun. 

We ended our day with a gondola ride back down the mountain to Rifugio Fedare next to the Giau Fedare chair lift. Nuvolau mountain wasn’t covered in clouds today, so Chris was kind enough to stop for me so I could get a better picture. 

On our way back to the rental, we stopped at the nearby village of Selva for a few groceries and then relaxed for the rest of the evening.