Day 8 – A Return To Cinque Torri

Feb 12, 2023

Today’s Adventure

Today’s adventure was a return visit to the Cinque Torri, a dramatic rock formation in the eastern Dolomites not far from the glitzy ski town of Cortina d’Ampezzo. Cinque Torri consists of five stone towers rising as high as 7,700 feet above sea level. This area was the scene of some bitter fighting between Italian and Austro-Hungarian troops during the first World War – many of their trenches, tunnels, and other stone fortifications remain over a century later. We first visited Cinque Torri last September so we knew that it would be a great destination for winter hiking.

This was going to be one of the longer travel days for this trip so we got on the road rather early. We started with a short train ride to Dobbiaco where we enjoyed a colorful sunrise before catching a Cortina Express bus. We arrived in Cortina d’Ampezzo, host for the upcoming 2026 Winter Olympics, just before 8:00 AM. Our timing was perfect and we walked right onto a waiting ski bus that took us the rest of the way. All told we had 1-1/2 hours of travel each way for this adventure.

The bus let us off at Baita Bai de Dones, the base station for the Cinque Torri ski area. We stopped in for a couple of of cappuccinos and one last look at the trail map before starting our hike. We had stopped here briefly during our visit back in the fall so we were familiar with the facility, but even so the trail that we picked for today would be new territory for us.

The snow-packed trail took us across an active ski run, past a frozen pond, and then up through an evergreen forest. It was an unrelenting uphill with some sections that were quite steep and almost slick enough for us to dig out our ice cleats. We knew that we’d be wearing them on our return trip in the afternoon so we toughed it out for the morning.

When we broke out of the trees we were treated to stunning views of craggy, snow-covered peaks in just about every direction. We also got our first look at Cinque Torri from the north and east. This side of the formation is dominated by the Torre Grande, the largest of the towers. Our climb continued quite close to the base of the Torre Grande where we found the Rifugio Cinque Torri, which was unfortunately boarded up and closed for the winter. At this point the trail turned west, skirting around the Cinque Torri and then uphill towards both the ski area and the popular Rifugio Scoiattoli.

From here our trail to the top paralleled a large ski run, but fortunately the ski operators groomed a dedicated trail off to one side just for us folks that climb mountains the old-fashioned way (on our feet) instead of via chair lift or cable car. When you weren’t looking uphill at the Forcella Nuvolau to see just how much further you had to go the views of Averau, Lagazuoi, Tofana di Rozes, Croda da Lago, and even the town of Cortina were excellent.

We finally reached the top after climbing over 1,900 feet in less than 3 miles, an average grade of about 9% – quite the grind, especially on snow-covered trails. While the hike had started out with full overcast the clouds were now gone and the sun was shining – it had turned into one of those high altitude days where you’re constantly checking to make sure that you actually have your sunglasses on and wondering if SPF30 was going to be enough.

Our climb was rewarded with a wonderful lunch on the sun terrace of the Rifugio Averau (https://www.rifugioaverau.it/en/). We got there a bit before most of the skiers decided to break for lunch and were able to snag a great table along the railing with long-range views of the surrounding mountains. Our lunch choices reflected the upscale atmosphere : Cindy ordered the lasagne with pheasant and broccoli while Stuart ordered wood-grilled venison with ligonberry jam and polenta.

One highlight of our lunch (aside from the food and the dramatic setting, anyway) was the arrival of a helicopter on the helipad next to the Rifugio. The restaurant’s location, known as the Forcella Nuvolau (the saddle between the Averau and Nuvolau mountains), offers the only flat spot in the immediate area for landing a helicopter to evacuate sick or injured skiers and hikers. Naturally we expected this to be a life flight given the skier traffic so we were a bit surprised and/or amused when it was just a couple being dropped off for lunch or maybe a little heli-skiing. Some pigs are more equal than other pigs, even in Italy. The pilot made a fairly hot approach and a very aerobatic departure, either of which would have probably resulted in his ticket being pulled by the FAA given the large number of nearby skiers and restaurant patrons.

After finishing lunch we put our gear on and headed back down the mountain. The weather was now stellar and the slightly warmer temperatures (upper 30’s) and brilliant sunshine made the snowpack a bit softer under foot. It was still slippery on the steep sections so we were glad to be wearing our ice cleats. We made good time and reached our original starting point at Bai de Dones somewhat earlier than expected, so instead of waiting around for a ski bus we decided to ride the Cortina Skyline cable car down the mountain to Son dei Prade, a point much closer to Cortina. From there we called a taxi for the final leg back to the main bus station. They still have a lot of work to do on the integration of public transit systems in and around Cortina before the masses of people arrive for the Winter Olympics in 2026!

A Cortina Express bus took us from the bus station in Cortina to the train station in Dobbiaco where we caught a train for the short ride back to Innichen. The hiking tracker on Stuart’s phone showed that we had covered 5.5 miles in 3:15 and had a total elevation gain of 1,913 feet. We averaged 35 minute miles, a bit slower than our usual, but not too bad given the higher elevation, steep grades, and snowy conditions.

For Innichen’s main page click here.

For Castelrotto’s main page click here.

For the entire trip’s main page click here.