Day 5 – The Prato Piazza

Jan 16, 2020

Today’s Blog Entry

Today’s adventure was an outstanding winter hike in the Prato Piazza, a high alpine valley surrounded by some of the best scenery in the Dolomites. Of all the days that Cindy and I have spent in the mountains over the years this was easily Top 5 in terms of epic scenery.

To get to the Prato Piazza we rode the regional bus from Dobbiaco to a small hamlet called Ponticello where we transferred to a private shuttle that took us up the steep and winding (did I mention snow-covered?) road. At the entrance we were happy to find the Berggasthof Platzweise, a classic mountain inn and restaurant where we enjoyed a cappuccino before gearing up for our hike.

The highlight of the day was our climb to the top of the Strudelkopf, a 7,600 foot peak with a spectacular 360 degree view. This view included a clear look at the Drei Zinnen (Three Peaks) formation that is the trademark for this region – it appears just about everywhere in their signage, advertising, etc. We shared this challenging hike both up and down with a company of Italian soldiers on Telemark skis!

After descending from the Strudelkopf we were lucky to snag a primo table on the sun terrace at the Berggasthof Platzweise (https://www.plaetzwiese.com/en/) – the perfect place for a hot lunch and a cold beer. Once we finished lunch we decided to bypass the shuttle and walk back down to Ponticello on a dedicated winter hiking trail. Walking this extra trail, which dropped rapidly through some heavily wooded terrain, brought our total for the day to around 9 miles.

The high temperature today was a balmy 31 after a crisp morning start in the low 20’s. It was one of those sunny high mountain days where it’s so bright that you keep checking to make sure that you remembered to put on your sunglasses. While the weather’s been great so far, we wouldn’t mind some clouds if it means some fresh snow. There’s a chance in the forecast for Saturday so we’ll see what happens!