Day 1 – Hiking From Rifugio Auronzo

Feb 5, 2023

Today’s Adventure

For the first outing of our winter adventure in the Dolomites Cindy and I decided to visit the iconic Tre Cime di Lavaredo, also known as the ‘Drei Zinnen’ in German. We had visited this stunning trio of stone towers back in September but during that visit the clouds had conspired to keep us from getting a clear view.

Alas, we did no better on this visit thanks to the prior day’s high winds. Those winds caused major drifting that made the hiking trails that access the best vantage points around the peaks essentially impassable. No matter, today’s skies were clear and the sunshine was more than abundant (please pass the sunscreen!) so we made the best of the situation.

Our day started with a car service that picked us up at our apartment and delivered us to Lago Antorno, the end of the line in terms of winter road maintenance on the approach to the Tre Cime. Normally we would have taken a bus for this half-hour ride, but those buses don’t run at this time of the year and we had to find some alternative. A little web research by Cindy found a taxi company based just down the road in Dobbiaco that helped us to make the day’s outing possible for a reasonable price.

At the Chalet Lago Antorno we checked in at the booth for Tre Cime Services, a concessionaire that runs snowmobile shuttles up the otherwise snowbound six kilometer road from Lago Antorno to the Rifugio Auronzo. With the temperature hovering in the teens we loaded up for a rather cold ride in a 4 passenger open sled. Thankfully the scenery more than made up for the wind chill!

When we reached the top we found that the Rifugio Auronzo had not yet opened for the day. Their extremely remote location means that they have to operate off-grid during the winter with a large diesel generator for power and all supplies (including water!) brought in by snowmobile. This means that they understandably operate on a very limited basis during the winter, typically for just a few hours each Saturday and Sunday as the weather allows. They did finally open shortly after our arrival and offered a small menu of coffee, canned/bottled beverages, and fresh baked goods sourced in local towns.

After enjoying a couple of cappuccinos and splitting a slice of spiced cake with jam filling in the sunny dining room we put on all of our gear and headed out for the walk down the mountain. Our path was mostly along the snowmobile trail so the snow was already packed down and not too hard to navigate. There were a few icy spots but also a few bare spots as well due to the blowing and drifting conditions the prior day.

A couple of miles walking through some cold but stunning scenery brought us to the entrance for the Malga Rin Bianco, a family-run farm restaurant located in a beautiful sun-filled meadow. We found a great table up against the building (i.e. sheltered from the wind) and sat facing out into the sun.

After taking care of the ‘Two Beers with a View’ ritual we ordered a hot lunch and sat back to enjoy the atmosphere. Both of our lunches were excellent – Cindy ordered the polenta with porcini, chanterelle, and chiodini mushrooms while I had potato gnocchi with sage butter and smoked ricotta.

Following lunch we sadly gave up our prime table and headed back down the mountain towards our starting point. When we reached Lago Antorno we realized that we still had some time left before our driver was due to arrive so we kept on walking and ended up at Lago di Misurina, a classic Italian mountain resort located on the shores of a scenic (albeit iced over) alpine lake. We texted our driver and let him know to pick us up in front of the Grand Hotel Misurina instead of at the Chalet Antorno – this actually shortened and simplified his drive so it was no problem.
Overall it was a great day – it didn’t go exactly as planned thanks to the winter conditions, but our familiarity with the area and Cindy’s extensive research in preparation for this trip combined to give us a very enjoyable Plan B.

For Innichen’s main page click here.

For Castelrotto’s main page click here.

For the entire trip’s main page click here.