Day 4 – A Surprising Hike At Resciesa

Oct 4, 2022

Today’s Adventure

Today Cindy and I enjoyed a long hike on Resciesa (Raschötz in German), a substantial mountain looming over Ortisei that forms much of the northern boundary of the Val Gardena. This is one of the lesser known hikes in the Dolomites, but that doesn’t mean that there was any shortage of challenging terrain or spectacular scenery.

We started out by walking across town from our apartment to the base terminal for the Funicolare Resciesa. This funicular or inclined railway took us high up onto Resciesa. While the southern side of the mountain, i.e. the side facing Ortisei, is mostly tree covered and walkable, the northern side is crowned by a jagged knife edge and steep cliffs, not unlike the much more famous Seceda, which lies just to the east of Resciesa. We found ourselves just above the tree line on the edge of a large alp or meadow.

From there we headed west across the lower edge of the meadow towards the Val Isarco. We passed the Utia di Resciesa, a rifugio that was surprisingly still open, on our way to Mont Dedora (Ausseraschötz in German), a minor peak at the western end of the meadow. As we approached the summit of Mont Dedora we explored the Heiligkreuzkapelle Raschötz, a charming small mountain chapel, before finishing the climb. At the summit there is a lovely and quite large carved wooden crucifix called Resciesa Dedora Crocefisso that enjoys tremendous views down into Val Isarco with Barbiano to the south and Brixen to the north.

As we turned back towards the east we were rewarded with a huge panoramic view north into the Austrian Alps, south over the Alpe di Siusi, and east towards Seceda. The path took us along the uppermost edge of the meadow along a dramatic ridgeline. That ridgeline, with smooth meadows on one side and vertical stone cliffs on the other, divides the Val Gardena from the Val di Funes and is a lower extension of the more famous Seceda.

The trail eventually took us back near our starting point at the top of the Resciesa lift. We were ready for a break, so we stopped at the charming and relatively small Malga Cason (Almhütte Cason in German) for cappuccino and homemade spice cake with a jam filling. Amusingly the owners had a fleet of der blaue Schurz out to dry on their clothesline. These are the traditional blue aprons worn by farmers and other laborers in the Südtirol.

We had intended to have lunch at the Brogleshütte (Rifugio Malga Brogles in German) but in spite of all indications that it would still be open it was, in fact, already closed for the season. This was quite evident as soon as the rifugio came into view because there was a large gantry crane in place and some heavy construction underway. We decided to turn back to the Passo di Brogles and then head down the valley towards Ortisei to see if we could find somewhere else to eat.

While most of the morning had been in open meadows along the ridgeline this part of the hike was mostly in the forest. This trail took us past the mid-station for the Seceda cable cars, a convenient and most welcome pit stop after our long morning’s walk. Shortly afterwards we stumbled upon a charming and highly-rated restaurant called Costamula (https://www.costamula.com/) that turned out to be an excellent alternative for lunch. Cindy had the venison burger with apricot mayonnaise, crispy speck , and alpine cheese. Stuart ordered the Wiener Schnitzel, but what he really wanted was the burger – our server checked with the chef and they were concerned that the venison was seasoned with onion, so his food allergy forced the substitution.

We enjoyed a leisurely lunch and finished our beers on the sun terrace at Costamula before catching a perfectly-timed shuttle bus back down the hill to Ortisei.

To return to the main page for Ortisei click here.

To return to the main page for the entire trip click here.