![\"3127](\"http:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/3127-Dolomite-Peaks-Map.jpg\")
<\/a>I’ve included this picture of a section of the Dolomites so you can see how rugged and jagged the peaks are. This is where Reinhart Messner became famous.\u00a0 He probably climbed them all!![\"3112](\"http:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/3112-Dolomite-Drive-Ortisie-9.jpg\")
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<\/a><\/p>\nOur first stop was to check out the quaint little town of Ortisei\u00a0 in the Val Gardena on the Rio Gardena\u00a0river. It is a skiing destination in the winter.\u00a0 There is a pretty little church in the town center with an impressive statue of St Ulrich (890 – 973AD ). He was Bishop of Augsburg and a leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Germany. He was the first saint to be canonized. He might be trying to say something to Mary Ann.<\/p>\n
In front of the church in the middle picture is a couple on our tour: Russ and Carole from Watertown, MA.\u00a0 More on Russ later. We hadn’t had enough of passes yet so we drove up to another one. A a cable-car leads up from the pass road to its very summit. There is a restaurant up there and a lookout platform, famous for its views towards the Marmolada and Langkofel Groups. The cable-car is free hanging – there are no pillars on the 2625 foot ascent! . Kathy and Joe were in the taxi with us in Rome when I had my rant. Now they heard a ketchup rant.\u00a0 What might they be thinking about this ranter? One day, with the purpose to kidnap Ondina, the warlock covered the sky up with a beautiful rainbow, and the nymph came out from the waters to stare at it. When she saw the sorcerer she, frightened, escaped, leaving him in rage. In that moment, the lord of Latemar, grabbed the rainbow and threw it in thousand pieces in the lake. Since, all the rainbows colors can be found in it. We ten reboarded the bus and drove back to the hotel in Bolzano.\u00a0 On the way back we discussed our plan to do some hiking with Russ from Watertown, MA and Irv from Rockville, MD. They wanted to join us so we planned to meet at\u00a0 10AM the next morning in the hotel lobby.<\/p>\n Go to Page 09 Into the Dolomites This morning we boarded our bus for our scheduled tour of the Dolomite Mountains.\u00a0 This is an important tour for Mary Ann and I and one of the main reasons we booked this trip. It’s a “Bucket … Continue reading <\/a>The town is known for it’s wood workers. Here’s one of them.<\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a>Here are two things I didn’t expect to see: A statue of a boy (with his pants down) watering flowers and a poster for “Kowalski”. What do they mean? Maybe “absolutely nothing”.<\/a>Here are the bridges over and the Rio Val Gardena that flows past Ortisei.<\/a>Up the valley, looming over Ortisei is Sasso Lunga. It is a 10436 foot Dolomite peak. Unbelievably pointed.\u00a0 How could Messner climb it??<\/a>Probably this way. These climbs are very much in an untouched environment, so do not expect spits, fix, marked ways (routes) or sport climbing. The normal ways usually have some pitons and if you are experienced in moving in “wild areas” it is easy to follow them. Usually these ways are called “alpinistic” ways. Remember these are NOT prepared ways, do NOT go there in “shorts” or with an inadequate equipment.\u00a0 Good advice!<\/a> <\/a>We drove up and up and closer and closer to the peaks.\u00a0 We finally arrived at Passo Sella at 7414 feet above sea level. We were getting up close and personal with one of the mountains in The Sella group (a plateau-shaped massif in the Dolomites). The clouds swirling around made for this dramatic pic.<\/a> <\/a>As we drove down from the pass, we saw more amazing peaks! I’m sure glad we had a good bus driver. He never missed a turn!<\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a>This is the Pordoi Pass.\u00a0 It is at\u00a0 7,346 ft. It is the highest surfaced road traversing a pass in the Dolomites.<\/a>Above the pass is the Sass Pordoi mountain. The Sass Pordoi is easily one of the most visited mountains of the Dolomites. At 9685 feet not much is missing for the mountain to be a 10,000 footer.<\/p>\n<\/a>Here is a little map showing the Passo Pordoi. The black line going straight up from the pass is the 2625 foot cable car.\u00a0 I bet it’s a scary ride. Note the winding road to the pass. Also scary!<\/a><\/a>About all there is at the pass is a restaurant\/gift shop and a lonely little church on a bluff.<\/p>\n<\/a>Supposedly there are marmots in them thar hills.\u00a0 The only one we saw was a stuffed one in the gift store.<\/a>We left the peaks and descended to a little town with a nice cutesy restaurant. Most of the group fit into a small dining room in the back.\u00a0 Mary Ann and I ate with Joe and Kathy in the bar.\u00a0 Everything was OK until I asked for some ketchup for my potatoes. You’d have thought I asked the waitress to slice open her wrist.\u00a0 However, she did finally found a bottle and all was well.<\/p>\n<\/a>The “piece de resistance” was the dessert” Ice cream in sauce, pastry, berries, and a whipped cream thingy.\u00a0 It needed no ketchup.<\/a>When we left the restaurant, we watched a paraglider do loops around the town.\u00a0 Mary Ann’s brothers Bill\u00a0 and Paul do some paragliding.<\/a>We then drove to Lake Carezza AKA Rainbow Lake.\u00a0 There is a legend that express the whole sense of mystery and magic around this peaceful space: According to the tale, a nymph called Ondina (little wave) used to live in the lake, while the wizard of the Latemar Mountain (The beautiful Dolomite mountain in the background) was falling in love with her.<\/p>\n<\/a>When we saw the lake it was pretty much dried up, the mountain was obscured by clouds, and and the nymph was away.<\/a> There was a great trail that went around the lake that we hiked.<\/p>\nSo endeth our Dolomite bus tour.<\/h2>\n
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