Munich→Venice, rest day in Cortina d’Ampezzo

As planned, after breakfast, we headed to the bike shop that rents Via Ferrata equipment. It was quick and soon we were walking to the gondola base station behind the 1956 Olympic Ice Stadium. It was sprinkling a little but we didn’t worry. During the ride we had a beautiful view of the town and two giant rabbits chasing each other on the ski slopes. About 15 minutes later we were 550 meters higher and … it was raining. The next step was to hike down 20 minutes and take a chair lift to the bottom of the Via Ferrata Ra Bujela route. We waited in the restaurant for the weather to improve, but it really didn’t. We had some hot drinks and tiramisu, but after watching it rain for 90 minutes we decided to call it a day. We noticed a few lightening flashes and thunder and sure enough, when we got to the gondola entrance it was stopped; being suspended from a long cable in a lightening storm is not a good idea.

After some more time relaxing, the gondola finally started back up and we descended back to Cortina d’Ampezzo. As we walked back to return the equipment, the rain stopped and then the sun came out. Suddenly, everywhere we looked around the valley looked clear and fine.

Plan B was quickly made: don’t return the equipment, have lunch and head back up and do the route! We walked the 1.5 km back to the gondola station only to find that the whole system was shut down due to high wind. It was windless and sunny in the valley so this felt weird, but there was nothing to do except make a plan C. This was to drop off the climbing equipment at the hotel and take another cable car up to a point called Refugio Faloria. We were laughing as we tried to imagine what condition would occur to thwart this plan, but it actually worked and soon we were in a 40-person cable car, quietly moving fast up the steep slope.

Linda was in the car with us and we met quite a number of our group on top. Several of us did a short nature walk with amazing views of the valley over 1000m below. We walked to the ruin of the “Cliffhanger Lodge”, used in making the 1993 movie Cliffhanger. The two of us did another short hike before returning to the Refugio for some cold drinks in the shade, entertained by Art and Shelley’s hilarious stories.

We took the 4:40 cable car down, then returned our unused Via Ferrata gear. We had gelato to reward ourselves for having fun regardless of what happens, then walked back to the hotel for showers and a rest. Dinner was the usual affair, in a big group with lots of tasty food in the hotel restaurant. We had tasty eggplant parmigiana followed by polenta with massive slabs of fried cheese.