Hiking in the Dolomiti Near Cortina d'Ampezzo by Steve Ford These ...

Day 4 - Rifugio Lagazuoi to Rifugio Croda da Lago (Palmieri)
OnTop offers numerous route options for this day. Alternatives will be listed in the options
section at the end of this document, the following is the hike we did:
A) We descended from Lagazuoi via the gondola saving our knees from 3 km and 643 m
(2,110 ft) of descent.
B) From Falzarego Pass take 441 southeast to the Forcella Averau (2435 m), short but gravelly
descent and contour around the south face of the Averau to the Averau Hut (2413 m).
Careful for rock fall, there might be rock climbers in the face above you.
The first part of this trail is quite simple, basically just hiking up what are ski slopes in the
winter. A little ways before Forcella Averau the trail enters a couple of narrow rocky slots
where the trail turns into a rock scramble.
C) You could have lunch at Rifugio Averau but we strongly recommend climbing the extra 30
minutes up to the Nuvolau summit (2575 meters) to visit the oldest hut in the Dolomites.
Enjoy one of the best views of the range, eye to eye with the huge peaks of the Civetta and
the Monte Pelmo immediately to the south. Say hello from us to hut keepers Mansueto and
Giovanna Siorpaes (originally named Jo-Anne and she is from Vancouver, their daughter
Wendy skis for the Italian National team in alpine downhill).
We opted to keep going, and have lunch at Passo Giau (phonectic pronunciation: Jow)
rather than going up to Rifugio Nuvolau because there were about 70 students that took that
option and we thought it would be a bit crowded, and because we knew this would be an
especially long day for us, so it was a way to reduce the mileage a bit.
B - 3.5km, 330m �, 22m �