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

Day 4 - Rifugio Lagazuoi to Rifugio Croda da Lago (Palmieri)
D) Descend to the south on the road (464), and then left
onto 452 south to Passo Giau (2236 m). Again, there
is a Rifugio at the Pass that offers food and shelter,
should the weather be bad.
This trail was well marked like the others, but just
before Passo Giau the trail passes into a bolder field
between the edge of the grassy slopes and the cliffs
above the pass. The trail seem to split into lots of
tributaries in the bolder field and somehow we lost
the real trail. Seeing a microwave station just above
the pass we knew the trail would pass by that, so we
scrambled our way over to that and picked up the
trail there. You may want to stay especially alert for
those red and white stone markers in this area.
D - 3.0, 177m �
E) Cross the road and follow a beautiful high level variation of the Dolomites high route “1”
southeast on trail 436 all the way to the Forcella Ambrizola via the Forcella Giau.
This part of the route covers a lot of ground with a lot of terrain variety. The first half km is
quite level on very benign terrain, then over the next half km it continues contouring across a
very steep slope until arriving at Forcella de Col Piombin. From there is slowly descends
until it turns up again for the ascent of Forcella Giau. This was a fairly short ascent, but the
trail was muddy and slippery. With the dark clouds moving in and the poor trail conditions it
felt a bit like we were climbing Mt. Doom and we wondered what sort of descent we might
find on the other side of the pass. Much to our delight, we discovered a sort of high plateau
with gently rolling pastures and a very gentle descent. Adding to the pleasant surprise the
sun broke through just as we arrived at the top. Picture "The Sound of Music" with Julie
Andrews whirling about on a high Tyrolean pasture.
E - 4.9 km, 244m �, 203m �