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

Day 2 - Taxi to Malga Ra Stua, then hike to Rifugio Lavarella
Note: OnTop's hiking directions are shown in blue text, while our commentary is in black.
A) Sandro picked us up at 8:30 delivering us to Malga Ra Stua at 9:00.
B) From Ra Stua (1668 m) follow the road (marked trail # 9) north for about 1 km (20 min) until
the hiking trail # 9 departs on the left.
This hike begins on a very easy grade through the bucolic pastures of the Ra Stua farm.
After about 1.4 km it turns west ascending more steeply on switchbacks (~0.8km). Most of
the trails we saw throughout this hike were exceptionally well constructed and maintained;
this trail was an especially good example.
C) Follow the trail west past the Fodara Lake to the Rifugio Fodara (1966 m).
After ascending the switchbacks (30 or 40 minutes) the grade is essentially flat until just past
Rifugio Fodara (2.0km).
B & C - 4.2km, 298m �
D) From Rifugio Fodara descend on the dirt road (again # 9) which will be joined by the
Dolomites High Route 1 (marked “1” in a triangle) all the way to the Pederu Hut (1548 m).
Just east of Rifugio Fodara is a trail that parallels the road. This trail covers perhaps 25% of
the decent to Pederu and then reconnects with the road. The road is extremely steep and
has many areas paved with concrete in order to facilitate car traffic (which is rare). Gravel
on the concrete makes the footing on this road rather tricky. We found our hiking poles very
helpful on this stretch. We used the road rather than the trail so we have no information
about the quality of the trail, but I doubt it was worse than the road.
The Pederu Hut can also be reached by car should the weather be very adverse, however it
would mean a 1 hr drive from Cortina at additional cost.
D - 2km, 418m �