Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026 - Breakfast at the
Hotel Diamont - note our view of yesterday's gondolas:
After 2 nights, we left
Hotel Diamont. After breakfast we boarded The Bus and headed east toward
Cortina d'Ampezzo - one of the sites of the
2026 Winter Olympic Games. To get there we had to cross the
Passo di Falzarego (Falzarego Pass):
Once over The Pass, 10 miles from
Hotel Diamont, we stopped to take The Chairlift up for today's hike:
To quote The Tour's pdf: "This morning starts with a scenic chair lift ride to the iconic
Cinque Torri, a dramatic cluster of five rock towers that once served as a strategic stronghold during World War I. Today, the area is an extraordinary open-air museum, where restored trenches, bunkers, and artillery emplacements wind beneath the iconic towers—silent witnesses to the fierce battles fought here between Italian and Austro-Hungarian troops. As you walk these serene and scenic trails, your guide brings history to life, sharing stories of the soldiers who endured high-altitude warfare and pointing out the panoramic views that made this site such a crucial observation post."
After all that scrambling, we were on a "regular trail" down to the bottom:
From there we drove 9.2 miles to a fun restaurant-with-a-view, up a dirt road (
Malga Giau):
View from the porch - note the dirt road:
Then the drive to
Hotel de Len in
Cortina d'Ampezzo:
The view from our hotel room:
Dinner-with-the-group, and off to bed. WOW - Thank you God for another wonderful Dolomite-Adventure Day!
Shameless Plug: if you enjoy this blog, you may like my other one about Hiking the 4,000 footers in New Hampshire/Vermont/Maine/New York:
hyperlink:
dixonheadingnorth
http://dixonheadingnorth.blogspot.com/
