Hiking the Alta Via 1 in Italy's Dolomite Mountains

   I have just come back from hiking in the Dolomite Mountains for the second time. The first time was six years ago, with my late husband, on the Alta Via 2. (See posts between September 21 and October 27, 2016.) This time I went with my friend Margaret and her eighteen-year-old son, William, and we were hiking the Alta Via 1.

William, me, Margaret. Day 5 on the AV 1. Photo by another hiker

The AV 1 is seventy-five miles long and generally takes eleven days. However, even though we started making reservations in February, some of the rifugios were already booked full, and we had to adjust the recommended stages to do the hike in ten days. 

    Starting at 4908 feet, at Lago di Braies, the AV 1 peaks at 9029 feet.

View from Lagazuoi, the highest rifugio on the AV 1
photo by Margaret Della Santina

Its lowest point, at the end of the last day, is 1470 feet. Total elevation gain is approximately 21,833 feet, but that doesn't mean much, since any particular day might gain and lose and gain again many hundreds of feet of altitude. Our shortest day was two hours. We had two long, eight-hour days. We stayed in nine rifugios, sometimes in a private room, sometimes in a room with six or eight other people, sometimes in a room for four without a fourth person. We had dinner and breakfast at the rifugio and generally ate extremely well; breakfasts were substantial (cafe au lait, yogurt with either cornflakes or muesli, cheeses, hams, breads with jam or Nutella, sometimes eggs, too), and the dinners—prima (first course), secondo (second course), and dessert—lots of pastas, polenta, sausages, hams, and Italian sauces—were usually very good.

Photo by William della Santina

We met many hikers and made quick friends—a couple from Colorado who promised to come ski at Crater Lake with me, a young couple from Spain now living in Germany, a couple from North Carolina, and three women who had stolen a week from their families to hike together in the Dolomites. Except for the last group, who were hiking the opposite direction from ours, we saw these people at different rifugios along the way.

    Having hiked in the Dolomites before, I knew, more or less, what I was in for, so I spent as much of the summer as possible hiking. I chose the steepest trails I knew and hiked with a pack. I hiked and hiked and hiked, and then the day came when I was flying to Italy and all preparations had to be sufficient. 

    And they were. I was so glad I had done all that physical labor! No matter how steep and long the trail, my legs never cried out for a stop, my muscles never ached, and my breath was adequate. At Rifugio Lagazuoi, the highest point on the trail, at the top of a very long, steep climb,

Note how far away the rifugio is. Photo by Margaret Della Santina

a woman complimented me on my hiking style, telling me she had hiked behind me and was impressed with how steadily I climbed. Margaret said she would have been even more impressed if she had known I was 78. 

    By my observation, I was the oldest person hiking the entire AV 1, and William, at 18, was the youngest. There were young children on various parts—and on some impressively difficult parts—but it didn't look like anyone younger than William was hiking the whole trail.

    Because of arthritis in my feet (hallux rigidus, bunions, bone spurs, neuromas), downhill is more difficult than uphill, and no amount of training could make that any easier. At the end of each eight-hour day, I flung myself down, took off my boots, and just let my feet throb. On the whole, though, I was highly pleased with my body and what it did for me. 

    Margaret and William were great hiking companions. We shared rooms easily; no one complained about anyone's sleeping habits, and we agreeably went to bed and woke in the morning in sync, ready for breakfast when it was served and for the trail shortly after breakfast. In addition, Margaret took care of all the logistics—booking the rifugios, speaking Italian, handling the monetary exchanges. I couldn't have found better companions for the Alta Via 1. Both William and Margaret hiked faster than I, but they sometimes let me go first, anyway, and they sometimes hiked ahead of me but waited at every junction for me to catch up.

William and Margaret, hiking ahead of me

On the last very long day, with its steep and interminable descent, I hiked between them. William would hike way ahead, then stop to wait for us to catch us (and take a nap, I think; he certainly had time for it). I kept suggesting to Margaret that she could go in front of me because she hikes faster, but she said she liked the pace. 

    I loved this trip on the Alta Via 1 with Margaret and William. I love the Dolomites. For the next ten days I will post a day-by-day account of this hike, hoping to give you a glimpse into why.