Friday, July 29, 2016

Alta Via 1

After getting completely addicted to backpacking/trekking during our TMB trip in 2014 (and Landmannalaugar in 2015) I searched for the next place to escape my corporate prison and blow my hard earned money. There were two things on our list: New Zealand home to some of the most famous treks (Milford and Routeburn) and the very famous Inca Trail in Peru. There were many issues with NZ that made it impossible at the end to make it happen. First of all you have to go during our winter (not ideal), plane ticket prices were ridiculous (2k minimum for a 56hr, 3 layover flight.... that translates to about 4 extra vacation days just for flying), and finally the more I researched the island, the more I realized that it deserves significantly more time than what my vacation allows. At the end we decided against it (although definitely keeping it on our bucket list). The Inca Trail idea got canned very quickly, as the decision was made for us. All permits were booked already for the season, and since you can not do the Inca Trail without a guide that was that. Not sure how I eventually discovered Alta Via, however it seems to pop up on the internet frequently when the TMB is discussed. Actually most of the people we met on the trek have heard of the TMB (and/or were considering doing it next). Maybe I'll do a post in the future on the differences between these two as it seems to be a common question. Comparing to the TMB however the information about the Alta Via (blogs especially) is very sparse. Hopefully I can include some useful and practical info from our trek.
Day 0
We've done all preparations and bookings about 5-6 months in advance using mostly the "Trekking in the Dolomites" Cicerone guide which was just updated in 2016. Just like on the TMB we stayed exclusively at the mountain huts (Rifugios). As some of these were already booked and as we wanted to finish in 8 days instead of the guidebook recommended 11, we extended certain parts of the trek (certainly doable, as some stages are a bit short). All bookings can be done either through an online registration form or direct email. Some but not all huts require a deposit, and all but ##### took credit cards to settle the remaining bill once we got there. Speaking of getting there, for some reason all blogs and the guidebook recommend taking a combination of trains and buses from Venice to get to Lago Di Braies (the official Alta Via 1 starting point). Since we wanted to go directly from the airport this didn't seem ideal. Also it's a 40minute 8EUR bus or 15EUR boat trip from Venice airport to the train station. There are Cortina Express buses (http://www.cortinaexpress.it/?lang=en) going directly from the airport (and when I say directly I mean you exit the terminal and the bus stop is in front of you) to Cortina. From there you take another bus to Dobbiaco and a local bus to Lago Di Braies. The first two buses can be booked online, the last one you just pay couple EURs as you board. The schedule is also conviniently set up so that when the Cortina-Dobbiaco bus arrives within 15 minutes the bus to LD-Braise leaves. The whole thing is easily doable in one shot, however we decided that after a long flight from NYC and then 2hrs bus ride, we will spend the first night in Cortina where we already booked a hotel.
View from our hotel in Cortina, Hotel Europe only few steps from the town center. Clean room, nice view, great breakfast and under 100EUR, no complains!
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