Yep, mountaineering time again!



She_who_must_be_obeyed asked for her birthday to be celebrated on a mountain peak. I was happy to oblige and so we set out for the the Sella massif in the Dolomite Alps in South Tyrol, early morning on Saturday. 6 hours later we arrived at Corvara (1.500m) where we parked our car. The objective for the day was the Kostner refuge at 2.550m. The route leading to the hut was very steep and tiring so we were quite happy when we finally got there.



The Rifugio Kostner is a lovely small hut with only some 25 beads. We got a cozy room with two real beds, including chocolate on the pillows and hot-water bottles in heart-shaped cotton bags. Besides the two of us there were another dozen guests, a grandmother with her family, three generations celebrating her birthday! Suffice to say that we had a great evening since we immediately got invited to the festivities.

Evening view from the hut towards the Kreuzkofelgruppe.



Early next morning we set out for the Piz Lech, or Bo� Seekofel (2.910m). Since we left most of our luggage at the hut we climbed up quickly. The route offered a couple of easy climbing passages but for the most part it was just a steep track.



We reached the summit after about 1.5 hrs, enjoyed a little snack and a fantastic view.



We climbed back to the hut, picked up all our stuff and set out for the real objective of the day: Piz Bo� (3.152m).



The Piz Bo� is considered an "easy" 3.000 m summit because you can use a cable car to get up to 2.900m. We used a different route, the far more scenic "Lichtenfelser Weg" which includes a couple of easy fixed-rope route passages and offers the big advantage of not having to deal with large numbers of "tourists".



Slightly out of breath (ahem...) we reached the summit at about 3 PM. In the background the Marmolata can be (barely) seen, the "Queen of the Dolomites).



View towards the Sella plateau:



The Bo� refuge (2.873m) with the Piz Bo� in the background.



The evening/night in the hut was a blast. We met a group from Australia (all in their 60s!), two New Zealanders, another German couple and an Indian-Dutch couple living in Scotland, talk about diversity! Between the dozen of us and the landlady and her husband we celebrated my GF's birthday well past the usual H�ttenruhe at 10 PM.

After a night that was a little bit too short and a breakfast with a couple of bleary-eyed new friends we set out again at around 7.30 AM after many heartfelt goodbyes.



View down the Val de Mezdi and towards the Sas Sassongher.



The route rose through the Sella plateau to the Zwischenkogel, from then we started our way down towards Corvara. The Pisciad� lake and refuge (2.585m).



We climbed down into the Val de Mezdi with some steep passages secured by steel cables and artificial steps. Then we just followed a steep track down the valley.



We reached our car by about 1 PM, concluding a fantastic tour.


I'm already looking forward to the next tour in this absolutely beautiful region!

S�dtirol! Most beautiful mountain region, ever. That's why they shot most of "Cliffhanger" there (around Cortina).

And great pics! I especially love that part of S�dtirol, and am dying to go there again this year. Trentino last year in August was a huge letdown due to the weather. Well, when the locals shrug when you talk to them, just saying "Agosto....", you know you've come at the wrong time of year.

Did you bring a Klettersteigset for the Bo�seekofel? Or is it manageable without one?

Piz Bo� is a classic, and good for you guys to have taken the "honest" route up.

BTW, a nice and easy one-day hike is from Sellajoch along the Friedrich-August-Weg to Plattkofel. The Refugio Sandro Pertini and the Plattkofelh�tte are nice spots for taking a break, before the final 1000 "H�henmeter" straight up to the summit.

An alternative would be the Klettersteig from the Langkofelscharte.

Excellent pics as always Para.

Thanks guys.



@ Jayhakw: no, this time we didn't bring Klettersteigsets, you really don't need them for the routes we did. The pic with the metal steps just shows the most dramatic part of the route.

Plattkofel is already on my list for future trips, most probably this year in September. Then I want to do the Pisciad� Klettersteig, too. And yeah, S�dtirol is an alpinist's dream.

Last year's summer season must have been pretty bad. Both landlords of the Kostner and Bo� refuges told us how they spent weeks with barely any guests, daily rains and zero visibility. The lady of the Bo� hut pointed through a window at a 2m tall signpost outside the hut and said "Last year at that time the snow was still up to the top of the signs..."

Thanks again for the desktop o' the week

http://simhq.com/forum/files/usergals/2015/06/full-585-105194-sella011.jpg

it replaces a picture of yours from the May hike (which is now in rotation and will be seen again soon)

http://simhq.com/forum/files/usergals/2015/05/full-585-102655-l13.jpg

I do think all of the hike pictures threads should finish with an end of day Biergarten picture

Love seeing your mountain adventure pictures, thanks for sharing them.

My week-long hiking in Berchtesgaden is still alive in my memory from almost 40 years ago. Beautiful pics! I hope you two have many more great trips in those awesome mountains!

She-who-must-be-obeyed was an awesome catch!

Thanks guys. And yes, I consider myself a very lucky man to have a GF that shares my passion for the mountains.

And who hates shopping.

If she's also a PC gamer then you are officially the luckiest man on Earth.

Ha! No, she's not really into computer games. It would be starting to get scary if she was.

what beautiful country, those pictures are amazing. Thanks for sharing them