Dolomites 2005 A personal diary ....

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Day 8: Wednesday 7 September

Around Rifugio Contrin

We all seemed to have slept well.  It may have had something to do with us being tired after the previous day’s exertions.  Eventually everyone was awake and headed for breakfast.  It was not as good as yesterday’s but was still more than adequate and everyone seemed to be satisfied with it.

The two girls decided to make the most of the rest day.  Ian and Willie decided to attempt to climb Col Ombert at 2670m, while the rest intended to climb Cime Ombretta at 3011m.

This group started by following route 607, and initially we were in the shade.  In fact it was so cold I needed to get my gloves on.  We followed this easy path until we came to a junction.  At this point we followed route 612, but made a mistake and missed the path to the Via Ferrata Ombretta and ended up heading to Passo di Ombrettola.  After discovering this mistake, we thought that we might head up and climb Sasso Vernale at 3058m, as there was a path to the summit shown on the map.

On the way up to the col, we came across a small herd of ibex who obligingly didn’t run off before we managed to get some photos.  When we got to the col however, the route up to Sasso Vernale did not appear to be obvious, so we opted to follow a path that took us to the summit of Cima Ombrettola at 2931m.  While there, the mist rolled in and out, but we did manage to get some photos.  However, even looking back at Sasso Vernale from this summit, there didn’t seem to be much of a path up to what looked like a very rocky ridge.

We followed the path to the Passo delle Cirelle where we could rejoin route 607.  We took the chance to have a look around, taking in the view down the Busc delle Tasca.  There was some sort of memorial to a “Padre Hippy”, but I haven’t been able to find out anything about him. Taking route 607, we came back down to the junction with our route of ascent, passing some of the left overs from World War 1 such as barbed wire, empty cans and fence posts.

When we arrived at the junction, we took the chance to check where we had gone wrong on the route up and soon realised that our original route would have included a via ferrata stage.  We couldn’t make it out through the binoculars, so some of us walked over to try to find it.

When we got there, Allan and then Gordon had a try at the route, going part way up before descending.  The “Pink Fish” got its first Via Ferrata experience hooked on to Allan. We then headed back to meet up with the others and set off to head back to the Contrin.  It was an easy descent and just before the rifugio, we took a detour into the Malga Contrin for a beer and a torte ricotta.  It was a very nice finish to the day’s walk.

We then took the short walk back to the Rifugio Contrin.  We discovered that Iris and Diane had moved the washing to the outside clothes line.  I checked my stuff but it still hadn’t quite dried.  Ian and Willie had both enjoyed their day and managed to get to the summit of Col Ombert as planned.

We headed off in relays to get ourselves showered and changed. Again I took my fleece as I headed outside, being quite cool out of the sun.  I decided to collect my washing before I forgot about it, before joining the others.  We had a couple of drinks sitting outside while we discussed our day’s experiences. Before long, we headed in to the dining room as it started to get a bit chilly.

We again had a good meal and afterwards had some coffee and a few drinks.  Tomorrow is the last day that we will be doing any walking .. and it doesn’t seem that long since we arrived at the Vajolet.  We have been lucky with the weather and the days have just flown by.  As I head for bed, I reflect on the fact that we have had yet another good day.

Bob MacDonald