B’n’B

One thing we've noticed in the Dolomites is the pleasing lack of bugs. I call it the A&A BnB tour (Beer, No Bugs). John L, are you listening?

Rifugio Tuckett inspired a limerick:

The ward of Rifugio Tuckett
Hauled beer to the hut in a bucket
The hikers from town
Drank it all down
Those walkers really can suck it

Extreme hiking

We could have returned the way we came but decided to take the advice of "Ricky" and go back on the east slope to the Tuckett Pass. Why backtrack? (Though one hiker said to me, "It's ok to backtrack because the views are different going the other way.") The going was slow and extreme. It took us 6 hours to go 5 miles. We crossed 8 or 9 steep snowfields, clutched the Via Ferrata cables with our lives, and then at the pass shivered to see we had a black diamond ski run to get down (without skis or crampons). We took it step by step though I wished I had a toboggan! Most humiliating was when an Italian glissaded by while eating a sandwich and I was inching down on my butt. Being so snow-challenged blows our claim to be Canadian.

Send for supplies

Far from roads, most huts use a cable system to haul all the supplies up and all the trash down the mountain. At Passo Principe we watched a hut boss pushing a motorized tractor cart down a rocky trail. Today we saw a helicopter delivering supplies because the cable was inoperative.

Rifugio Pedrotti

The huts crowd up on weekends and Rifugio Pedrotti fills with hard core mountain climbers and experienced Via Ferrata alpinists. Hikers like us seem an oddity up high in the Brenta. Add to that the fact that we don't know the rules of soccer and, well, we felt a bit out of place. A Brit and two Scotsmen managed to get a TV on in the hut to see England beat Sweden and began discussing leaving the mountain early in order to catch the World Cup semifinals. (Julie, one of them reminded me of Ricky Gervais.)

Over the Brenta Pass

Though we don't have the harness, helmet, and carabiners needed for proper Via Ferrata, we had a chance to use the fixed cables and ladders while en route up and over the snowy Brenta pass to our next hut, Rifugio Pedrotti.

Heaven can wait

Passing shrines and chapels along the trail gives one pause about the route ahead. At Rifugio Brentei, our cappuccino stop, we noticed a service in progress for hikers before they continued on. It often feels like a stairway to heaven on these high mountain pass trails.

Rifugio Tuckett

Tucked in a stunning setting, Rifugio Tuckett is named after Englishman Francis Fox Tuckett, an early mountaineer who explored the Dolomites in the 1870s. Built in 1904, the hut has been remodeled a few times and most recently added an iPhone charging station. The hut boss took a liking to us and gave us a room (with 8 beds) to ourselves.