We arose at the customary early hour of 06:15hrs, and following fibre-filled breakfast, hit the trail for what turned out to be an arduous hike with more ups and downs than the Silurian Empire! Astrid had many trepidations, fearing the route to be too technical. We had thus decided the night before to follow the AV2 as far as the rifugio at Piso del Mulaz, which indeed was arduous and required much hauling on fixed wire rope.
After brief pit stop at the rifugio we opted to follow ‘escape route’ 710 off the Paledi San Martino massif to Passo Rollo, a small ski village, not knowing if the village was ‘open’ off season. The ‘escape’ proved to be more arduous still, with knees subjected to major hammering on the steep route down. The Gods then decided to extend our misery by steering the route up over another col at Passo Costazza, and subjecting us to strong cold headwinds and freezing rain.
Suffice to say, after plodding a total of over 7 hrs we were much relieved to find Passo Rollo open for business – which proved brisk that evening going by the large quantity of house wine consumed to placate the soul….
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