Hut Hike Day 3: From Lavaredo to Rifugio Fratelli Fonda Savio

Distance Travelled: 7.61km
Elevation Gained: 536m
Time to Destination: 5.5 hours

After the busy-ness of Locatelli, Lavaredo and Auronzo, we were all looking forward to our final night at the final hut, which was only accessible via a strenuous hike and would hopefully be a bit more mellow once we got there. 

While yesterday was mentally exhausting, this hike was physically tiring.  The first 2 km (between Lavaredo and Auronzo) were relatively flat and they flew by in no time.  And then we had to walk straight down the valley (almost back to where we originally started on the bus) descending over 450m in elevation gain. At the bottom, we cut off onto a side trail and were practically all alone…We passed no more than 20 people over the remaining 3 hour hike.  Which I suppose shouldn’t be surprising, the trail was straight up a gap in the mountains,  and included 536m in total elevation gain.   

Just before the final push (assisted by more cables and metal runs, this time without a harness) my energy was running low so we paused for a snack break. And then Alva and Oskar bounded up the remaining section like two experienced climbers offering me words of encouragement to get me up the final section. They had so much fun, they wanted to do the final section again afterwards. 

Upon arriving at the hut we knew it was going to be our favorite. It was much smaller, completely off the beaten path and the five picnic tables outside were occupied but not at capacity. It was amazing to think that on just the other side of the range there were hundreds of people and here there were less than 40.  

The only downside to the hut were the sleeping arrangements which made me more than a bit nervous and slightly claustrophobic… our beds were in the shared attic with 6 other people, the rafters were so low you had to perpetually duck, the natural light was limited and our feet were tucked so deep into the corners of the roof you couldn’t really lift up a leg when laying down.  

Sleeping accommodations aside, this was still our favorite hut.  The people were nice, the food was delicious, we actually slept just fine in the attic and it provided us with the experience we were looking for.