Italy, The Dolomites – How I Fell In Love with the Mountains II

We cover the altitude in couple of minutes. Below are fascinating views of Gruppo di Sella. Around, the whole alpine range opens up. Together reach Forcella Pordoi cottage. There we eat some snack. Then the group splits to those going up Piz Boe. I join the guys who go least difficult trail to Boe cottage (at an altitude of 2871 m).

We climb up grabbing chains for a short part of our route. Then the trail is moderate. To our right, Piz Boe looms in a distance. The landscape around is moonscape. We hear a helicopter in the middle of our trip which flies to rescue injured tourist. We respect the mountain even more from this moment on.

Two more turns and we enjoy the vista of Boe cottage and Gruppo del Sella mountains behind it. It is a great time to take a break. It is simply beautiful everywhere.

Going back to Forcella Pordoi cottage is without any problems. Mountains look different in different light. In any moment you can enjoy different view.

The light is nice in the afternoon. We enjoy the vista before getting back by cable car. We even see Marmolada (3 343 m). I buy some souvenirs and get back to the bus. The dinner is something we are looking forward to.

We have a supplemental plan for the following day as it should be raining in the night. The roads will be slippery, therefore, dangerous. We will visit Firmian, a Reinholda Messner’s museum .

Reinhold Messner is among the most famous mountaineers ever. In 1978, he and Austrian mountaineer climbed Mount Everest without oxygen masks. Then it was considered impossible and he climbed up all eight-thousand meters high mountains. Also, he walked across Antarctica, Greenland, Tibet, and many other territories. In 2003, he commenced a project of his own opening mountain museums „Messner Mountain Museums“. He has opened six so far - Corones, Firmian, Dolomites, Juval, Ripa, and Ortles. Each of them covers different topic yet all are focused on mountains and mountain people. You can admire works of art, or paintings he collected during his life..

How we found out the museum is the matter of next week’s article.

GPS: (Passo Pordoi) 46°29'19.9"N 11°48'42.3"E

Text and photo: Magdaléna Radostová