Strada della Dolomiti, parto secundo

From our aire, the next morning, after a walk, we drove on through Cortina and then back north, leisurely, in the direction of Austria.

A walk near the clouds

Distant crags

And not so distant

Features almost like the American southwest

And more like the Alps

A popular hiking valley in the national park

It turned into a cloudy day, but no less exhiliarating

More clouds moving in

Italian Park Rangers, enforcement-types (note side-arms)

This whole part of Italy was earlier part of the Austrian

empire--till 1919--Mussolini did his best to Italianize the

place, but it is still bilingual...the rangers above spoke

German

Strada della Dolomiti

Italy owns parts of the Alps' greatest mountains, Monte Bianco, Monte Rosa, Monte Cervino, all in the northwest. In the northeast are the Dolomites: generally lower, not glaciated, formed more by wind and rain than other things. They are extremely picturesque, however, something no mountain aesthete could pass up. From the Brenner Pass we drove on to Bolzano, a nice-enough looking small city, but with no obvious parking for RVs, so we headed straight-on, up ever-climbing roads, generally east, to the Strada della Dolomiti, which we followed a good number of miles. It was serious mountain driving, however.

Peaks and crags everywhere, much limestone

In a small town

Tower on a larger mini-massif

And other features too

Back down in a valley, before heading up to Cortina

I am not sure whether it is boasting or serious road

information, but they number the hair-pin turns on these

roads

The road to the Pass Giua had 28 such hair-pins; the roads

are good, however, nice and wide; no tour busses up here

We found an aire, of sorts, just beyond this peak, and

stopped for the night

Other views in the vicinity

Parked at our "aire"

Table with a view: tomatoes and mozzarella and veal

piccata

The view

Brenner Pass

After Zugspitze, we took the Brenner Pass back down into (very nearby) Italy, to see the Dolomite Alps

Our campsite, a Tyrolean lay-by, en route to Brenner Pass

Mountains on the Brenner Pass

The Pass is littered with old fortresses, to guard the pass,

and to charge tolls...nowadays, a mere 8 euros

Another

Descent of Zugspitze

Alas, as on Pilatus, part of the deal was walking the long trail down, this time nearly 6,000 feet, into Germany, then across a pass, and another, into Austria, and Ehrwald, and back to the campground where we had parked

Rugged little flowers in the glacial moraine

The trail signage was minimal...for the longest time I did

not know whether I was walking down into Germany or

across over into Austria

Looking back up to the summit area

Sheep eating snow

Finally, the Munich Alpine Club's Knorrhutte, where I

had lunch

And saw a sign

And a couple of sumo climbers

And some German bathroom humor

A last look toward the summit

The German/Austrian border, at 7,000 feet

Trail down the Austrian side, more

iron-mongery

More of the Austrian side

And a last cable-car to the bus, and to the campground,

weary...

Ascent of Zugspitze

Zugspitze in the morning; the summit is the far left peak

As with Pilatus, and for the same reasons, I took the cable-car up

Climbers on the huge Austrian face of Zugspitze

The mountain is shared by Germany and Austria, the

sloping side Germany's, the sheer side, Austria's

It is Germany's highest peak, and therefore its highest

bier-garten

9:30 in the AM; breakfast of champions



I had coffee, melange, on the more sedate

Austrian side



After climbing to the summit; interestingly,

to get to the summit of Zugspitze, you have

to abandon the comforts of restaurant,

visitor center, and bier-garten, and

And actually climb a bit, the last 100 feet or

so, unprotected, like these folks are doing

I gave serious thought to blowing this one off...the

exposure was terrific, but there was iron-mongery to hold

on to, and, hey, it cost 30 euros to ride that cable-car up..;

summit self-portrait

The summit mast

Other views from the top

Lermoos, Austria, below

And looking east into the Tyrol

The rest of the summit area