Hiking in the Fassa Dolomites

You arrive on your own in Val di Fassa and check in at one of our basecamp hotels. The hotels are located in the lower half of the valley in the towns of Vigo, Pozza and Pera. At check in you collect the materials that we prepared for your hike. They include a specialized hiking map of the region 1:25000 and hiking schedule.

The main Fassa Dolomites itinerary starts at the Passo San Pellegrino pass at an elevation of 1,920 m, thus the day begins with a transfer from the hotel to the pass. The trail takes you up the slopes of the Monzoni Group – the first mountain chain of the Dolomites on your itinerary. The day before you could see the whitish peaks of the Monzoni from the valley down below, standing tall in stark contrast against the night sky, especially on a moonlit night. The trail skirting the southern slopes of the Monzoni gets very little foot traffic and thus offers a good chance of sighting the Alpine ibex here. They are not fearful of hikers and can “pose” for cameras for long periods of time. As you descend to the mountain hut in the Contrin valley, a stunning panoramic view of the Sassolungo Group – your destination two days away – opens up in all of its splendor.

Today's itinerary takes you across several mountain passes and ends at Fedaia Lake at the end of the day. You bypass the untrekkable portion of the Marmolada Group over ridges in the east of the Monzoni. Here you descend into the grassy hollow of the Ciampac – a natural amphitheater of rare beauty with a magnificent view of the Sella Group across blooming Alpine meadows. The landscape changes abruptly in the latter half of the day as you embark on an easy albeit lengthy ascent up a scenic trail leading to the Fedaia Pass. Pilgrims had been using this trail since time out of mind as the main route to the Fassa Valley from the south. It runs mostly through forestland over the slope of a wide gorge at the foot of the Marmolada. The largest glacier of the Dolomite Alps has lasted to this day on the northern slopes of the Marmolada Group. It is feeding countless mountain streams that resoundingly course down the gorge slopes, creating a pleasant freshness along your path.

Today you are headed to the Sella mountain group – a petrified coral atoll that had formed in a prehistoric ocean. The panoramic trail toward the Sella Group is known as the “Road of Merchants” – used by merchants and traveling salesmen on their way between the Fassa Valley and the Livinallongo Valley in the olden days. The trail runs over exposed slopes and the ridge of the mountain chain, offering a stunning view of the Marmolada glacier on the opposite side and the still azure waters of Fedaia Lake at the foot of the massif. Next to welcome you is the Sella Group – a grand mountain range with kilometer-high outer cliffs and just a few narrow gorges leading to the top. The Sella Group is famous for the lunar landscape of its highland regions. It is a highly dissected, rugged plateau at elevations of close to 3,000 m – a lifeless and truly otherworldly landscape that never fails to create a strong impression.

The route today is quite challenging but well worth the effort. In good weather conditions you can reach the Sella’s summit – the 3,152 meter-high Piz Boe. At the beginning of the day, do not miss the sunrise. The location of the hut on Sella is truly spectacular – it offers a fantastic panorama with several ranges of the Dolomites well visible at a short distance. On the way to Piz Boe you walk through the unique out-of-this-world lunar landscape of the Sella Group. It is a lifeless plateau with the elevations primarily between 2,500 and 2,900 m – very similar to what we see on the images from other planets. The descent from Sella is through a beautiful narrow gorge with the 1,000 meter-high vertical walls. You end the today’s trek at the foot of the Sassolungo group from where you can see another famous Dolomites sunset.

After two days of lengthy treks, today offers a chance to take it easy on a more relaxed leg of the hike. The itinerary skirts the Dolomite range of Sassolungo or Langkofel – a name that literally means “Long Rock”. Sassolungo is a compact mountain group that stands apart from the other massifs in the region, towering above the sloping Alpine meadows around it. Today's itinerary can be covered in one of two ways: by circumventing the entire Sassolungo or by going around only the south portion of this range and crossing it via the only trail that ascends to 2,700 m. The first option offers a chance to see all the mountain chains around the massif, the Gardena Valley, and the scenic Alpe di Siusi plateau. The second option is equally or even more impressive, taking you through a narrow gorge that bisects the massif at an elevation of close to 2,700 m.

The Antermoia Group is a vast high-altitude region with next to no vegetation, featuring a high density of chaotically scattered peaks separated by just a few passable gorges. Antermoia offers some of relatively little-traveled trails, with no roads or chair lifts in the vicinity – a true escape from civilization, the mountain huts its only reminder. Here the trail ascends through the bottom of a glacier-polished eastern gorge where a scenic cold Lake Antermoia is perched at an elevation of 2,495 m. Yellowish cliffs towering 400 meters above the still waters of the lake form the backdrop for what is arguably one of the most dazzling locations along the entire itinerary.

Today's itinerary takes you from the wild, seldom-traveled gorges of the Antermoia Group to another Dolomite range – the Rosengarten. It is a petrified coral reef stretching for 10 km to the south. The Rosengarten is unique in that it has retained the almost intact shape of a coral reef, spared any major destruction over the past 230 million years. Here you will see one of the region's chief landmarks – the famous Torri di Vajolet group. It is a gigantic rock with a pinnacle split into several fragments to resemble the towers of a fairytale castle. The trail runs underneath the “towers” and ascends to the opposite slope that offers a more stunning view of Torri di Vajolet. Another magnificent landmark of today's itinerary is the panoramic “Sheepherders' Trail”. It runs over a ridge revealing a majestic panorama of the Rosengarten mountaintops, with talus slopes descending to the valley. At the end of the day, the itinerary brings you back to the now familiar hotel in Val di Fassa.

The trip ends here. Most hikers remember the Fassa Dolomites for the unique lunar landscape of the Sella Group, colorful sunsets, exceptional diversity of landscapes and comfortable mountain huts in spectacular locations.

6 Day Tour allows you to choose from several route options depending on which mountain groups you would like to explore. (A) The classic itinerary runs from Monzoni to Sella (days #2,3,4,5). You will stay overnight at 3 huts along the route, one of which will be in Sella. (B) Another route option we recommend is from Sella or Lake Fedaia to Rosengarten. On your first hiking day, you will cross Sella on a direct trail. The other 3 hiking days will be days #6,7,8 as in the description of the complete itinerary. Besides these two route options, there are other variants of the itinerary for 4 hiking days. We can design an easier route or harder route depending on your preferences.

There are two route options we recommend for the 7 Day Tour. (A) If you choose to explore all 6 mountain ranges of the Fassa Dolomites, we will shorten the legs in Sella and Sassolungo so that you can complete the trek in 5 hiking days. You will cross Sella on the shortest trail in 3 hours and hike through the slopes of Sassolungo on the direct southern trail (not around or across Sassolungo). Fast and very fit hikers can still hike across Sassolungo – the time permits it. (B) The second route option is from Monzoni to Sassolungo exactly the same as in the complete itinerary (hiking days #2,3,4,5,6). You final hiking day will be 1 hour longer because you will need to descend to the valley. Possibility of specific itinerary depends on the availability at huts.

The 8 Day Tours covers all six mountain ranges of the Fassa Dolomites but does not go into the Sella group as far as the complete 9 Day itinerary. Instead, it crosses Sella in its western part in 3 hours before descending toward Passo Sella. This itinerary is known as the “Trekking of the Legends” hiking route. It starts at the Passo San Pellegrino pass and goes through the entire chain of the dolomite ranges around Val di Fassa. This itinerary ends, depending on your choice, either at the Karerpass nearby the southern extremity of the Rosengarten range or in Val di Fassa. This is a normal Level 3 itinerary.

The longest 10 Day Tour adds a crossing of the Alpe Lusia range to the primary itinerary. This requires and extra hiking day which is the first day of this hike. Alpe Lusia is a chain between the Monzoni range and Pale di San Martino (Pala Group). The trail in Alpe Lusia runs next to the crest of the main ridge and offers breathtaking panoramas with the Dolomites of Val di Fassa and the neighboring Pale di San Martino. This is a trip with 8 full hiking days.