Ascent to Mt. Paterno

After paying the toll at Lake Misurina and scraping the car with serpentines to the cottage Auronzo has an elevation gain of over 1200m. We unpack tents in the parking lot next to the cottage. It's 1:00 in the morning and you can't see much of what the area has to offer. Everything changes when the guard wakes us up, let us pack our tents, that in the morning they do not want to see a tent town (2 tents). After waking up in the morning, we pack up and set off on a full-day hike around Tre Cime. We start from Chalet Auronzo around Chalet Lavaredo to the saddle between Tre Cime and Mt. Paterno. Panoramas and weather are like painted from a fairy tale. The only thing that won't let us sleep is the top of Paterna. Almost a perpendicular rock and we are considering whether there is any reasonable path that is according to the map. From now on, we set out more or less to explore where we can go. Just a few dozen steps from the saddle, the road leads us to one of the many tunnels dug during World War I by soldiers, which lead like a network of corridors under the mountains. Sometimes the section between the tunnels is secured with steel ropes, but before we get to the other side of the mountain, everything is more or less fine. On the other hand, we find that the road climbs steeply to the saddle below the top of the gravel sidewalk, we climb the mountain and we are already in the saddle. What a surprise that a pretty decent ferrata leads to the top about 100 meters :-) Thanks to the worsening weather, and without ferrata equipment, we choose the descent. Although it seemed at first, it was also not without problems. At first, it's just a steep slope at the wall of the mountain, turning into an exposed and open descent, where we stick to both the ropes and the rocks and take good care not to slip. Then follow the paths through the excavated tunnels. How nice when it starts to rain heavily outside and we are covered in rock. As soon as we leave the last of the tunnels, the rain stops so that with our arrival at the cottage he starts a new drumming with drops on the roof of the Dreizinnen cottage. From here there is a beautiful view of the whole valley and the Tre Cime, which are the pride of the dolomite. The road to the Auronzo hut is again illuminated by the sun and receding clouds. Along the way, we cool off in the local creek and watch the satisfied cows graze all around.

Probably the most beautiful morning I've experienced in the mountains. When we arrived it was dark and the silhouettes of the mountains were only slightly illustrated by the moon, what awaited us in the morning took our breath away

On the trek from the Auronzo hut

Fairytale-like scenery, Tre Cime massif on the left, Mt. Paterno

It took us a long time before we decided to face destiny directly between the tunnels and the sloping path

probably the most famous symbol of the dolomite, the Tre Cime or Three Towers

steep slope, gravel, gravel and gravel, it was not free, but the experience may not be positive, especially that it is strong :-)

On the other side, the mountain looks like a dragon's lair with its many towers

sometimes one came here as if on another planet

if you are well alert and quiet, you will be able to see the marmot, which clearly whistled in front of us :-)

See Tre Cime and Mt. Paterno, it was an incredible day full of experiences and natural beauties