Via Ferrata Tofana di Mezzo

As a starting point for our ascent to Tofano di Mezzo, we chose the cottage of Dibona. You can reach the chalet from Cortina d'Ampezzo towards passo Falzarego. This place has good facilities and a great starting point for other destinations in the area. From the Dibona cottage we ascend along a winding path approx. 1h to the cottage Pomedes and then another 20min. to the very beginning of the Punta Anna ferrata.

Photo from the entrance to the ferrata, below is the Pomedes hut and in the background Cotina and the three thousand peaks.

The beginning of the ferrata to the top begins with a steep climb along the ridge. It is a beautiful climbing, which is well unlocked and the difficulty is max. Up to category C. You almost always have before your eyes wonderful views of Cortina d'Ampezzo, 5 Torri and the neighboring mountain Tofanu di Rozes. It is really unmistakable and the whole is interwoven with a network of trails and ferrata. This part of the trip is quite busy, but most tourists choose the route only to the top of Punta Anna 2781 m above sea level and descent to the cottage Rif. Guissani. This is also one of the possible variants of descent. The second half of the journey towards CIMA is much more difficult to learn. Steep ladders and exposed beams alternate with descents through the rubble, which are not secured. As soon as you ascend to the rock formation of Bus Di Tofana, the last part of the way to the top awaits you. There are no more steel ropes, orientation according to the markings on the rock, some places can be a little more difficult. The signs will lead you to the path that leads from the cable car station to the top.

View towards Cortina and surrounding peaks. On the left is the cable car station with a beautiful terrace. It is not over to have Italian espresso 3000m.nm

There are quite a lot of descent variants. It will definitely depend on what time you start the descent and how you feel. After all, you have approx. 1200 altitude meters at the feet. We chose the cable car to descend about halfway to Rif station. Valles 2475 m. From here, just step up a bit and you will come across the Sentiero Giuseppe Olivieri ferrata, which can be descended to the Rif. Pomedes. Here we were a little surprised by one section, which was flooded after a landslide, Lana were after the rocks, but it was possible to walk. All in all, the ascent to Tofano di Mezzo is a challenging but spectacular experience in the countryside. Next time again somewhere in the Dolomites …