Ortisei – Seceda & Resciesa 

Before beginning the saga of our Friday adventures, a few words about where we are. The Dolomites are a southern extension of the alps located in northeastern Italy, lying between Austria on the north and east, and the relatively flat Veneto plain on the south. The area is dominated by fifteen massifs of 9,000-10,000 feet, divided by a series of valleys, mountain passes and rivers.

Ortisei (I will stick with the Italian names for simplicity) is located in the Val Gardena, a narrow, steep-sided valley surrounded by high peaks.  Although there are a few national parks, most of the area is private property, with ski resorts dominating the landscape (like most places in the European Alps).  This means that the mountains are not wilderness like we are used to In North America, and that hiking is a much more civilized affair – with gondolas, cable cars, chair lifts and funiculars available to handle the elevation gain, and lovely eating/drinking establishments (huts and “rifugios”) available every few miles.

[As an aside: local maps of the area drove Matt nuts. Although they were very detailed, none of them (like the one above) were oriented with north on top.  Trying to make “the map” integrate with  Google maps navigation resulted in many swear words.]

Bright and early on Friday morning, we caught the bus into town to begin a day of mechanized transport to various hiking routes.

Our first form of “lifts” were a series of escalators running from Ortisei’s “centro” up the hill to the Furnes-Seceda gondola station. This was our first of many encounters with outdoor “scali mobili” in Italian cities and towns.

Stage two involved the 8-person gondola from Ortisei to Furnes, halfway to the Seceda Ridgeline at an elevation of ~ 5700 feet. From there, we transferred to the roughly 50 person cable car (aka aerial tramway) that travels about 1.2 miles further to the Seceda summit, at about 8000 feet. I was unable to maneuver myself into position to take pictures of either stage of the journey, but there are some photogenic pix at the website Ortisei-Furnes-Seceda if you are interested. 

From the Seceda cable car station, we hiked along the Seceda Ridgeline, walked down the meadow to have lunch at the Baita Troier Hütte, walked further down the meadow to catch the Col Raiser cable car towards Santa Cristina (the next town up the valley, about 2.5 miles from Ortisei), where we caught the bus back to Ortisei. In the afternoon, we rode the Resciesca Funicular from Ortisei to the top of the Resciesa Plateau (next to Seceda, in the lower right in the map below).

We wandered around the area around the Seceda gondola station for a bit, admiring views and getting ourselves oriented to the myriad hiking trails and recreational opportunities.

Once we knew where we were going (more or less), we headed uphill towards the Seceda Ridge Trail, accompanied by people of all ages and many dogs. (This being Europe, dogs are allowed to ride in the lifts.)

We noticed an access point for a via ferrata near Seceda Peak. These “iron paths” have steel cables, rings, railings and sometimes stairs (like these) for “geared up” climbers to use when ascending/descending dangerous routes.

Near the base of the peak, we took a downhill trail across the meadow. Trails were very developed compared to those in the Rockies, lined with pavers and sometimes steel mesh for a good grip in wet conditions.

We continued downhill past a small farm (with very comfortable porcine occupants), to the Baita Troier Hütte (with resident alpacas) where we had a delightful lunch of roasted potatoes saturated in local butter plus an extraordinary “insalata mista” (mixed salad) comprised of tart coleslaw slaw (no mayo, thank you very much), shredded carrots, potato salad, tomatoes and peppers on a bed of mixed greens.

After this very civilized break, it was down-down-down past another Hütte (this one featuring live music) to the Col Raiser gondola station. (FYI, there was local auto access to the huts.)

We were surprised to find that the Col Raiser station wasn’t actually in Santa Cristina, but rather located several hundred (steep) feet above – so there was more down-down-down before we finally reached the town.  But arrive we finally did, and – after a bit of Google lost navigation and directions from a helpful local – caught the bus back to Ortisei.

Rain was in the forecast, so we decided to double up on something we had originally planned as another day trip. After a brief stop at the hotel to refresh and pick up my extra camera battery (battery #1 haven given up the ghost halfway through our hike) we headed back into town and up the hill to the station for the Funiculare Resciesa. The first part of the climb used that same set of escalators, then we continued climbing through the town’s upper neighborhoods to reach the funicular station.

There is a cafe at the top, accessible only by funicular. Having already walked over 7 miles that day, we decided to spend some time lolling about on the Chalet Resciesa‘s terrace with cups of tea rather than attempting another walk across the plateau.

Returning to Orisei, we wandered around town then had a pizza-and-soup dinner at the Cascade Restaurant, across the street from river from Ortisei’s center.  After dinner, with no buses due for 20 minutes or so, we opted to walk back to the hotel, using those handy escalators to lift us up to the pedestrian path for an easy walk back.