After some searching for top via ferrata routes near Ortisei, the Tridentina al Pisciadù quickly surfaced as a relatively accessible, technical, and fun route to take on. Logistics during our parental leave trip were a bit tricky to juggle two young kiddos, so my wife and I hatched a plan where, on our travel day from Ortisei to Cortina, after getting the car packed and ready, I’d take a bus to the trailhead, do the route, and get picked up by her on the way. This required me to make sure I was done and ready to roll at about 2pm and it also set my starting time with the only direct bus reaching the trailhead at about 9am. Game on.
I jogged the access trail to the first section, quickly ascending this reasonably steep initial ramp. From here, I ran the trail to the base of the proper route, passing a number of parties on their way. I had a moment of confusion when I reached the wall given that the guidebook said the route started just left of the waterfall, but that beta was wrong and sent me down a short, loose gully for a moment before I realized my error. Back on the main route, I had a lot of fun moving fast with relatively few parties ahead of me for a good ways.
After cresting this long middle section, I came up on a guided party who let me pass but then hit a big traffic jam of parties going up the final, steepest section. It didn’t make sense to try to pass, so I just settled in and chatted up a family from Colorado who were climbing with their three teenagers—pretty cool! This steep section was some of the more sustained and technical via ferrata climbing I’d done but the existence of the cable and stemples made it feel very casual.
At the bridge marking the end of the route and spanning a really cool sharp chasm, I checked the time at 10:40am, which seemed like I should be able to press on to the Cima Pisciadù and still make it back to the trailhead by 2pm. I jogged up to the hut and then up the trail to the high pass. I’d been expecting a bit more via ferrata to the summit but only found 3rd class scrambling—perhaps I missed the more technical option. It was reasonably fun regardless and I was on the top just shy of 11:30am.
The descent was pretty straightforward, with only a moment of pause when I ran into a sign suggesting that the standard descent route was closed, but there were parties ascending it who had made it from the bottom, so I was confident enough to head down. After a lot of loose descending and increasingly tired knees, I made it back to the trailhead at 1pm—enough time to lay down in the grass and have a snack before my wife drove by and picked me up. Really fun route and great feeling to move so fast on technical terrain in the gorgeous Dolomites!
