Via Ferrata Michielli Strobel

July 9, 2025

It was really special to have good friends and their young kids join us for a week during the period of our parental leave trip in Cortina d’Ampezzo. We planned ahead and arranged babysitters for a full day to enable all of the adults to get outside together once. We wanted to do a via ferrata with some real climbing to it but not so committing or long that we’d be pushing our luck with our babysitter window, so the Michielli Strobel sifted to the top of the list.

We met up at the parking lot and started hiking at about 9:15am. It’s a bit of a grunt up to the start of the cable but it went quickly chatting with each other. We were clipped in and moving up the rock just after 10am. The guidebook described the route as being disjointed and we soon came to understand why—it had nice sections of climbing, punctuated by traverses and lower-angle trails connecting them. But there was enough steeper climbing and it was long enough overall to be engaging and fun.

We topped out at noon after stopping along the way at a nice viewpoint for lunch. The initial descent and high traverse to the saddle was enjoyable and then the scree gully was not. It wasn’t quite consistent enough to scree ski and so it felt reasonably painstaking even with poles. But it went and we eventually reached the lower trails that circled back to our starting point.

With enough time, we drove a bit up the road to have lunch at Ristorante Rifugio Ospitale, which was quite delightful and served a stellar pappardelle deer ragù. We enjoyed a few moments of calm with no children before heading back into the fray in Cortina.

Tridentina al Pisciadù Via Ferrata

July 3, 2025

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!

Sellaronda

June 30, 2025

Before our trip, as I scanned Strava’s heatmap, a very logical route surfaced to tackle during our time in Ortisei. It just so happened it was a classic bike (and ski) route called the Sellaronda, which also has an annual bike day by the same name for which the passes are all closed to cars.

I began my ride from our place in Ortisei, adding a decent bit of climbing to Selva and then up to where the loop begins. Passo Sella was my first objective and I tried not to over-cook it, given having three more passes on the menu. 244 watts for just shy of 46 minutes got me to the top from just outside Selva.

The descent from here was a dream and pretty quiet in the morning. I found myself quickly turning left onto Strada del Pordoi and climbing again. This approach cuts off a decent chunk of the Pordoi and the gradient is a pretty forgiving 6.6% on average. 228 watts for 28 minutes was enough to do the job.

I was still feeling pretty strong at this point and decided to press on after a brief stop for an obligatory selfie and shot of the sign at the pass. The East side of the Pordoi was an especially fun descent—a moderate angle with lots of sweeping switchback turns and good visibility. I took a left at the roundabout in Arabba to begin the third pass of the day—the Campolongo. My legs were feeling a bit used by this point and a touch crampy when I pushed hard, but they held together pretty well at 246 watts for just under 18 minutes. I zoomed down to the quiet town of Corvara where I decided to stop at a cafe for a cappuccino, pain au chocolate, and fresh water. Magic.

I didn’t set any speed records going up Passo Gardena from Corvara, but I didn’t fade too badly either, doing 218 watts for 45 minutes. Passo Gardena might have been my favorite views of the ride with lush green alpine pastures framed between Dolomite limestone peaks. It was all downhill from here (except for the false flat not far down the Gardena) and I enjoyed it immensely—all the way to Ortisei.

This was a very worthy ride with four classic passes and a nice variety of terrain and views. I’d highly recommend it!