How dinner runs in a hut
As a boy I saw the same evening repeat all summer. The dining room filled at a fixed hour, and the pots came out of the kitchen for everyone at once. Every hut on our routes works the same way. You sit where there is room, often beside walkers from another group, and the food comes out for the whole room together.
Getting to Torre Alta
Rifugio Torre Alta is the third night of the High Dolomites Hut Route. Day 3 is short: 5.4 km and 693 m up from Rifugio Col de Mez at 2,014 m, with no descent at all. You arrive with time to spare, and the best use of it is to sit outside and keep your appetite for dinner.
- Day 03 · 5.4 km · 693 m up · 0 m down · Rifugio Torre Alta, 2,707 m
Day 2, the day before, is the longer one: 13.2 km, with 614 m up and 429 m down to Rifugio Col de Mez.
What half board means
Half board means dinner and breakfast, and both are included on every route. Lunch is not included: buy it at a hut on the way or ask your hut for a packed lunch the night before. Drinks you pay for at the hut. At Torre Alta every litre is caught rain or snowmelt, so drinking water comes in bottles you buy and washing is kept short. Lower down, the tap at Malga Lavarel is safe to drink.
The table
The talk at the shared table is mostly about tomorrow: which way, how far, and what the cloud is doing. After dinner I sit with my group and go through the next day with the route notes open.
The night
You sleep in a shared dormitory, as you do in every hut on the route. Bring earplugs, because the walkers around you rise early for the passes. Bring your own hut sleeping sheet, because it is not included.
Breakfast, then down
Eat a proper breakfast at Torre Alta, because the next day is long. You climb first, to 3,033 m, then lose 1,228 m on scree and grass to Malga Lavarel, the pasture hut at 1,805 m.
The cables at the end
The High Dolomites Hut Route ends on the fixed cables of Forcia Ridge at 3,058 m, which is why it is grade 4. Waymark lends a harness, lanyard and helmet for the Forcia Ridge cables, included in the price. The last night is at Rifugio Forcia, 2,533 m, right under the ridge.
