Carbonin - Helltaler Schlechten

Access to starting point:
Access from Gorenjska: Through the border crossing at Rateče we drive to Trbiž / Tarvisio, where we take the highway in the direction of Vidma / Udine. We leave the highway at the exit for Tolmezzo and follow the road to the mentioned settlement. From Tolmezzo we continue in the direction of the settlement Ampezzo and mountain pass Passo della Mauria. The road then starts descending and brings us into the Cadore valley, where we continue right (left Belluno and Cortina d'Ampezzo) in the direction of the settlement Auronzo. After a few more km of driving, we come to the next bigger crossroad, where we go right in the direction of the settlement Misurina (left Tre Croci pass). From here we descend the road to a bigger crossroad (right Dobbiaco and Austria, left Cortina d'Ampezzo). From the crossroad, we continue a few hundred meters in the direction towards Cortina d'Ampezzo, and then we park on a smaller parking lot on the right side of the road.
From Primorska side: We drive on the highway which leads through the border crossing at Sežana to Trst / Trieste. Further, we drive on the Italian highway in the direction of Padove, but only to the highway junction, where we continue in the direction of the region Veneto and Belluno. Near Belluno the highway ends, and we continue in the direction of Cortina d'Ampezzo and Auronzo. When the road brings us into the Cadore valley we will get to a bigger crossroad, where the road goes towards Cortina d'Ampezzo left, and towards Auronzo right. Here we continue right towards Auronzo. Further, we follow the above description.

Path description:
From the parking lot, we go right on a macadam road, where signs point us to »Dürrensteinhütte / Rif. Vallandro«. After a short ascent, we quickly come to a gate where we enter the nature park Fanes Sennes Prags. Further, we walk for some time on the road on which macadam and asphalt alternate. From the road, which mostly runs through the forest, nice views open up towards the mountain group Cristallo several times. The road then brings us to a junction, where signposts direct us right onto a footpath.
The footpath then ascends mostly through the forest and later crosses the road a few times. The relatively flat path brings us in the last part towards the hut onto grassy slopes from which even nicer views open up on the surrounding peaks. From the footpath we rejoin the road for a short time, and then follows a short steeper ascent to the hut.
From the hut we continue north on path 34 following the signs Strudelkopf, Helltal. The path is relatively flat and wide and soon brings us to a marked junction. We go left following the signs »Höhenweg, Alta Via«, right the path leads to Strudelkopf. Further on, the path is somewhat narrower and crosses grassy slopes towards the north. The scenic path over grassy slopes soon brings us to another junction, where the path from the hut Plätzwiesehütte / Rifugio Pratopiazzo joins from the left.
The path from the junction then crosses the fence and starts to ascend somewhat more steeply. For some time we still walk on the path that leads to Durrenstein / Pico di Vallandro, then we leave the marked path and head right into pathless terrain. When we leave the marked path we head southeast and start ascending transversely towards the ridge. On this section there are also some poorly visible tracks along which we can ascend. During the ascent it does not matter exactly where we ascend, what matters is only that we reach the ridge. In doing so, we should consider that the further south we go, the gentler the slope will be.
When we reach the ridge we go left and then ascend along the ridge the whole time. Cairns placed along the ridge also help with orientation. During the ascent we have a nice view of the Cristallo mountain group and Croda Rossa all the time, and from the ridge nice views also open towards the east, where the Tre Cime stand out. In the last part of the ascent towards the summit the grassy slopes turn into rocky ones and soon we already spot the summit which is not far anymore.

On the way: Dürrensteinhütte / Rifugio Vallandro (2040m)