Colfosco - Muntejela de Puez

Access to starting point:
A) From Kranjska Gora over Korensko sedlo to Austria, where at the first larger intersection we continue left towards Podklošter / Arnoldstein and Trbiž / Tarvisio. At the end of the settlement Podklošter signs for Šmohor / Hermagor direct us right onto a regional road, along which past the mentioned settlement we drive to the end of the Gailtal valley, or more precisely to the settlement Kötschach-Mauthen, where we turn right towards the settlement Oberdrauburg. The route leads us over the Alpine pass Gailbergsattel (982 m), after which we descend into the mentioned settlement. After crossing the bridge over the Drava River, we continue left towards the settlement Lienz. In the main roundabout in Lienz we continue "left" in the direction of the settlement Sillian and Italy. Further, we cross the border between Austria and Italy, and we follow the main road past the settlements Dobbiaco / Toblach, Villabassa / Niederdorf, Monguelfo - Tesido / Welsberg - Taisten, Brunico / Bruneck. Only a little after the last-mentioned settlement, past which a bypass road leads, we turn left into the Alta Badia valley. Further, we drive through the mentioned valley and in the settlement La Villa we turn right towards the pass Passo Gardena. Further, we follow the ascending road following the signs Passo Gardena. We follow the road to the settlement Colfosco. One turn before the sign for the settlement we park on a large paid parking lot on the left side of the road (4€ – June 2012).
B) We drive on the highway towards Venice / Venezia. Near Portogruaro we leave the highway towards Venice and continue right on the highway towards Pordenone. At the next highway junction near Conegliano, we continue right towards the settlement Belluno. Near Belluno the highway ends, and at the next intersections we continue in the direction of Cortina d'Ampezzo. When we arrive in Cortina d'Ampezzo, we follow the signs for the Alpine pass Passo Falzarego. At the pass Passo Falzarego (2105 m) we turn right in the direction of Alta Badia and first ascend to the neighboring pass Passo Valparola (2192 m), from there we descend into the mentioned valley. In the settlement La Villa we turn left towards the pass Passo Gardena. Further, we follow the ascending road following the signs Passo Gardena. We follow the road to the settlement Colfosco. One turn before the sign for the settlement we park on a large paid parking lot on the left side of the road (4€ – June 2012).

Route description:
From the pass Passo Gardena we head north on the footpath following the signs »Baita Jimmy Hütte«. The path leads us across grassy slopes from which there is a wonderful view of the Sella mountain group to the south and towards Sassolungo to the west. The path across the grassy slopes soon brings us to a road. We continue right on the gravel road, which we follow all the way to the hut Jimmy Hütte.
From the hut we continue on the footpath towards the northeast and begin to ascend through the dwarf pines. The path soon brings us out of the dwarf pines and continues relatively steeply ascending. Higher up the path turns left and follows the ascent to the notch Forcella Cier, where a view opens towards the north.
On the saddle we cross the fence, then in a gentle descent we cross the scree slopes. This path then brings us to a marked junction where the path through the Val de Chedul valley joins from the left.
From the junction the path begins to ascend gently again and continues crossing the slopes towards the northeast. Later the path turns slightly left and follows a somewhat steeper ascent to the notch Forcella de Crespeina.
At the notch, where a view opens onto much of the Puez mountain group, we continue straight ahead; to the right the path leads over the summit Sas Ciampac. The path then begins to descend and brings us to somewhat flatter grassy terrain. From the path we have a fine view of Lech de Crespeina lake and Sas Ciampac. Our path then ascends somewhat more steeply again for a short time, after which a relatively flat path brings us to a junction, where the path over the summit Sas Ciampac joins from the right.
The path then descends slightly further and brings us to yet another junction. To the right downhill the path leads to the settlement Calfosch, to the left into the Langental valley; we continue straight ahead following the signs »Puezhütte«.
A little after the junction the path turns left and begins to ascend gently towards the north. The relatively flat path later brings us to yet another junction, where the path to Sassongher branches off to the right.
Here the path turns slightly left again and ahead we can already see the flag located near the hut. The panoramic path remains flat and soon brings us to the hut, located on grassy slopes below the Puezkofel summit.
From the hut we return a few dozen meters back to the marked junction and head onto path no. 1-11 following the signs »Badia Abtei, Ütia Gherdenacia«. At the junction the path ascends and brings us to flatter terrain partly covered in grass. Here we will already see the Muntejela summit ahead of us. The easiest approach to the summit is to continue along the marked path to the eastern side of the mountain. There we leave the marked path and head sharply left onto the eastern ridge of the mountain. We then ascend the easy ridge all the way to the summit, where a cairn is also placed.

Along the route: Rifugio Edelweiss (1832m), Lech de Ciampai (2173m), Forcella de Ciampei (2366m), Rifugio Puez (2475m)

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