Colfosco - Piz de Puez / Puezspitz

Access to starting point:
A) From Kranjska Gora over Korensko sedlo to Austria, where at the first larger crossroad, we continue left towards Podklošter / Arnoldstein and Trbiž / Tarvisio. At the end of the settlement Podklošter signs for Šmohor / Hermagor point us to the right on a regional road, on which past the mentioned settlement we drive to the end of the valley Gailtal, or more precisely to the settlement Kötschach-Mauthen, where we turn right towards the settlement Oberdrauburg. The route ahead leads us over the Alpine pass Gailbergsattel (982 m), after which we descend into the mentioned settlement. After we cross the bridge over the river Drau, 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 settlements Dobbiaco / Toblach, Villabassa / Niederdorf, Monguelfo - Tesido / Welsberg - Taisten, Brunico / Bruneck. Only a little after the last-mentioned settlement, past which leads a bypass road, we turn left into the valley Alta Badia. 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. At the town 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 town Belluno. Near Belluno the highway ends and at the next crossroads 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 neighbouring 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).

Path description:
From the parking lot, we first cross the main road, and then by the bus parking lot we will notice signposts. We continue following the signs »Sassongher, Utia de Puez« on the path which runs along the main road. The path brings us to a sign which marks the settlement Colfosco / Calfosch. We continue on the sidewalk to the first crossroad, then we turn right onto an asphalt road. At the next crossroad, we continue left so that we walk towards the church. At the crossroad by the church, we will again notice signposts and continue right (towards the north) following the signs »Sassongher«. Further, the road turns left towards the ski slope and then begins to ascend quite steeply.
Later when we leave the village, the road is closed to traffic. A little further, the asphalt also ends and to the right a footpath branches off towards the hut Col Pradat. We continue straight on the macadam road, which ascends along the ski slope and pastures. We walk along the road for a while longer, from which there is a nice view of the Sella mountain group and the nearby Sassongher, then we soon reach the hut Edelweiss.
From the hut we continue on the macadam road, which soon brings us to a junction where the path to the pass Sella Gardena branches off to the left. We continue right on the road and after a short ascent we are again at a junction. Straight ahead on the road the path leads to the hut Col Pradat, we continue left uphill on the footpath following the signs »Sassongher«.
From the junction, the path first ascends along the bed of a torrent, then follows a zigzag ascent, which brings us to a junction where the path from the hut Col Pradat joins from the right.
We continue left and begin to ascend through the valley towards the northwest. The path then leads past a chapel and soon we are again at a junction.
To the right the path leads to the summit Sassongher, we continue straight and continue ascending up the valley. The path then turns slightly left and brings us near the lake Lech de Ciampai, which often dries up. At the lake the path turns right and first crosses the slopes above the lake, then follows the ascent to the saddle Forcella de Ciampei where there is a marked junction.
Left leads the path to the summit Sas Ciampac and saddle Forcella de Crespeina, straight downhill leads the path into the valley Langental, we continue right following the signs »Puezhütte«.
The path shortly after the junction turns left and begins to ascend gently towards the north. The relatively level path later brings us to another junction, where the path to Sassongher branches off to the right.
Here the path turns slightly left again and ahead of us we can already see a flag located near the hut. The panoramic path remains level and soon brings us to the hut, which is located on grassy slopes below the summit Puezkofel.
At the hut we continue towards the west following the signs »Pizes de Puez, Puezspitz«. After a few dozen meters we come again to a junction where path number 2 branches off to the left towards the valley Langental. We continue slightly right and begin to ascend more steeply. The path brings us to a shorter ridge which brings us below the southern slopes of the summit Col de Puez. Here the path turns left and then crosses steep slopes towards the northwest for a while. The slopes are quite steep in places, and there is also some scree on the path, so caution is needed on this section. This path then brings us to the west side of the summit Col de Puez where there is also a somewhat poorly visible junction.
To the right an unmarked path leads to the summit Col de Puez, we continue left on the marked path towards the summit Piz de Puez. The path continues to ascend the steep slopes of the mountain all the way, which is not difficult in dry conditions. A little below the summit we reach a smaller saddle from where a view also opens to the north. Here we continue left and along the ridge quickly reach the panoramic summit.

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