Lech da Sompunt - Col de Puez / Puezkofel (path 11)

Access to starting point:
A) Access from Gorenjska: Through the Karawanks Tunnel, we drive to Austria, and then we continue driving towards Spittal and further towards Lienz (the highway ends a little after Spittal). Further, we drive on a relatively nice and wide road through the Drava Valley, which brings us to Italy. The road further leads past Dobbiaco / Toblach and Brunico / Bruneck. Only a little after the last-mentioned town, past which there is a bypass road, we turn left into the Val Badia valley. Further, we drive through the mentioned valley to La Villa where only a few meters after the sign that marks the settlement we turn right towards the lake Lech da Sompunt. We then follow the ascending road to Hotel Sompunt, which is located by the mentioned lake.
B) From the Primorska side: From Nova Gorica, we drive to Italy and further on the highway to Portogruaro, where at the highway junction we turn in the direction of Belluno. We follow the highway to its end (we don't turn in the direction towards Belluno), and then we continue driving towards 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 towards the neighbouring pass Passo Valparola (2192 m), from there we descend into the Val Badia valley. In La Villa we turn right towards Brunico / Bruneck. Only a few meters before the sign that marks the end of the settlement La Villa we turn left towards the lake Lech da Sompunt. We then follow the ascending road to Hotel Sompunt, which is located by the mentioned lake.

Path description:
At the parking lot by the lake we go left on a footpath following the signs »Sponata, Ütia de Puez«. The path quickly brings us to the road where there is a marked junction. We go right and continue on the road which leads up the ski slope. Further, we ascend the ski slope from which increasingly beautiful views open up towards the Val Badia valley and the Lavarella mountain group. Higher up, a mountain bike trail joins us for a short time, which is also indicated by signs along the path. We continue ascending the ski slope and soon spot the Rifugio Sponata hut, followed by only a short ascent.
From the hut where a view towards Marmolada opens up, we continue for a short time on a gently sloping macadam road, then signposts direct us right upwards onto the ski slope. After a short ascent, the marked path leaves the ski slope and follows an ascent through the forest to the right of the ski slope. The path then brings us to a junction where the path from the upper cable car station joins. At the marked junction where the mountain bike trail also begins, we continue on path number 5 towards the Rifugio Gherdenacia hut.
Here we enter the Puez-Odle nature park and the well-maintained path begins to ascend steeply through the increasingly thinning forest. The path then turns slightly to the left and begins to cross fairly steep slopes towards the south. During the crossing, the path initially still ascends, later it becomes gentler and slightly descends in a few places. The path then brings us out of the forest onto the Munt de Gherdenacia pasture where the Gherdenacia hut is also located.
At the hut where there are signposts, we continue towards the west following the signs »Ütia de Puez«. The path soon begins to ascend and turns slightly to the right into the sparse larch forest and brings us to a marked junction. Left leads the path towards the Sassongher summit, we continue straight and continue ascending beside increasingly sparse larches. For a short time we then gently ascend a scenic grassy slope, then we reach a narrow valley where there is another junction.
Left leads path number 15 towards the Puez hut, we continue up the mentioned narrow valley on path number 11, which also leads towards the Puez hut.
Further, we ascend the mentioned valley for quite some time during which beautiful views occasionally open up, especially towards the Lavarella mountain group. The path here runs towards the northwest all the way to a marked junction near the Ciampani summit.
At the junction we continue left, right leads path number 1 towards Badia Abtei. The path from the junction runs towards the west and becomes gentler. The increasingly scenic path then brings us below the slope of the Muntejela summit. Here the path turns slightly to the left and then descends slightly on grassy slopes on the south side of the mentioned summit. The path further continues towards the west and still mostly gently descends all the way to the Puez hut.
At the hut we continue towards the west following the signs »Pizes de Puez, Puezspitz«. After a few dozen meters we reach another junction where path number 2 branches off left towards the Langental valley. We continue slightly right and begin to ascend more steeply. The path brings us to a short ridge which brings us below the southern slopes of the Col de Puez summit. Here the path turns left and then crosses steep slopes towards the northwest for some time. The slopes are quite steep in a few places, and there is some scree on the path, so some caution is needed on this section. Such a path then brings us to the west side of the Col de Puez summit where there is also a somewhat less visible junction.
Left leads the marked path towards the Piz de Puez summit, we head right onto the unmarked path towards the Col de Puez summit. The path here runs along the western slope of the mountain, which is not overly steep. The path is not the best trodden but we can follow it without difficulty all the way to the summit.

On the way: Rifugio Sponata (1730m), Rifugio Gherdenacia (2050m), Rifugio Puez (2475m)