Malga Crocifisso - Col de Valvacin

Access to starting point:
Access from Gorenjska: Through the Karawanks Tunnel, we drive to Austria, and then we continue driving towards Spittal and on towards Lienz (a little after Spittal the highway ends). Further, we drive on a relatively nice and wide road through the Drau 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 a bypass leads, we turn left into the Val Badia valley. Further, we drive through the mentioned valley past the settlements La Vila and Corvara. Next follows an ascent over the passes Passo Campolongo and Passo Pordoi. From the pass Passo Pordoi, we then descend on the west side into the Val di Fassa valley. In the settlement Pozza di Fassa, at the roundabout we continue left in the direction of Val San Nicolo. We follow this road to the mountain pasture Malga Crocifisso. From the mountain pasture, we can continue less than a kilometer on the road and then turn left (marked with a sign saying "Ferrata") over a small bridge where we park.
From the Primorska side: From Nova Gorica, we drive to Italy and then further on the highway towards Venice / Venezia. Near 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 Belluno. We follow the highway to the exit for Belluno. When we leave the highway, we come to a larger roundabout, which we leave at the exit for Belluno and the settlement Feltre. In the smaller roundabout in the settlement Belluno, we then continue right towards the settlement Agordo. We then follow this road all the way to the settlement Pozza di Fassa in the Val di Fassa valley. In the settlement Pozza di Fassa, at the roundabout we continue right in the direction of Val San Nicolo. We follow this road to the mountain pasture Malga Crocifisso. From the mountain pasture, we can continue less than a kilometer on the road and then turn left (marked with a sign saying "Ferrata") over a small bridge where we park.

Route description:
From the starting point, we continue left on the road which ascends through a strip of forest and soon brings us to a ski slope. We continue on the mentioned road which further runs along the ski slope from which beautiful views start to open up on the peaks above the Val di San Nicolo valley.
When the ski slope turns to the left, we leave the road which runs on the ski slope and head slightly right onto a cart track which leads into the forest. If we miss the junction, we can also continue further along the ski slope, which also leads towards the mountain hut Rifugio Buffaure. From the junction, we continue on the cart track which starts to ascend through the forest and soon we will notice a game feeder on the right side. We continue straight ahead and the cart track turns into a path. The path then turns to the right and then mostly ascends in zigzags through the forest. The path is otherwise marked with red-white blazes, which are relatively rare. During the ascent, the path occasionally brings us to short clearings from which a nice view also opens up on the surrounding peaks. Such a path then continues all the way until we come out of the forest onto grassy slopes from which a view opens up towards the mountain hut Rifugio Buffaure. The path then turns to the left and follows the last ascent to the hut.
From the hut, we continue right on the gentle wide path from which a beautiful view opens up towards the mountain group Catinaccio (Rosengarten). The path quickly brings us to a junction where we continue right on path 613 following the signs »Col de Valvacin, Sas d'Adam«, straight ahead the path leads towards the upper station of the cable car.
From the junction, we walk on the gentle road that runs along the ski slope. Later the road turns slightly to the right and starts to ascend somewhat more steeply. Such a path then soon brings us to the mountain hut Rifugio Baita Cuz.
From the hut, we continue on the road which turns slightly to the left and starts to ascend steeply on the ski slope. We continue further on the steep road all the way to the ridge where the upper station of the Pala del Geiger cableway is. Here, for a short time, a view also opens up on the northern side towards the mountain groups Sassolungo and Sella. We continue right on the road, which is then gentler and moves to the right side of the ridge. On this road, we then soon reach the mountain hut Rifugio el Zedron, which is located at the summit of Col de Valvacin. We reach the summit by bypassing the hut on the right side, then on the ridge where there is a junction we continue left and in a few steps reach the panoramic summit.

Along the route: Rifugio Alpino Buffaure (2044m), Rifugio Baita Cuz (2213m)

The trip can be extended to the following destinations: Sas de Adam ( 20 min)

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