Rifugio Gardeccia - Rifugio Vajolet

Access to starting point:
Access from Gorenjska: Through the Karawanks Tunnel, we drive to Austria, and then continue driving towards Spittal and further 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 towns La Vila and Corvara. Next follows an ascent over the passes Passo Campolongo and Passo Pordoi. From the pass Passo Pordoi we then descend to the west side into the Val di Fassa valley. We continue to the town Pera di Fassa where we park on a large parking lot at the bottom station of the chairlift »Pera Vajolet 1«.
From here, transport by minibus to the hut Rifugio Gardeccia is organized. The price of the return ticket is 10€ (July 2015). The minibus starts at 7:00, the last ride from the hut Gardeccia is at 19:00. The road to the hut is otherwise closed to public traffic.
From the Primorska side: From Nova Gorica, we drive to Italy and further 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 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 town Feltre. In a smaller roundabout in Belluno we then continue right towards Agordo. We follow this road all the way to the town Moena in the Val di Fassa valley. In the town Moena we then continue right towards Canazei, but only to the town Pera di Fassa where we park on a large parking lot at the bottom station of the chairlift »Pera Vajolet 1«.
From here, transport by minibus to the hut Rifugio Gardeccia is organized. The price of the return ticket is 10€ (July 2015). The minibus starts at 7:00, the last ride from the hut Gardeccia is at 19:00. The road to the hut is otherwise closed to public traffic.

Path description:
From the hut Rifugio Gardeccia we head on a macadam road towards the hut Vajolet. The road first leads past the hut Rifugio Stella Alpina and brings us into a sparse forest. Here the road ascends somewhat, the sparse forest quickly ends and a view opens towards the hut Rifugio Preuss, which is nicely visible on top of the cliff. Near the mentioned hut is also located the hut Rifugio Vajolet. The panoramic road then becomes flatter for a while, then turns left below the slopes of the peak Cima Catinaccio and begins to ascend somewhat more steeply. The road then ascends all the way to the hut Rifugio Vajolet from where there is a very nice view towards the towers Torri del Vajolet.

On the way: Rifugio Stella Alpina (1960m), Rifugio Preuss (2243m)

Trip can be extended to: Rifugio Passo Principe / Grasleitenpasshütte (1 h 10 min) , Cima Scalieret (2 h 10 min) , Catinaccio d'Antermoia / Kesselkogel