Ristorante Pietofana - Tofana di Dentro

Access to starting point:
A) Access from Gorenjska: From Rateče or Predel we cross the border to Trbiž / Tarvisio and then on the highway in the direction of Videm / Udine to exit Tolmezzo. From Tolmezzo we follow the road in the direction of village Ampezzo and mountain pass Passo della Mauria. The road then descends and brings us to a crossroad, where we continue left (possible also right) in the direction of Cortina d'Ampezzo. At all next crossroads, we follow the signs for Cortina d'Ampezzo.
In Cortina d'Ampezzo, we then follow the signs for the alpine pass Passo di Falzarego. We follow this ascending road to a crossroad where a narrower road towards restaurant Pie Tofana and mountain hut Col Druscie branches off to the right. The crossroad is located in the lower part of the road towards the pass Passo Falzarego. At the mentioned crossroad, we continue right and follow the asphalt road all the way to a larger parking lot at the restaurant Pietofana.
B) From Primorska: We drive on the highway towards Venice / Venezia. At 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. Near Belluno the highway ends and at the next crossroads we continue in the direction of Cortina d'Ampezzo. Further, we follow the description above.

Path description:
From the parking lot, we continue on the asphalt road and then turn left onto the macadam road following the signs »Rifugio Pomedes, Forcella Ra Valles«. The macadam road, which is closed to traffic, starts to ascend and quickly brings us to a marked junction.
At the junction, we leave the road and turn right onto the footpath following the signs »Forcella Ra Valles«. The path then ascends through the forest for quite some time, so the view is quite limited. Later, the path crosses a ski slope and starts to ascend through dwarf pines. Here, increasingly beautiful views of the surrounding peaks begin to open up and the path soon brings us from the dwarf pines onto the scree. The path then turns slightly right and crosses the scree in ascent. This path brings us to a ski slope, up which we then ascend. The ski slope further becomes quite steep and due to the gravel on the path, some caution is needed. Higher up, the ski slope turns left, then the footpath briefly moves to the left side of the ski slope. When we rejoin the ski slope, only a short ascent remains to the notch Forcella Ra Valles, from which a view opens towards Tofana di Mezzo and Tofana di Dentro.
From the notch, where there is a marked junction, we continue left on path 407. After a short ascent, we reach a somewhat less visible junction, where the path to the mountain hut Ra Valles branches off left along the ski slope.
We continue slightly right and cross the slope towards the walls of peaks Tofana di Mezzo and Tofana di Dentro. The path then ascends diagonally for some time and soon enters the nature park Parco Naturale delle Dolomiti d'Ampezzo. The path then continues north for some time and brings us to a marked junction.
To the right, the path leads down the valley Canalon de Ra Ola, while we continue slightly left and ascend the scree below the walls of peak Tofana di Dentro. The path across the scree brings us to military ruins from the First World War. Here, we continue slightly right and the path through a window brings us onto steeper slopes. The path then turns somewhat left and mostly ascends in steep zigzags up the steep slope. The slope is quite steep here and occasionally a steel cable assists us. The path then turns right and a somewhat exposed crossing follows, bringing us to the saddle on the south side of peak Cima Formenton.
On the saddle, where a view opens to the west, we continue left and then ascend the slope along the ridge. At a few spots, a steel cable assists us, then the path turns somewhat left and brings us via a crossing to bivouac Baracca degli Alpini.
From the bivouac, after a short crossing, the path soon brings us to the ridge, along which we ascend for some time. Further on, the path from the ridge brings us to scree on the eastern side of peak Tofana di Dentro. First, we cross the scree in ascent towards the south, then the path turns right and an ascent follows on relatively steep scree all the way to the very panoramic peak Tofana di Dentro.
We descend the ascent path or continue to Tofana di Mezzo, from where we can also return to the valley by gondola cable car. If we continue towards Tofana di Mezzo, we will also need a via ferrata set, as the path further on is more demanding.

On the way: Forcella Ra Valles (2300m), Bivacco Baracca degli Alpini (2922m)

Trip can be extended to: Tofana di Mezzo