Cime di Laverado circuit (walk)
Tre Cime Di Lavaredo Walk
Duration - 4-5 hours
SIMPLE
Having visited the Dolomites for a good number of years I thought it time to do the classic walk around the mighty towers of Tre Cime, undoubtedly the most iconic, walked and photographed mountain in the Dolomites.
I drove to the town of Misura and parked by the scenic lake in its centre. Although buses run regularly up to the top of the car park at the start of the Tre Cima walk I arrived too early so decided to walk and take a mixture of road and track to the large, multitiered car park which would soon be teaming with tourist buses and cars. This took around 1 hour and 15 minutes but I was going at a good pace.
Having rewarded myself with a coffee at the nearby Refugio Auronzo I started on route 104 heading due east, with a growing number of tourists, via a little chappel, until I arrived at Refugio Lavaredo after about 40 minutes. The route had become Route 101 by this stage. This route goes to the south of Tre Cime (effectively around the back of the mountain), which is largely out of view at this point as it is hidden by the towering southern face of Kleine Piccola, There were already a number of climbers on this face, often calling to each other, some several hundredmetres into their task.
Looking ahead I could see the bulk of tourists heading due north on route 101 to a col which, once crossed, with give them a straight-line view onto the flanks Tre Cima. Not wishing to get caught up I decided to take a longer route around the mountain and walked east on an alternative route (marked 104) dropping into a large valley before turning north and climbing up a col by Refugio Pian di Cengia, a walk taking about an hour. This is well worth the effort because, not only does it bring you close to the massive Croda dei Toni, but it is considerably more peaceful! From here I dropped down the northern side of the col and headed westward on route 101 to the very overcrowded Refugio A. Locatelli (2,438 metres). It was very crowded as this is the place that everyone makes for to get the perfect view of Tre Cime – and there was no doubting what an imposing mountain it looked with its triple towers reaching 500 meters above the scree slopes beneath.
My route back, again to avoid the crowds was to head due south directly towards the towers, initially on route 101, before I broke off and east on a track in the screen immediately under the towers. As I walked under them again the sounds of climbers high above could be heard. The scree track joined route 105 on the western flank of Tre Cime and I followed this in an anti-clockwise until I was back to the car park at Refugio Auronzo. From here I took a bus back down to the car.
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