Ferrata Delle Trincee, La Mesola
Ferrata Delle Trincee, La Mesola
Duration - 3 - 4 hours
CHALLENGING
I undertook this route in reverse, counter to most guidebooks, on a summer afternoon. In the morning I parked outside the Refugio Passo Fedaia, to the east of the Lago di Fedaia (the large reservoir under the Marmolda glacier) and then climbed the Ferrata delle Trincee on the eastern flank of Marmolada (I have written this route up separately). I then descended via cable car to Malga Ciapala and after walking north for 20 minutes took the chair lift up to the Refugio Padon, from where I walked steeply on a clear, often stepped, path for 15 minutes to the start of the Ferrata Delle Trincee Via Ferrata which is clearly marked. The route is essentially a ridge walk, on very grippy volcanic rock, gradually increasing in difficulty up and below the highest point of the Mesola summit. It starts on the southern side of the ridge before alternating either side on the latter half of the Ferrata.
The start is simple, weaving your way westwards on the southern side of a ridge, moving in and out of WW1 tunnels on protected and non-protected sections. After about 20 minutes and on exiting the last of the tunnels, you drop down onto a grassy bank. The route now climbs on a mixture of volcanic rock (often protected and without difficulty) and grass, on and off the ridge.
As you start to approach the higher part of the ridge the non-rock sections become a little steeper, walking on a mixture of light scree and gravely dirt, occasionally interspersed with the odd WW1 cave. The upper section around the Mesola summit consists of some steep climbing and descending on Via Ferrata cables culminating in a tricky and slightly airy traverse around the summit rocks. (During this period I experienced a party coming the other way, towards me, going slightly “off piste” and dislodging a huge boulder which fell with much noise and alarm over the northern precipitous side of the ridge. Shortly after I saw the guide who was leading the group push past in a state of some concern – surprisingly he looked like the same guide I had seen leading a large party of unroped and ill equipment people on the Marmolada glacier the year before).
Descending from the summit you reach the hardest part of the Via Ferrata (and this is why I have graded this route as challenging) involving a 20m vertical descent on a large slab which exercises both your upper body and resolve. Shortly after this the cables cease and you follow the ridge (with some care as the tracks are not clear) to the Bec da Mesdi Refugio and then descend on the prominent track to the Castiglioni café/refugio on the western side of the reservoir under Marmolada. Rather than following the road back to the car cross over the reservoir wall to the southern side and follow this bank, on a metalled track back to the Refugio Passo Fedaia which takes about 30 minutes.
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