Sas de Stria (walk)
Sas de Stria Walk
Duration - 2 - 3 hours
EASY
This is an essential walk if you are interested in the WW1 history of the area as, in conjunction with the museum situated by the car park at the start of the walk, it brings the tactical picture of where all the troops were and what they were doing together. You can see the Italian gun positions at Cinque Torri, you can see the Martini Ledge under Lagazoi and you can see the trenches on the other side of the Valparola pass. Suddenly the various stories that you have accumulated here and there, confused in that the opposing forces took up positions on the same mountain, sometimes (in the case of a rock face) above or below the enemy, into focus.
Park at the car park by the Museo Storico on Route 24, just a mile west of the top of the top of the Falzarego Pass. The route is immediately apparent as it follows the line of a trench leading straight up the spine of the Sas Stria mountain - right to the very top! On either side of the main trench are smaller trench systems often culminating in caves used either as gun positions, sentries positions, or troop accommodation (or all three). In certain areas, as you make your way south up the spine you will come across greater concentrations of caves and tunnels some linked with what I imagined to be original wooden staircases.
At the top you have a panoramic view of the area, looking down the 3 valley systems that meet at the top of the Falzarego Pass. On the way down I took a different route as I wanted to explore the Galleria Golginger, a series of linked tunnels on the eastern flank of the mountain.
I picked away due east from near the top, dropping steeply down the rocky and grassy slope until I spotted one of the entrances to the tunnels. In hindsight I was probably better off walking down the route I had taken up and then at the bottom, near the car park, traversing south on a path leading directly to the entrance! The tunnels stretch to about 800 meters in length and are quite narrow in places interspersed with hollowed areas, some concreted, providing gun positions overlooking Lagazoi. A head torch is definitely required. At the southernmost end, you can exit the tunnel and back your way back on a path that runs parallel, although occasionally you need to go back inside the tunnel to get round theodd buttress.
Would you like a guided tour?
Please get in touch if you would like to arrange a private guided via ferrata tour of the Dolomites.