passing through new terrain | piz boè, passo gardena, passo sella, grand cir, pisciadu

Okay okay let’s talk about Piz Boè. It was a new area to me on this recent trip to the Dolomites. I had first heard about Piz Boè from a friend who raved about it, so I absolutely HAD to check it out. It’s the tallest mountain in the Sella mountain group. Think about it as a sub-range of one major peak and several other surrounding mountains. We don’t really have this sort of system in Washington since our mountains are made up of volcanoes from the subduction of plates, whereas the European Alps are thought to have formed from the collision of plates to push up the mountains (whether by subduction or other method). Enough of geology, let’s talk hiking and adventuring!

Sunrise on Sassolungo

Sassolungo is technically a different mountain group. I guess a sub-sub-group. It sits on the east side of Seiseralm but you can get a glorious sunrise from Passo Sella, the alpine pass between Piz Boè and Sassolungo. I stayed at Hotel Mariaflora for an easy wake up and almost missed check in since we got dinner after a sunset hike of Seceda. I wasn’t sure about this hotel, but I highly recommend for incredible views of the valley below.

At the crack of dawn, I stepped outside, excited for the views. But little did I know there was a photography class right where I was headed. Hotel Mariaflora sits at the base of Piz Boè and a multitude of trails (major and use-trails) started from here. I kept climbing for higher views, mostly to get the hotel and other buildings out of the way. And ended right where the group was congregating. Higher up, it would’ve been too steep and too far away for me to venture. Here, the view was already incredible, better than what I could’ve planned. Alpenglow hitting all the mountains with sneaky views of Marmolada, Queen of the Dolomites.

All too soon, sunrise passed and I decided to descend back to the hotel for breakfast.

Grand Cir Via Ferrata/Scramble

3 miles . 1414 ft gain . 8345 ft high

While I largely followed my detailed itinerary (I love to plan), there were a few moments of changed plans and the biggest change was which day to do the via ferrata by Piz Boè. There was a local festival that closed all shops early so we couldn’t do our initial plan and ended up on the late evening hike of Seceda. So we swapped itineraries and this day, we were able to rent via ferrata gear. I found it interesting that Cortina had much more options to rent via ferrata gear and here, it was limited and they had just increased their inventory 3-5x due to American tourists.

We arrived at Passo Gardena and had such amazing views. It was a little rough with all the construction happening, but still so cool to see the winding roads up to the pass. And also all the lifts nearby! You can actually take lifts up and around the whole entire Piz Boè. I think it takes a day to to that, but from my friend’s trip, it sounded really worth it.

Anyway, we parked for a few euros in the cheapest lot at Parking Mëisules. Look up “parcheggio” on google maps if you ever need reference to parking lots. We started hiking up to the start of Piccolo Cir because we were recommended by locals. It was supposed to be a more intriguing via ferrata than the popular Grand Cir.

However, we were about a day too late! We got to ascend about half of the via ferrata before we were told off by workers who were actively taking down the via ferrata. I didn’t even know that was a thing! I’m glad we only got a warning and we immediately turned around and backtracked. It was still worth getting yelled at for the views and short fun climb.

We then traversed over to the base of Grand Cir and felt a little silly wearing the via ferrata gear. While there’s a few cables, half of it isn’t even protected. But stress not! It’s just a simple class 2 scramble at most and a trail at best. At the top, it was rather crowded, but I’m still happy we got to see the views since we couldn’t summit Piccolo Cir.

The return was simple, just follow any trail back to the base!

Cascate del Pisciadù

1.5 miles . 300 ft gain . 5900 ft high

For a short afternoon activity, consider hiking to a cute waterfall. I’m now convinced you can park at the base and not hike, but you might need a key through a gate. Either way, it’s good to stretch your legs and not as far as other people make it seem. We parked at one of the pullouts, careful not to block any actual roads and gates. There were a couple other nearby pullouts, but parking is rather limited. You might be better off parking in the town of Colfosco or Corvara and walking a bit further.

We hiked through the prettiest larch grove at the base of Piz Boè and the light hit just right. Still dreaming about the views! It honestly dwarfed the waterfall views. At the base of the waterfall, there’s a little picnic area before you head up with enough signs to lead you from the trickling water to the rush of the waterfall itself. It was a rather low flow and I think it’s because it hadn’t rained recently. Probably a better spring time activity.

Other Activities at Piz Boè

There’s so many more things to do around Piz Boè that were on my list but literally didn’t have enough time to cram in all of them. May I perhaps live vicariously through you, dear reader?

• Ferrata Tridentina al Pisciadu: super famous, but not too difficult and a fun way to get to the Rifugio Pisciadu
• Ferrata Piazzetta al Piz Boè (Cesare): a very difficult but half day excursion, don’t try this without a guide or experience
• Hiking and scrambling to Rifugio Pisciadu: you can stay overnight too
• Hike to the top of Piz Boè via Passo Pordoi cable car on the south side

And if you’re around here, you might as well check out Val Gardena, Marmolada, Sassolungo, and Seiseralm. Towns to visit: Arabba, Corvara, Canazei, and Selva di Val Gardena

Hope these ideas help you on your travels!

Photos taken on Canon R5, iPhone 13 mini and iPhone 14