Walk 6. - The Pinnacles

Tuesday 18th July 2023

Pleasant meadows on the way up to the unique fortress-like rock structures called the Pinnacles. Beautiful views over the Val Badia and to the Marmolada, Pelmo and Civetta

(Courtesy of Colletts Mountain Holidays)

We took the #472 bus from Sport Kostner in Corvara headed to the Campolongo Pass. Unfortunately the bus had a minor scrape going up the hairpin bends, and the bus driver refused to go any further until someone from the bus company had been to the site to see the damage. We sat there for 30 to 40 minutes. After we got going again we thought that the stop for the Campolongo Pass was coming up, so got off. Unfortunately we were one stop too early! Nil desperandum! To our right was a chair lift going to the top which we were able to take and save a couple of hundred meters of climbing. So we arrived at the Rifugio Bec de Roces and stopped for our mid morning coffee. The path from Bec de Roces was not that obvious...... as they have changed the route number from 636 to 640! 640 appears on the later maps. We headed of slightly wrong, along the Children's "Bear" discovery trail...... which was clambering over rocks and not easy at all. Being unsure, we retraced our steps to Bec de Roces and took the correct route , the 640

(Background map courtesy of Tabacco Maps)

(Courtesy of Garmin/OpenStreetMaps)

Whoops! Got off one stop too early!

At the top, next to the Rifugio

The route we would have come had we not got off the bus too early

The "Bear" Trail

Looking back down to the Rifugio

Look out! There's a bear behind you.

At this point we retraced our footsteps and started again!

The 640

A good sign!

The circular "Bear Trail" joined from the right: if we had have continued on the Bear Trail we would have reached
this point, but of course we did not know that.

Bear Trail joins from the right

The Marmolada seen through a cleft in the rock

You can just see two people upahead; this gives an idea of the scale

Edelweiss

The Marmolada

Arabba, in the valley below

Boè lift back to Corvara; height drop from 2,199m to 1,546m

One of the main ski lifts in Corvara, the Boè gondola, carries skiers and mountaineers from Corvara to Piz Boè.

The night sky over Corvara