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+<table style="width: 100%; table-layout: fixed;"> <thead> <tr>
+        <th style="text-align: left"> <a href=""></a> </th>
+        <th style="text-align: center"> <a href="../">Alta Via 2</a> </th>
+        <th style="text-align: right"> <a href="../day1">Day 1 →</a> </th>
+</tr> </thead> </table>
+
+# Preparation
+
+Alta Via 2 is not a hike one can do without planning. Obviously, one must
+be sufficiently trained - though advanced climbing skills are generally
+not needed, walking on steep mountain trails for multiple days requires
+some experience and a decent condition. But there is also the logistics
+side of things: Where are you going to sleep? How many clothes are
+you bringing?  Do they all fit in your backpack? And what if it rains?
+
+## Training
+
+We started planning this hike about a year in advanced, so we had
+plenty of time to train for it. Unfortunately, since I now live in
+the Netherlands, I could not practice by actually walking in mountain
+trails. My dad was luckier, because there are plenty of physically
+demanding trails that start just a few minutes drive away from where
+he lives.
+
+So I replaced the actual hiking with two types of training: long-distance
+running and leg muscle exercises.
+
+For the running part, I went for 6-12km runs twice a week more or less
+regularly. This is something I enjoyed regardless of my goal of training
+for the hike; I even took part in a local half-marathon run.
+
+![Me, ready for a half marathon](../img/0-leiden-half-marathon.jpg)
+
+<p align="center"><em> At the starting gate of the <a
+href="https://marathon.nl/">Leiden half marathon</a>.  Two hours and
+six minutes later, I am not going to be smiling like that.  </em></p>
+
+The gym part was less entartaining for me, I never liked exercising
+indoors.  But I managed to train somewhat consistently for 15-30 minutes
+once or twice a week. My exercises included squats, side planks, one-leg
+push-ups and the like. Boooring.
+
+With all of this I was quite confident I was going to be in good shape
+for the hike. I was more worried about the logistics...
+
+## Planning the route
+
+Most sources (including the one I followed, a red booklet that I
+can't find online, but whose content is mostly summarized in [this
+website](https://www.altavia2dolomiti.com/percorso)) suggest walking
+Alta Via 2 in 12 or 13 days. But this way some of the days consist
+of less than 5 hours of walking. On the other hand, well-trained hikers
+can complete the whole route in 7 days or less. We decided that 10
+days would be a good middle ground for having a fun and intense hike
+without overdoing it. In hindsight, this was a good plan, but I don't
+think I would have minded some of those short walking days.
+
+For multiple reasons, we decided to sleep in huts rather than camping.
+Since these regions tend to be quite popular with turists, we decided to
+book our accommodations early on.  We started booking in May, thinking
+it would be early enough, but it was not - at least not the for part in
+[Südtirol](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Tyrol).  None of the
+huts in our first two days had any spare bed. We contacted all the
+places that were somewhat close to our path, to no avail. In the end we
+were forced to squeeze the first 3 days into 2, and make a long detour
+to reach a nearby village to sleep in a B&B on our first night.
+
+The rest of the route followed largely the border between
+[Trentino](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trentino) and the [province of
+Belluno](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province_of_Belluno), and it was
+easier to find accommodation there.  fine. Not every hut in our original
+plan was available, but we could always find good alternatives nearby.
+
+Our final plan was the following:
+
+||Start|Finish|Up|Down|Distance|
+|:-|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|
+|[Day 1](../day1)|[Kreutztal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brixen)|[Lungiarü](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lungiar%C3%BC)|1050m|-1620m|22.1km|
+|[Day 2](../day2)|[Lungiarü](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lungiar%C3%BC)|[Rifugio Pisciadù](https://www.rifugiopisciadu.it/)|1820m|-690m|19.0km|
+|[Day 3](../day3)|[Rifugio Pisciadù](https://www.rifugiopisciadu.it/)|[Rifugio Fedaia](https://www.rifugiofedaia.com/)|760m|-1310m|18.0km|
+|[Day 4](../day4)|[Rifugio Fedaia](https://www.rifugiofedaia.com/)|[Rifugio Flora Alpina](https://floralpina.it/)|1030m|-1290m|17.4km|
+|[Day 5](../day5)|[Rifugio Flora Alpina](https://floralpina.it/)|[Rifugio Mulaz](https://www.prenotarifugi.cai.it/en/detail/?id=5769)|1160m|-410m|17.6km|
+|[Day 6](../day6)|[Rifugio Mulaz](https://www.prenotarifugi.cai.it/en/detail/?id=5769)|[Rifugio Pradidali](http://www.rifugiopradidali.com/pradidali/Home.html)|890m|-1160m|12.4km|
+|[Day 7](../day7)|[Rifugio Pradidali](http://www.rifugiopradidali.com/pradidali/Home.html)|[Rifugio Passo Cereda](https://www.rifugiocereda.com/)|1110m|-2000m|17.1km|
+|[Day 8](../day8)|[Rifugio Passo Cereda](https://www.rifugiocereda.com/)|[Rifugio Boz](https://www.rifugioboz.it)|1210m|-860m|12.8km|
+|[Day 9](../day9)|[Rifugio Boz](https://www.rifugioboz.it)|[Croce d'Aune](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croce_d%27Aune)|800m|-1500m|20.0km|
+
+For the first and last days, the plan was to have someone bring us there
+and pick us up, so we spent only 8 nights out. We did not realize at
+the time, but this plan gave us a nice balance between high mountain
+huts (for the real mountaineering experience) and proper hotels
+(for better comfort). Confusingly, both the huts and the hotels
+were also called *rifugio* (or *hütte* in German, or *utia* in
+[Ladin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladin_language)).
+
+## Packing up
+
+You may find it silly, but fitting all the necessities in our backpacks
+was the part of this adventure that I was most worried about. We were
+going to hike for 9 days, but clearly we could not pack 9 sets of clean
+clothes; that alone would almost fill our backpacks. And it's not just
+t-shirts and underwear, we needed warm and waterproof clothes, too. And
+what about food? The huts served dinner and breakfast, but we definitely
+needed something to eat throughout the day.
+
+In the end, this is what we packed:
+
+### Hiking gear
+
+* Hiking boots.
+* [Hiking sticks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trekking_pole), similar
+  to [nordic walking](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_walking)
+  poles, but they are usually kept shorter. They help pushing when going
+  up and keep you stable when you walk down.
+* A simple harness consisting of a strong rope with a
+  [carabiner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carabiner), to be
+  used for the occasional *equipped trails* (think of a [via
+  ferrata](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Via_ferrata), but easier).
+* Two water bottles (0.5L + 1L). The smaller one was a thermos-like bottle,
+  but I ended up never filling it with hot water or tea.
+  It would have been better to just bring two lightweight plastic bottles.
+* Maps: [Tabacco](https://www.tabaccoeditrice.it/en/home-english/)
+  maps number [30
+  (Brixen-Villnössertal)](https://www.tabaccoeditrice.it/en/cartografie_en/125000-coast/030_en/),
+  [6 (Val di Fassa e Dolimiti
+  Fassane)](https://www.tabaccoeditrice.it/en/cartografie_en/125000-coast/06_en/),
+  [22 (Pale di San
+  Martino)](https://www.tabaccoeditrice.it/en/cartografie_en/125000-coast/022_en/),
+  plus an older map of the same brand for the Feltre area, that
+  followed a different numbering scheme. We also had offline maps from
+  [OpenStreetMaps](https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=12/46.5905/11.7540)
+  on our phones - we used [Organic Maps](https://organicmaps.app/) and
+  [Mapy](https://mapy.com) as clients - but a paper backup is always
+  convenient, especially because of the size: it is much easier to read
+  a large map than to look at one on a 6" screen. The Tabacco maps were
+  also more accurate in some specific parts, because they included
+  codes for describing each trail's type or difficulty.
+
+### Clothes
+
+Most of the clothes we brought with us were made of some synthetic fabric
+that was extremely lightweight and quick to dry up.
+
+* 4 T-shirts (2 or 3 would have been enough).
+* 4 pairs of underwear (again, 2 or 3 would have been enough).
+* Zip-off hiking trousers that could be converted to shorts (but
+  I ended up almost always using them in trouser form).
+* A full set of "normal" clothes (underwear, socks, T-shirt, shorts) that
+  I used only in the huts.
+* A lightweight hoodie that somehow kept me warm amazingly well. I used
+  it for any temperature between 2°C to 20°C, as it did not feel
+  uncomfortable when it was too hot, as a regular hoodie would.
+* A regular cotton hoodie that never used.
+* Slippers.
+* A baseball cap.
+* A rain poncho. I did not like wearing it, because it made me sweat a lot
+  and I ended up getting wet anyway. But in ceratin moments it was necessary.
+* Rain trousers. In the end I never used them, my regular hiking trousers
+  were somewhat waterproof, and the rain poncho covered all the rest.
+* Gloves. Temperatures reached close to 0°C, and having your hands wet
+  with strong winds at near-freezing temperatures is not fun.
+
+### Food and medicine
+
+* The only food we pack were protein bars. We brought 3 bars per person per
+  day, but this was way too much. I ended up eating one ~100g bar per
+  day on average, because we were often able to grab some food (like a
+  slice of [*Strüdel*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_strudel))
+  in the huts we walked by during the day.
+* Energy tablets. Some quick energy boost,
+  they were mostly vitamins with some caffeine.
+* Plasters, both regular ones and
+  [blister platers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compeed).
+* Painkillers and other basic medicine.
+
+### Other stuff
+
+* Sleeping bag. A very light one is enough, since every hut provided heavy
+  blankets, but not linens, and guests have to bring their own.
+* One towel, [the most thing to
+  bring](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker's_Guide_to_the_Galaxy).
+* Soap, toothbrush and toothpaste.
+* Wet wipes.
+* Wallet, phone, phone charger and a power bank.
+* A small planner and a pen, to keep a journal of the trip.
+
+At 12kg water included, the backpack is quite heavy. I could have saved a
+couple of kilos, but in the end we used almost everything that we brought.
+
+![Me with my backpack on, at home](../img/19-0000-backpack.jpg)
+
+<p align="center"><em>Ready to go!</em></p>
+
+<table style="width: 100%; table-layout: fixed;"> <thead> <tr>
+        <th style="text-align: left"> <a href=""></a> </th>
+        <th style="text-align: center"> <a href="../">Alta Via 2</a> </th>
+        <th style="text-align: right"> <a href="../day1">Day 1 →</a> </th>
+</tr> </thead> </table>
+
+
+
+
+
+