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authorSebastiano Tronto <sebastiano@tronto.net>2025-09-20 19:15:00 +0200
committerSebastiano Tronto <sebastiano@tronto.net>2025-09-20 19:15:00 +0200
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1# Preparation
2
3|[← Alta Via 2](../)|[Day 1 →](../day1)|
4|:-|-:|
5
6Alta Via 2 is not a hike one can do without planning. Obviously, one must
7be sufficiently trained - though advanced climbing skills are generally
8not needed, walking on steep mountain trails for multiple days requires
9some experience and being in decent physical condition. But there is also
10the logistics side of things: Where are you going to sleep? What and how
11many clothes are you bringing? Do they all fit in your backpack? And
12what if it rains?
13
14## Training
15
16We started planning this around a year in advanced, so I had plenty
17of time to train for this hike. Unfortunately, since I now live in
18the Netherlands, I could not practice by actually walking in mountain
19trails. My dad was luckier, because there are plenty of physically
20demanding trains that start just a few minutes drive away from where
21he lives.
22
23So I replaced the actual hiking with two types of training: long-distance
24running and gym-like leg exercises.
25
26For the running part, I went for 6-12km run around twice a week. This
27is something I enjoyed regardless of my goal of training for the hike;
28I even decided to take part in a local half-marathon (21.1km) run.
29
30![Me, ready for a half marathon](../img/0-leiden-half-marathon.jpg)
31
32The gym part was less entartaining for me, I never liked exercising
33indoors. But I managed to train somewhat consistently once or twice a
34week for 15-30 minutes. My exercises included squats, side planks,
35one-leg push-ups and the like. Boooring.
36
37With all of this I was quite confident I was going to be in good
38shape for the hike. I was more worried about the logistics...
39
40## Planning the route
41
42Most sources (including the one I followed, a red booklet that I
43can't find online, but whose content is mostly summarized in
44[this website](https://www.altavia2dolomiti.com/percorso))
45suggest walking Alta Via 2 in 12 or 13 days, but in this way some of
46the days consist of less than 5 hours of walking. On the other hand,
47well-trained hikers could complete the whole route in 7 days or less. We
48decided that 10 days would be a good middle ground for having a fun and
49intense hike without overdoing it. In hindsight this was a good plan, but
50I don't think I would have minded some of those short walking days.
51
52For multiple reasons, we decided to sleep in huts rather than camping.
53Since these regions tend to be quite popular with turists, we decided to
54book our accommodations early on. We started booking in May, thinking it
55would be early enough, but it was not - at least for part in
56[Südtirol](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Tyrol).
57None of the huts in our first two days of had any spare bed. We contacted
58all the places that were somewhat close to our path, to no avail. In the
59end we were forced to squeeze the first 3 days into 2, and make a long
60detour to reach a nearby village to sleep in a B&B on our first night.
61
62For the rest of the plan, the part following largely the border between
63[Trentino](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trentino) and the
64[province of Belluno](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province_of_Belluno),
65was mostly fine. Not every hut in our original plan was available, but
66we were able to find good alternatives nearby.
67
68Our final plan was the following:
69
70|:|:Start:|:Finish:|:Up (m):|:Down (m):|:Distance (km):|:Time (est.):|:GPX:|
71|[Day 1](./day1)|Kreutztal|Lungiarü|
72|[Day 2](./day2)|Lungiarü|Rifugio Pisciadù|
73|[Day 3](./day3)|Rifugio Pisciadù|Rifugio Fedaia|
74|[Day 4](./day4)|Rifugio Fedaia|Rifugio Flora Alpina|
75|[Day 5](./day5)|Rifugio Flora Alpina|Rifugio Mulaz|
76|[Day 6](./day6)|Rifugio Mulaz|Rifugio Pradidali|
77|[Day 7](./day7)|Rifugio Pradidali|Rifugio Passo Cereda|
78|[Day 8](./day8)|Rifugio Passo Cereda|Rifugio Boz|
79|[Day 9](./day9)|Rifugio Boz|Croce d'Aune|
80
81TODO download GPX files
82TODO complete table
83
84TODO if adding time estimate column,
85 comment on the fact that the time estimates were off because
86 going down became much thougher from day 3
87 how much info is worth adding? add / remove columns
88
89For the first and last days, the plan was to have someone bring us there
90or pick us up, so we spent only 8 nights out. We did not realize at the
91time, but this plan gave us a nice balance between high mountain huts
92(for the real mountaineering experience) and proper hotels (for better
93comfort); after all, every one of these hotels was also called *rifugio*
94(or *hütte* in German, or *utja* in [Ladin](TODO link) TODO check
95speling of utja).
96
97## Packing up
98
99You may find it silly, but fitting all the necessities in my backpack
100was the part of this adventure that I was most worried about. We were
101going to hike for 9 days, but clearly we could not pack 9 sets of clean
102clothes; that alone would almost fill our backpacks. And it's not just
103t-shirts and underwear, we needed warm and waterproof clothes too. And
104what about food? The huts served dinner and breakfast, but we definitely
105needed something to eat throughout the day, too.
106
107In the end, this is what we packed:
108
109TODO check the technical terms
110
111### Hiking gear
112
113* Hiking boots
114* TODO bastoni da montagna
115* TODO corda e moschettone
116* Two water bottles (0.5L + 1L). The smaller one was a thermos-like bottle
117 to keep the contents warm, but I ended up never filling it with hot
118 water or tea. It would have been better to just bring two lightweight
119 plastic bottles.
120* Maps. TODO chiedi a papà i numeri delle cartine tabacco.
121
122### Clothes
123
124TODO some intro about most of my clothing was some synthetic fiber
125 that dries up quickly (although in practice it was extremely humid)
126
127* TODO 4 magliette tecniche, ne bastavano 2-3
128* TODO pantaloni da montagna
129* TODO felpa super leggera ma che teneva caldo
130* TODO mutande tecniche 4 paia, anche qui 2-3 bastavano
131* TODO un cambio completo (mutande, calzini, maglietta, maglia a maniche
132 lunghe, pantaloncini) non tecnico, per stare in rifugio.
133* TODO una felpa pesante che non ho mai usato, quella leggera è bastata
134* Slippers.
135* A baseball cap.
136* A rain poncho. I did not like using it, because it made me sweat a lot
137 and I ended up getting wet anyway. But in some moments it was necessary.
138* Rain trousers. I ended up never using these, my regular hiking trousers
139 were somewhat waterproof, and the rain poncho covered all the rest.
140* Gloves. Temperatures reached close to 0°C,
141 and gettings your hands wet with near-freezing rains is not fun.
142
143### Food and medicine
144
145* The only food we pack were protein bars. We brought 3 per person per
146 day, but this was way too much. I ended up eating one per day (TODO was
147 it around 100g?) on average, because we were often able to eat something
148 (like a slice of [*Strüdel*](TODO link)) in the huts we walked by during
149 the day.
150* [Energy tablets](TODO link or something). Some quick source of energy boost,
151 they were mostly vitamins with some caffeine.
152* Plasters, both regular ones and [blister platers](TODO link?)
153* Painkillers and other basic medicine: (TODO list: naproxene, paracetamol)
154
155### Other stuff
156
157TODO maybe move this stuff in the other sections above
158
159* Sleeping bag. A very light one (TODO cerca nome in inglese
160 del sacco lenzuolo) is enough, since every hut provided heavy
161 blankets, but not (TODO nome delle lenzuola da sotto?)
162 TODO add that one must use it, it's a rule in most huts.
163* One towel, [the most important piece of equipment](TODO link hitchhiker's guide or smth).
164* Soap, toothbrush and toothpaste.
165* Wet wipes.
166* Wallet, phone, phone charger and a power bank. The only app I used was
167 [Organic Maps](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.organicmaps),
168 an offline maps app based on
169 [OpenStreeMap](https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=12/46.5905/11.7540) data.
170 Also available on [F-Droid](https://f-droid.org/packages/app.organicmaps/).
171* A small planner and a pen, to keep a journal of the trip.
172
173TODO add picture of me with backpack?
174
175At 12kg water included, the backpack is quite heavy. I could have saved a
176couple of kilos, but in the end we used almost everything that we brought.
177
178|[← Alta Via 2](../)|[Day 1 →](../day1)| |:-|-:|

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