preparation.md (10564B)
1 <table style="width: 100%; table-layout: fixed;"> <thead> <tr> 2 <th style="text-align: left"> <a href=""></a> </th> 3 <th style="text-align: center"> <a href="../">Alta Via 2</a> </th> 4 <th style="text-align: right"> <a href="../day1">Day 1 →</a> </th> 5 </tr> </thead> </table> 6 7 # Preparation 8 9 Alta Via 2 is not a hike one can do without planning. Obviously, one must 10 be sufficiently trained - though advanced climbing skills are generally 11 not needed, walking on steep mountain trails for multiple days requires 12 some experience and a decent condition. But there is also the logistics 13 side of things: Where are you going to sleep? How many clothes are 14 you bringing? Do they all fit in your backpack? And what if it rains? 15 16 ## Training 17 18 We started planning this hike about a year in advanced, so we had 19 plenty of time to train for it. Unfortunately, since I now live in 20 the Netherlands, I could not practice by actually walking in mountain 21 trails. My dad was luckier, because there are plenty of physically 22 demanding trails that start just a few minutes drive away from where 23 he lives. 24 25 So I replaced the actual hiking with two types of training: long-distance 26 running and leg muscle exercises. 27 28 For the running part, I went for 6-12km runs twice a week more or less 29 regularly. This is something I enjoyed regardless of my goal of training 30 for the hike; I even took part in a local half-marathon run. 31 32  33 34 <p align="center"><em> At the starting gate of the <a 35 href="https://marathon.nl/">Leiden half marathon</a>. Two hours and 36 six minutes later, I am not going to be smiling like that. </em></p> 37 38 The gym part was less entartaining for me, I never liked exercising 39 indoors. But I managed to train somewhat consistently for 15-30 minutes 40 once or twice a week. My exercises included squats, side planks, one-leg 41 push-ups and the like. Boooring. 42 43 With all of this I was quite confident I was going to be in good shape 44 for the hike. I was more worried about the logistics... 45 46 ## Planning the route 47 48 Most sources (including the one I followed, a red booklet that I 49 can't find online, but whose content is mostly summarized in [this 50 website](https://www.altavia2dolomiti.com/percorso)) suggest walking 51 Alta Via 2 in 12 or 13 days. But this way some of the days consist 52 of less than 5 hours of walking. On the other hand, well-trained hikers 53 can complete the whole route in 7 days or less. We decided that 10 54 days would be a good middle ground for having a fun and intense hike 55 without overdoing it. In hindsight, this was a good plan, but I don't 56 think I would have minded some of those short walking days. 57 58 For multiple reasons, we decided to sleep in huts rather than camping. 59 Since these regions tend to be quite popular with turists, we decided to 60 book our accommodations early on. We started booking in May, thinking 61 it would be early enough, but it was not - at least not the for part in 62 [Südtirol](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Tyrol). None of the 63 huts in our first two days had any spare bed. We contacted all the 64 places that were somewhat close to our path, to no avail. In the end we 65 were forced to squeeze the first 3 days into 2, and make a long detour 66 to reach a nearby village to sleep in a B&B on our first night. 67 68 The rest of the route followed largely the border between 69 [Trentino](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trentino) and the [province of 70 Belluno](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province_of_Belluno), and it was 71 easier to find accommodation there. fine. Not every hut in our original 72 plan was available, but we could always find good alternatives nearby. 73 74 Our final plan was the following: 75 76 ||Start|Finish|Up|Down|Distance| 77 |:-|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:| 78 |[Day 1](../day1)|[Kreutztal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brixen)|[Lungiarü](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lungiar%C3%BC)|1050m|-1620m|22.1km| 79 |[Day 2](../day2)|[Lungiarü](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lungiar%C3%BC)|[Rifugio Pisciadù](https://www.rifugiopisciadu.it/)|1820m|-690m|19.0km| 80 |[Day 3](../day3)|[Rifugio Pisciadù](https://www.rifugiopisciadu.it/)|[Rifugio Fedaia](https://www.rifugiofedaia.com/)|760m|-1310m|18.0km| 81 |[Day 4](../day4)|[Rifugio Fedaia](https://www.rifugiofedaia.com/)|[Rifugio Flora Alpina](https://floralpina.it/)|1030m|-1290m|17.4km| 82 |[Day 5](../day5)|[Rifugio Flora Alpina](https://floralpina.it/)|[Rifugio Mulaz](https://www.prenotarifugi.cai.it/en/detail/?id=5769)|1160m|-410m|17.6km| 83 |[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| 84 |[Day 7](../day7)|[Rifugio Pradidali](http://www.rifugiopradidali.com/pradidali/Home.html)|[Rifugio Passo Cereda](https://www.rifugiocereda.com/)|1110m|-2000m|17.1km| 85 |[Day 8](../day8)|[Rifugio Passo Cereda](https://www.rifugiocereda.com/)|[Rifugio Boz](https://www.rifugioboz.it)|1210m|-860m|12.8km| 86 |[Day 9](../day9)|[Rifugio Boz](https://www.rifugioboz.it)|[Croce d'Aune](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croce_d%27Aune)|800m|-1500m|20.0km| 87 88 For the first and last days, the plan was to have someone bring us there 89 and pick us up, so we spent only 8 nights out. We did not realize at 90 the time, but this plan gave us a nice balance between high mountain 91 huts (for the real mountaineering experience) and proper hotels 92 (for better comfort). Confusingly, both the huts and the hotels 93 were also called *rifugio* (or *hütte* in German, or *utia* in 94 [Ladin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladin_language)). 95 96 ## Packing up 97 98 You may find it silly, but fitting all the necessities in our backpacks 99 was the part of this adventure that I was most worried about. We were 100 going to hike for 9 days, but clearly we could not pack 9 sets of clean 101 clothes; that alone would almost fill our backpacks. And it's not just 102 t-shirts and underwear, we needed warm and waterproof clothes, too. And 103 what about food? The huts served dinner and breakfast, but we definitely 104 needed something to eat throughout the day. 105 106 In the end, this is what we packed: 107 108 ### Hiking gear 109 110 * Hiking boots. 111 * [Hiking sticks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trekking_pole), similar 112 to [nordic walking](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_walking) 113 poles, but they are usually kept shorter. They help pushing when going 114 up and keep you stable when you walk down. 115 * A simple harness consisting of a strong rope with a 116 [carabiner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carabiner), to be 117 used for the occasional *equipped trails* (think of a [via 118 ferrata](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Via_ferrata), but easier). 119 * Two water bottles (0.5L + 1L). The smaller one was a thermos-like bottle, 120 but I ended up never filling it with hot water or tea. 121 It would have been better to just bring two lightweight plastic bottles. 122 * Maps: [Tabacco](https://www.tabaccoeditrice.it/en/home-english/) 123 maps number [30 124 (Brixen-Villnössertal)](https://www.tabaccoeditrice.it/en/cartografie_en/125000-coast/030_en/), 125 [6 (Val di Fassa e Dolimiti 126 Fassane)](https://www.tabaccoeditrice.it/en/cartografie_en/125000-coast/06_en/), 127 [22 (Pale di San 128 Martino)](https://www.tabaccoeditrice.it/en/cartografie_en/125000-coast/022_en/), 129 plus an older map of the same brand for the Feltre area, that 130 followed a different numbering scheme. We also had offline maps from 131 [OpenStreetMaps](https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=12/46.5905/11.7540) 132 on our phones - we used [Organic Maps](https://organicmaps.app/) and 133 [Mapy](https://mapy.com) as clients - but a paper backup is always 134 convenient, especially because of the size: it is much easier to read 135 a large map than to look at one on a 6" screen. The Tabacco maps were 136 also more accurate in some specific parts, because they included 137 codes for describing each trail's type or difficulty. 138 139 ### Clothes 140 141 Most of the clothes we brought with us were made of some synthetic fabric 142 that was extremely lightweight and quick to dry up. 143 144 * 4 T-shirts (2 or 3 would have been enough). 145 * 4 pairs of underwear (again, 2 or 3 would have been enough). 146 * Zip-off hiking trousers that could be converted to shorts (but 147 I ended up almost always using them in trouser form). 148 * A full set of "normal" clothes (underwear, socks, T-shirt, shorts) that 149 I used only in the huts. 150 * A lightweight hoodie that somehow kept me warm amazingly well. I used 151 it for any temperature between 2°C to 20°C, as it did not feel 152 uncomfortable when it was too hot, as a regular hoodie would. 153 * A regular cotton hoodie that never used. 154 * Slippers. 155 * A baseball cap. 156 * A rain poncho. I did not like wearing it, because it made me sweat a lot 157 and I ended up getting wet anyway. But in ceratin moments it was necessary. 158 * Rain trousers. In the end I never used them, my regular hiking trousers 159 were somewhat waterproof, and the rain poncho covered all the rest. 160 * Gloves. Temperatures reached close to 0°C, and having your hands wet 161 with strong winds at near-freezing temperatures is not fun. 162 163 ### Food and medicine 164 165 * The only food we pack were protein bars. We brought 3 bars per person per 166 day, but this was way too much. I ended up eating one ~100g bar per 167 day on average, because we were often able to grab some food (like a 168 slice of [*Strüdel*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_strudel)) 169 in the huts we walked by during the day. 170 * Energy tablets. Some quick energy boost, 171 they were mostly vitamins with some caffeine. 172 * Plasters, both regular ones and 173 [blister platers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compeed). 174 * Painkillers and other basic medicine. 175 176 ### Other stuff 177 178 * Sleeping bag. A very light one is enough, since every hut provided heavy 179 blankets, but not linens, and guests have to bring their own. 180 * One towel, [the most thing to 181 bring](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker's_Guide_to_the_Galaxy). 182 * Soap, toothbrush and toothpaste. 183 * Wet wipes. 184 * Wallet, phone, phone charger and a power bank. 185 * A small planner and a pen, to keep a journal of the trip. 186 187 At 12kg water included, the backpack is quite heavy. I could have saved a 188 couple of kilos, but in the end we used almost everything that we brought. 189 190  191 192 <p align="center"><em>Ready to go!</em></p> 193 194 <table style="width: 100%; table-layout: fixed;"> <thead> <tr> 195 <th style="text-align: left"> <a href=""></a> </th> 196 <th style="text-align: center"> <a href="../">Alta Via 2</a> </th> 197 <th style="text-align: right"> <a href="../day1">Day 1 →</a> </th> 198 </tr> </thead> </table> 199 200 201 202 203 204