From cb143eae3786adae617d1b7370aafd6e9e61b821 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Sebastiano Tronto Date: Sat, 20 Sep 2025 19:15:00 +0200 Subject: Some changes to home and css, started first av2 pages --- src/av2/preparation/preparation.md | 178 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 178 insertions(+) create mode 100644 src/av2/preparation/preparation.md (limited to 'src/av2/preparation') diff --git a/src/av2/preparation/preparation.md b/src/av2/preparation/preparation.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f04abf1 --- /dev/null +++ b/src/av2/preparation/preparation.md @@ -0,0 +1,178 @@ +# Preparation + +|[← Alta Via 2](../)|[Day 1 →](../day1)| +|:-|-:| + +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 being in decent physical condition. But there is also +the logistics side of things: Where are you going to sleep? What and how +many clothes are you bringing? Do they all fit in your backpack? And +what if it rains? + +## Training + +We started planning this around a year in advanced, so I had plenty +of time to train for this hike. 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 trains 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 gym-like leg exercises. + +For the running part, I went for 6-12km run around twice a week. This +is something I enjoyed regardless of my goal of training for the hike; +I even decided to take part in a local half-marathon (21.1km) run. + +![Me, ready for a half marathon](../img/0-leiden-half-marathon.jpg) + +The gym part was less entartaining for me, I never liked exercising +indoors. But I managed to train somewhat consistently once or twice a +week for 15-30 minutes. 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 in this way some of +the days consist of less than 5 hours of walking. On the other hand, +well-trained hikers could 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 for part in +[Südtirol](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Tyrol). +None of the huts in our first two days of 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. + +For the rest of the plan, the part following largely the border between +[Trentino](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trentino) and the +[province of Belluno](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province_of_Belluno), +was mostly fine. Not every hut in our original plan was available, but +we were able to find good alternatives nearby. + +Our final plan was the following: + +|:|:Start:|:Finish:|:Up (m):|:Down (m):|:Distance (km):|:Time (est.):|:GPX:| +|[Day 1](./day1)|Kreutztal|Lungiarü| +|[Day 2](./day2)|Lungiarü|Rifugio Pisciadù| +|[Day 3](./day3)|Rifugio Pisciadù|Rifugio Fedaia| +|[Day 4](./day4)|Rifugio Fedaia|Rifugio Flora Alpina| +|[Day 5](./day5)|Rifugio Flora Alpina|Rifugio Mulaz| +|[Day 6](./day6)|Rifugio Mulaz|Rifugio Pradidali| +|[Day 7](./day7)|Rifugio Pradidali|Rifugio Passo Cereda| +|[Day 8](./day8)|Rifugio Passo Cereda|Rifugio Boz| +|[Day 9](./day9)|Rifugio Boz|Croce d'Aune| + +TODO download GPX files +TODO complete table + +TODO if adding time estimate column, + comment on the fact that the time estimates were off because + going down became much thougher from day 3 + how much info is worth adding? add / remove columns + +For the first and last days, the plan was to have someone bring us there +or 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); after all, every one of these hotels was also called *rifugio* +(or *hütte* in German, or *utja* in [Ladin](TODO link) TODO check +speling of utja). + +## Packing up + +You may find it silly, but fitting all the necessities in my backpack +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, too. + +In the end, this is what we packed: + +TODO check the technical terms + +### Hiking gear + +* Hiking boots +* TODO bastoni da montagna +* TODO corda e moschettone +* Two water bottles (0.5L + 1L). The smaller one was a thermos-like bottle + to keep the contents warm, 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. TODO chiedi a papà i numeri delle cartine tabacco. + +### Clothes + +TODO some intro about most of my clothing was some synthetic fiber + that dries up quickly (although in practice it was extremely humid) + +* TODO 4 magliette tecniche, ne bastavano 2-3 +* TODO pantaloni da montagna +* TODO felpa super leggera ma che teneva caldo +* TODO mutande tecniche 4 paia, anche qui 2-3 bastavano +* TODO un cambio completo (mutande, calzini, maglietta, maglia a maniche + lunghe, pantaloncini) non tecnico, per stare in rifugio. +* TODO una felpa pesante che non ho mai usato, quella leggera è bastata +* Slippers. +* A baseball cap. +* A rain poncho. I did not like using it, because it made me sweat a lot + and I ended up getting wet anyway. But in some moments it was necessary. +* Rain trousers. I ended up never using these, my regular hiking trousers + were somewhat waterproof, and the rain poncho covered all the rest. +* Gloves. Temperatures reached close to 0°C, + and gettings your hands wet with near-freezing rains is not fun. + +### Food and medicine + +* The only food we pack were protein bars. We brought 3 per person per + day, but this was way too much. I ended up eating one per day (TODO was + it around 100g?) on average, because we were often able to eat something + (like a slice of [*Strüdel*](TODO link)) in the huts we walked by during + the day. +* [Energy tablets](TODO link or something). Some quick source of energy boost, + they were mostly vitamins with some caffeine. +* Plasters, both regular ones and [blister platers](TODO link?) +* Painkillers and other basic medicine: (TODO list: naproxene, paracetamol) + +### Other stuff + +TODO maybe move this stuff in the other sections above + +* Sleeping bag. A very light one (TODO cerca nome in inglese + del sacco lenzuolo) is enough, since every hut provided heavy + blankets, but not (TODO nome delle lenzuola da sotto?) + TODO add that one must use it, it's a rule in most huts. +* One towel, [the most important piece of equipment](TODO link hitchhiker's guide or smth). +* Soap, toothbrush and toothpaste. +* Wet wipes. +* Wallet, phone, phone charger and a power bank. The only app I used was + [Organic Maps](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.organicmaps), + an offline maps app based on + [OpenStreeMap](https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=12/46.5905/11.7540) data. + Also available on [F-Droid](https://f-droid.org/packages/app.organicmaps/). +* A small planner and a pen, to keep a journal of the trip. + +TODO add picture of me with backpack? + +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. + +|[← Alta Via 2](../)|[Day 1 →](../day1)| |:-|-:| -- cgit v1.3