We knew that today was going to be one of our longest hikes so the need to start early was real. But, the need to see Lago Sorapis without rain was also real! We woke early and got everything packed and ready to go before breakfast, then ran out to the lake for sunrise! It is a spectacular sight and I can understand why tourists flock to the area!

Breakfast was nothing special, the typical selection of bread with meat and cheese, yogurt, and sweet pastry. Fed and packed, the next section was ready to be tackled.

We knew that there were several Via Ferrata sections today but none of us had researched them much. Turns out, the first one today was the most spectacular one of our entire trek! Cables, ladders, cliff edges, and soooo many fabulous views of the lake!! We took way too many pictures and moved on at too slowly because of them in this section.

We eventually broke past the tree line and into the scree field, making our way over to the cliff side to start our ascent.

Once at the cliff wall, we geared up for the Via Ferrata section. Steve took the lead and about a thousand pictures! Over roughly the next three hours we traversed the cliff face, moving ever upward.

This Via Ferrata was challenging but an absolute blast! Nothing that made me panic, just some nice technical sections were we trusted our feet and our gear!

Once we hit the top we still had to work our way down and around a plateau that we thought we could short cut across but ended up cliffed out. Ever onward and upward was the name of the game!

We made a decision to change routes when we came to a trail junction and the trail we had originally planned went all the way down to the river and then back up to the saddle we had to cross. The other trail, while about 2 miles longer, stayed more or less on the same elevation before making a more gentle ascent. I think this choice fully saved us and granted us the time we needed to make it to dinner! Once across the saddle it was a long long long downhill all the way to the rifugio!

Once we arrived we enjoyed a fabulous outdoor shower heated with solar and some homemade radlers (25% lemon lime soda, 75% marzen beer). At dinner Josh taught us a new card game called heart of sevens which he then proceeded to win both times. It helps when he knows all the rules but forgets to tell the rest of us! 😂