Route 666
The refuge at Col Gardena provides a lunch outside in the sun, as we eye up the path running high above the south side of the valley underneath the three big mountains which dominate this aspect of the Sella group. This is GR route 666, threading an impossible-seeming trail high above the sheer cliffs, but still looking up towards even more imposing rock columns and buttresses. There are snowfields which we negotiate in our trainers without a problem. and a lot of rubble newly avalanched from on high. It is a wonderful balcony path, finding its way through difficult rocky terrain  Standing beneath the Brunecker Turm, we can see that the path leading up to the Pisciadu Refuge is still very snowy and there are one or two tiny solitary figures making slow progress towards it. We cross the snowfield lower down, again hoping that our trainers are up to the job. We do carry small pairs of mini crampons with us just in case, but now we don’t need them. The descent from this path down to the Colfalsco meadows is very steep and stony with large areas of rubble where recent landslides have taken the path away completely. At this point, route finding is less easy than you would expect on a large and popular path, but in time again a new route will be established.
not at home 