from VIEL DAL PAN to MARMOLADA (part1)

SUGGESTED ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK (SOS)

Viel dal Pan: Beatles - Abbey road - Here comes the sun 

PROLOGUE:

An idea of tour was shaped with a friend and saved on a GPX file. 

Since one year it is jumping in my head.

Just 6 hours driving between us!

Today the Chef suggests a lift from Canazei to Col dei Rossi, cradled by the cable car. Appetizer with relaxing “601 Viel Dal Pan”, a part of the Dolomites Haute Route: spicy trail carved in the side of the mountain, flying 2400m high over the valley with small rise and fall (80% rideable) small jumps and great view on Marmolada Glacier and Gran Vernel. 

Landscape is wide open and reminds me how small I am, creating that mixed feeling of curiosity and anxiety that I love. Once arrived at Porta Vescovo I turn south and brain switches on “survive mode” descending from the top of a green amphitheater on dirt and rolling stones. The lake looks not very far …but there are still “billions and billions” of steps to ride on technical single track. 

On the last part of the trail I cut a group of sheep until I face the shepherd: a super old man with long white beard that looks like a prophet. The guy is “the sultan of sheep” and is an expert of the area, so maybe he knows the trail I’m looking for. “You shouldn’t ride trails you don’t know, because the risk is… TO DIE!!”  Wow, the power of positive thinking! Time to say goodbye and follow my way to the lake.

The dam on Lago Fedaia is a concrete line that connects 2 different worlds: one is flat, sunny, relaxed on the lake and populated with tourists. The other is vertical, dark, silent, wild. I wander at which of the two worlds belong the line I’m going to ride.