2024 Marmolada - Direttissima & Ferrata to Punta Penia | 3343M 🇮🇹
00:17 The 7am start from Lago di Fedaia | 2053m
00:39 Reaching Pian dei Fiacconi | 2650m
00:47 What's left of the Rifugio Pian dei Fiacconi
01:13 The "scar" from the infamous 2022 Avalanche
01:51 Getting lost
02:48 Meeting some legends, the adventure begins
03:13 Starting the "Direttissima"
04:41 Reaching Punta Penia | 3343m
04:49 Starting the Descent via Ferrata
The Marmolada glacier is receding, year after year. Yet it remains one of the most stunning places of the Dolomiti, standing tall with the highest peak of this legendary mountain range at 3343m (Punta Penia).
There once used to be a chair lift connecting Lago di Fedaia to Pian dei Fiacconi, but you now have to hike up that portion of the trek. Both the rifugio (built in 1946) and the chairlift got swept away by a huge avalanche in December 2020, and you can see the remnants of the rifugio in the video (00:48).
The story of this rifugio, the 11 deaths of 2022 when 64,000T of water, ice and rock debris suddenly broke off the top of the glacier (a scar you can see at 01:15 in the video) and countless other incidents should remind us of our powerlessness vs the wrath of nature, and the inherent risks of mountain life.
A thank you to people like Guido Trevisan, Aurelio Soraruf, Carlo Budel & many more who run, manage and keep the vital rifugi alive 🫡
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This hike was quite special. It was supposed to be a Ferrata UP, and a Glacier DOWN. It turned out to be a "Direttissima" UP ("PaMaJo"), and a Ferrata DOWN for reasons you will have seen in the video.
Overall, it was an incredible experience, a 10+ hr journey that started at 7am from Lago di Fedaia (with no mistakes and a shorter lunch, likely doable in ~8hrs), and a flurry of emotions to be in such a historic and iconic mountain that played a huge role in Italian culture, sports and history (look up the WW1 stories from under the glacier.....).
A genuine thank you to the Marmolada, the Dolomiti, and the legends I met along this path. If you have questions or need tips, feel free to reach out in the comments (italiano/inglese).
Link to the ferrata below, but bear in mind the description/instructions have some flaws. Read the comments and/or ask questions here.
https://www.ferrate365.it/vie-ferrate...