Passo Gardena - Col de Puez / Puezkofel

Access to the starting point:
a) From Kranjska Gora via the Koren saddle to Austria, where at the first major junction continue left towards Podkloštro / Arnoldstein and Trbiz / Tarvisio. At the end of Podklošter, signs for Šmohor / Hermagor direct you to the right on the regional road, which takes you past the town to the end of the Ziljska Valley, or more precisely to Kötschach-Mauthen, where you turn right towards Oberdrauburg. The road continues over the Gailbergsattel Alpine pass (982 m), after which you descend into the above-mentioned town. After crossing a bridge over the River Drava, turn left towards Lienz. At the main roundabout in Lienz, turn left towards Sillian and Itali. Next we cross the national border between Austria and Itali, and we follow the main road past Dobbiaco / Toblach, Villabassa / Niederdorf, Monguelfo - Tesido / Welsberg - Taisten, Brunico / Bruneck. Just after the last mentioned town, which is passed by a bypass road, we turn left into the Alta Badia valley. Continue along the valley and turn right at La Villa towards Passo Gardena. Continue along the ascending road until you reach the Passo Gardena Pass, where you park in the pay parking area (4€ - June 2012).
b) From Nova Gorica, drive into Itali and follow the motorway to Portogruaro, where at the motorway junction turn towards Belluno. Follow the motorway to its end (do not turn towards Belluno) and then continue driving towards Cortina d'Ampezzo. When you arrive in Cortina d'Ampezzo, follow the signs for the Passo Falzarego Alpine Pass. At the Passo Falzarego (2105 m), turn right towards Alta Badia and ascend the neighbouring Passo Valparola (2192 m) before descending into the valley. At La Villa, turn left towards Passo Gardena. Follow the ascending road until you reach the Passo Gardena pass, where you park in the pay parking area (4€ - June 2012).

Path description:
From the Passo Gardena pass, head north on the footpath past the "Baita Jimmy Hütte" signs. The path leads you along grassy slopes with magnificent views of the Sella mountain range to the south and Sassolungo to the west. The path along the grassy slopes soon leads to the road. Continue to the right along the dirt road, which you will follow until you reach the Jimmy Hütte hut.
From the hut, follow the footpath north-eastwards and start climbing through the dwarf pines. The path soon leads out of dwarf pines and continues to climb quite steeply. Higher up, the path then turns to the left and is followed by a climb up to the Forcella Cier notch where we get a view to the north.
Cross the fence at the saddle and then cross the scree in a gentle descent. This path then leads to a marked crossroads where the Val de Chedul trail joins from the left.
From the crossroads, the path climbs gently again and continues to cross the slopes to the north-east. Later, the path turns slightly to the left and there is a slightly steeper climb to the Forcella de Crespeina notch
At the notch, where a view of most of the Puez mountain group opens up, continue straight ahead, and the path to the right leads over the summit of Sas Ciampac. The path then begins to descend and leads to slightly flatter grassy terrain. From the trail you have a nice view of Lake Lech de Crespeina and Sas Ciampac. Our route then climbs again slightly steeper for a short time, and then the relatively level path leads us to a crossroads where the path over the summit of Sas Ciampac joins us from the right.
The path continues to descend slightly and leads to another crossroads. To the right the path leads down to Calfosch, to the left the path leads into the Langental valley, and we continue straight ahead following the signs for the 'Puezhütte'.
Just after the crossroads, the path turns left and starts to climb gently northwards. A relatively level path later leads to another crossroads where the path to Sassongher branches off to the right.
Here the path again turns slightly to the left and you can already see the flag in front of you, which is located near the hut. The scenic route continues to be gentle and soon leads to the hut, which is situated on the grassy slopes below the Puezkofel peak.
At the hut, continue westwards following the signs "Pizes de Puez, Puezspitz". After a few dozen metres, you come to a crossroads again, where the path number 2 to the Langental valley branches off to the left. We continue slightly to the right and start climbing steeply. The path leads us to a short ridge which leads us under the southern slopes of the Col de Puez peak. Here the path turns left and then crosses steep slopes to the north-west for some time. The slopes are quite steep in places, and there is also some rubble on the way, so some caution is needed in this part. This route then leads to the west side of the Col de Puez peak where there is also a slightly less visible crossroads.
To the left is a marked path towards the summit of Piz de Puez, and we take the unmarked path to the right towards the summit of Col de Puez. The path here follows the western slope of the mountain, which is not too steep. The path is not well trodden, but it is easy to follow all the way to the top.

On the way: Jimmy Hütte (2222m), Forcella Cier (2469m), Forcella de Crespeina (2528m), Forcella de Ciampei (2366m), Rifugio Puez (2475m)

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