Rifugio Cercena - Bivacco Montanel

Access to the starting point:
Access from Gorenjska: Via Border crossing Rateče or Predel to Trbiž / Tarvisio and then along the motorway towards Udine to the Tolmezzo exit. From Tolmezzo, follow the road towards Ampezzo and the Passo della Mauria mountain pass. The road then descends and leads to a crossroads where you turn left towards Belluno. Follow the main road through the Piave valley only as far as Domegge di Cadore. In the town mentioned above, turn left and follow the signs for the Rifugio Padova and Rifugio Cercena huts. The road crosses the river Piavo on the descent and then soon starts to climb. The road leading to the two huts is quite steep and very narrow. When you reach the crossroads near the Rifugio Cercena hut, the signs point you sharp left and it is only a steep climb of 50 metres to the hut. Park in the large parking lot next to the hut.

From the coastal side: Take the motorway towards Venice/Venezia. At Portogruaro, leave the motorway towards Venice and turn right on the motorway towards Pordenone. At the next motorway junction near Conegliano, turn right towards Belluno. The motorway ends near Belluno and we continue towards Auronzo and the Passo Mauria at the next junctions. Follow this road to Domegge di Cadore. In the aforementioned town, turn right downhill and follow the signs for the Rifugio Padova and Rifugio Cercena huts. The road crosses the river Piavo after descending and then soon begins to climb. The road leading to the two huts is quite steep and very narrow. When you reach the crossroads near the Rifugio Cercena hut, the signs point you sharp left and it is only a steep climb of 50 metres to the hut. Park in the large parking lot next to the hut.

Path description:
At the end of the parking lot, turn left onto the footpath after the signs "Biv. Montanel". The path leads quickly into the forest and then ascends the slopes northwards to a crossroads at mountain pasture Dalego.

At the marked crossroads, bear hard right and follow the signs for the Montanel bivouac. The trail then starts to climb slightly steeper towards the south-east. The trail crosses relatively steep slopes on the ascent and continues through the forest. Despite the forest, we occasionally get beautiful views of the Dolomites through the trees. The path then turns to the left and soon leads to another marked crossroads.

Down to the left, the path leads to the Rifugio Eremo dei Romiti hut, and we continue to the right towards the Montanel bivouac. The path becomes a shade less steep and leads us out of the forest onto slightly steeper slopes covered with dwarf pines and larch trees. Here we also get very nice views to the north. The path crosses steep slopes for a short distance before turning right and climbing for some time up the Val Moni valley on the east side of the Colle dell'Elma. The path initially follows the right-hand side of the valley below the steep rocky slopes of the summit. The path then follows the centre of the valley and climbs through the dwarf pines and a larch forest. Later, the path turns right again and leads to the ridge on the south-eastern side of the summit of Colle dell'Elma.

Here the path turns to the left and the trees become a little thinner, so that from the path we have increasingly beautiful views to the west side, where the peaks of Civetta, Pelmo and Antelao stand out. Further along the path, it is mostly along dwarf pines and some larch trees. This path goes all the way to a grassy plain on which there are two bivouacs. The smaller one is permanently open and the larger one is locked.

If you use a map for orientation, be careful, as some maps have the bivouac marked in the wrong location.

Descend along the ascent route.

On the way: Fienili Dalego (1315m)

We can extend the trip to the following destinations: Crodon di Scodavacca (1 h 20 min), Cima Montanel (1 h 40 min)

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