Rifugio Passo Sella - Rifugio Vicenza (path 525)

Access to the starting point:
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, following the signs for Passo Gardena. From the Passo Gardena pass, descend to the other side and then continue left towards the Passo Sella pass. At the Sella Pass, park at the Rifugio Passo Sella hut or at one of the smaller car parks along the road. The parking at the hut is chargeable (July 2012 - 4€).

Path description:
At the Rifugio Passo Sella hut, head across the parking lot to the bottom station of the cable car that leads to the Demetz hut on the Forcella Sassolungo ridge. Continue along the wide footpath and at the first crossroads, signposts direct you left onto a dirt road. After a few dozen metres, we are back at the crossroads and continue to the right. The road then becomes a track and starts to climb towards the scree below the precipitous peaks of the Sassolungo group. The path then turns slightly to the right and leads to the slopes below the cable car. Here we start to climb in keys on the scree towards the Forcella Sassolungo notch. From the trail, we have a very good view of the precipitous cliffs of the nearby peaks of the Sassolungo group, and a very good view towards the Sella and Marmolada groups. The trail then passes close to the cable car and continues to climb steep scree in switchbacks. The route then continues as far as the Rifugio Toni Demetz hut.
From the hut, we continue north-westwards and start descending the valley between the peaks of Sassolungo and Piza de Dantersasc. The trail descends over scree all the way and then turns slightly left towards Hut Rifugio Vicenza / Langkofel Hütte. From the Forcella Sassolungo stump, you descend a good 400 metres in altitude.
You can either return to the starting point by following the approach route or continue north-eastwards and follow route 526 around the summit of Sassolungo and back to the starting point at the Passo Sella pass.

On the way: Rifugio Toni Demetz (2685m)

We can extend the trip to the following destinations: Sassopiatto / Plattkofel (2 h 35 min)

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