Scarpa Experience in Ampezzo Area

I left in the late afternoon from Val di Fiemme with Denise Dellagiacoma, together we reached the Baita Bai de Dones, just as the sun was about to set and the mountains that surround the valley of the Pearl of the Dolomites turned red.

The Scarpa Spa team was waiting for us together with the Alpine Guides of Cortina.

Some of the guests were new faces to me while I knew some others vey well, I exchanged a few words to break the ice and we talked about how to face the ski mountaineering climb to the Rifugio Scoiattoli, our base camp for the following days.

We’re ready!
Headlights on and off we go: with a slow pace and a few small talk, we hit a nice trail through the woods until we reach the foot of the Cinque Torri, which we find on our right, illuminated by a full moon that seems to have been reserved especially for us. Shortly thereafter we are at the Rifugio Scoiattoli, built in 1969 by the mountain guide Lorenzo Lorenzi and still managed by the same family today.
Just enough time to bring the backpack in the room with the bare essentials for these days of Skialp and we all find ourselves in the beautiful and renovated common area of the refuge.

The desire to get to know everyone is huge as my curiosity to understand what binds each of them to the mountain. The first people I start chatting with are some journalists from important outdoor magazines. Then there are some shopkeepers from different parts of Italy, photographers, video makers and some influencers with millions of followers. And then there is me, Ivy, practically a fish out of water as I remind to myself, a former hotelier and now a full time ski instructor and a great mountain enthusiast, for the simple but difficult reason of being able to live this environment as much as possible.

But what soon turns out to be our common denominator is the passion for the mountains, without labels or many titles. It is with this feeling of simply being surrounded by group of new friends that I go to sleep, calm but hyped for the next day’s trip together with the Alpine Guides of Cortina.

Today I feel like Cinderella looking for her shoe

This morning could only begin with a beautiful sunrise. From the terrace of the refuge I see the sun rise and illuminate all the mountains around. It is a 360° panorama. And with my cup of American coffee in hand I take a few moments all for myself and my thoughts.
We are ready and loaded. I have the new F1 boots at my feet which will be presented together with the F1 LT version at ISPO in a few days and which we will find on the market next winter season. They’re really beautiful, they have Boa system on the forefoot and this is already great for me.

The problem is that I am a bit “difficult” when coming to shoes.
My feet in winter use to get frostbites and my pain threshold is certainly not comparable to the one of Alba De Silvestro, for example, that would certainly laugh at me.
In the mountains, together with my partner Matteo and our friends, our excursions and trips are always in a quite “fast & light” mode – as a friend would say – thinking about it, maybe I am a bit more light than fast… Anyway, the truth is that I am desperately looking for a boot light enough that won’t hurt me. At Christmas I found a beautiful pair of skis under the tree, that, just as me, are waiting to know what will be my destiny.
At first sight I like the boot aesthetically. Attractive but gritty. The fit is easy and fast. I ties it and I feel it bandaging my foot well. The shoe is intuition and thermo formable. The closure system, in addition to the Boa, is given by the Fast Buckle lever with Velcro band for the tibial area. Fast, intuitive and easy to switch from walk mode to ski mode and vice versa with a non-bulky rear lever.

Compared to the boot that I currently use, with the same fit, the F1 is longer and for this reason I had to move the binding. Anyway it is light uphill, a good compromise between comfort and weight. I found it stable downhill. The Axial Alpine Evo construction and the Carbon Core technology certainly improve the transmission of impulses on skis, but I think this aspect depends mostly on the skier’s foot and on his sensitivity and experience.
In the end I am pretty satisfied. It is a boot that I would buy not only because my skinny foot gets wrapped well, but also because in both trips my feet did not hurt. I would also recommend it to those who have just started practicing and are looking for a versatile boot. Personally, I regret not having tried the F1 LT version at least one day, lighter but without giving up the downhill performance.

What i did not expect during a hiking trip on skins
The first hike organized by the Alpine Guides of Cortina led us from the Rifugio Scoiattoli to Croda Negra, then to the Cima Gallina as in a real journey through time.

Tales of a dramatic past, a past not so far from today. The words of Franz Brunner in his historical re-enactment, serious and proud in his uniform, freeze the blood and soul of who silently listen to him. But that’s nothing compared to what those poor men and women, that on those mountains have experienced the real meaning of destruction, must have suffered. Destruction of what until recently was their mountain life, destruction of the concept of human being, destruction of the mountain itself which has become a battleground. “In that huge conflict of 105 years ago fought 21 nations.”

On these mountains there are trenches, tunnels, artillery posts and barracks dug in the Dolomites that can witness it. “Here are the European roots. After tremendous years of war there has been a willingness to end this huge massacre. The soldiers at the end of this conflict were all equal, both in suffering and in the desire to want to go back home.”

On the excursion on the following day we find ourselves climbing the opposite wall, from the side of Lagazuoi, right where the artillery of the Cima Gallina position aimed. Direction Cima Col dei Bos where Franz’s words come back to me. “On Cima Col dei Bos, on Christmas night in 1916, the Tiroler Kaiserjäger thought of decorating the only mountain pine that remained proud and still on the south wall of the Castelletto according to the ancient tradition of the festival of light, the Tannenbaum. The Alpini Army, who were 200 m below, almost all recruited from the Val Cordevole, so people living nearby, also thought of celebrating Christmas night. A tree, a symbol of Christmas, was enough for these humans who had understood what should have been their right starting point: solidarity, the desire to stay together and end this massacre that was becoming more and more impossible day after day.”

The climb winds smoothly, with a passage through a tunnel carved into the rock and wonderful views of a sunny day. I have a small talk with Alessandro Fiori, mountain guide of Cortina, I ask him about the names of the surrounding peaks and he gives me some advice on beautiful climbing trails within my reach to do in the summer, while going up Tommy Cardelli shows me some more trails for interesting hikes.

We get to the top and then go down by the “Canale de ra Nona”, as the Ampezzo people called it. The climb today is a little longer than the day before, but still nothing extreme and I would happily recommend it to my friends. The descent brings us back to the Falzarego road, we cross it and go back to where Scarpa Experience began.