Palaronda Trek: Days 1 and 2

On Thursday we drove to the Alps for our four-day trek in the "Pale di San Martino," which are the second largest group of mountains in the Dolomites. After arriving at the mountain town of Fiera do Primiero, we parked and took a bus up to the smaller town of San Martino do Castrozza. We then took a gondola and a tram up to the top of Cima de Rosetta. 

On the tram ride to 2743 meters (~9000 feet), we entered a cloud layer that would be with us for the next 24 hours. We walked down from the tram to the Rifugio Rosetta where we got lunch and hostel-like rooms for the night. We had planned to take a day hike from the Rifugio, but the fog, wind, and cold made us have second thoughts. We would have had a hard time finding the path, let alone see any scenery. We just played cards in the Rifugio, and by about 6 pm the clouds broke enough to get a picture:

We then had dinner. Some had goulash;

and others a smoked pork chop:

Desserts were good too:

The next morning the weather was somewhat worse. We also found out that Jim had been up much of the night sick. We talked about how to proceed. We decided that we could wait until 3 pm at the latest to see how Jim felt and whether the weather improved. 

About 1pm the fog thinned and Jim insisted he would be ok for the 3-hour hike to the next Rifugio. So off we went. We were wearing most of our layers and were constantly battling the wind. Ana and I, being from sea level rather than Salt Lake City, were also trying to catch a breath. 

After a couple of hours of up and down--during which we were enduring more than enjoying--the trail took us over a pass at 2656m (8711 feet) and then we started a long descent to the next Rifugio:

By the time we arrived at Rifugio Pradidali, the weather had finally cleared and our whole outlook changed with it.