Hike to Rifugio Torre di Pisa Latemarhutte

what it is...is a place where I can return to myself. It's enough of a scramble to get to...that the energy expended is significant, and it translates into a change in my body chemistry and my psychological chemistry and my heart chemistry...” 
― Jay Salter

The picture below is of Iwa, Carole and I having a little fun before we headed out on our hike!  We love our hiking pals!  

The view of the mountains behind our hotel

 Today's hike was a great hike that gained 2,400 feet in elevation to a rifuggio (hut) that had magnificent views!  If you can enlarge the above map, we took trail 516 to the refugio and then came down 516 to 22 back to the ski lift.  I am thankful for the ski lift that brought us to the starting point :-)! The ascent was fairly steep!  I was thanking my trainer , Sue for the good training we put in this year in Phoenix.  I am in much better shape this year and even though the hike is lung busting I am enjoying it more!  I listen to my iPod most of the hike - it takes my mind off the "OMG, what the hell and I am doing" and the "I think I am going to die" thoughts.  I hit a playlist and hit shuffle and off I go - there is a weird coincidence in the songs that are playing and the terrain I am hiking.  On a particularly gravel-ly section I hear "The Earth moves under my feet" and then on a narrow straight up section some song about "Suicide Alley". . .it makes me almost laugh out loud!

Which way do we go?

 The next few pictures try to give you an idea of the slope we are traveling . . . .it can never do the ascents or descents justice I think!

 Jeanna is so great and such a good sport when I ask her to go climb that rock and let me take your picture!  She always kids me about my ulterior motives when I ask her to just take a few steps backwards to I can get the best shot :-)!

Jeanna "The Thinker"

Practicing my balancing moves!

Deb and Iwa

The inside of the peaks 

You may wonder what the mountain looks like on the other side of the stately peaks. . . .it is almost always some scree filled bowl that makes traversing a really fun!!

 This is the Rifugio Torre di Pisa Latemarhutte where we had lunch.  It was quite a harrowing trail to the hut.  We were literally walking on the side of some rock spires to get there!  It is also amazing that they provide a great lunch and even a bathroom!!  After a good lunch it was time to start the descent (my least favorite part). . .it was quite steep and rocky along the 516 trail.  The walk along the 22 trail was pleasant and we even saw some cows with their ringing bells!

 The saw popped out for a few minutes and we took the opportunity to have a little rest and some water!

This photo tries to show how far we traveled on the ascent. . . if you look to the top of the mountain range and see the "dip" in the range to the left of the far right peak. . . that is where Jeanna was when we took the "Thinker" picture!  We still had about 40-50 minutes from there to the hut!

Tonight we are going to a restaurant to have a wonderful multi-course dinner.  Tomorrow we will be hiking to a "hut" to spend the night. . . we only take what we need for sleeping one night.  So there will be no blogging until Friday when we get to the hotel.

I am off to take a well deserved and needed shower!  Ciao!