Sas delle Dodici via Ferrata Gadotti

Description

From the Soldanella hut, cross the bridge again and start climbing, following the signposts. We continue along the road until we come to a fork. The dirt track continues to the left, while we take the road that crosses it on the right (unmarked but very evident). Shortly afterwards, we find signs on the left for Bivacco Zeni. At first we ascend through the forest, then this becomes more sparse. We continue along the Rio Vallaccia, which had damaged part of the path in 2013 (be careful not to take the wrong track). We ignore path 615B, which would take us back to the valley, and at about 1900m we find another signpost showing us path 635, which will be our return route. We continue straight on uphill on narrow hairpin bends until we pass a section equipped with a cable. We finally arrive at the plateau where the Bivacco Zeni (2100m) is located. In the distance we see the path zigzagging up to the Forcella di Vallaccia. We instead follow the signs for Cima Dodici, The start of the ferrata is not far away. The ferrata is on well-equipped rock and grassy sections. There are some very exposed passages, but they are always well secured and not particularly difficult. We come out onto a wide amphitheatre and descend along a gravel path to then climb back up to the forcelal where we turn right towards the cross of Cima Dodici, from where the view over the Fassa valley is of unparalleled beauty. For the descent, we return to the crossroads and continue for a few dozen metresvers the Sas Aut peak, but then follow path 630 which descends towards Vigo. The first sections of the path are steep and equipped with cables, and the gradient remains even when the path re-enters the forest. We continue to descend, ignore the signpost for path 642 and continue to the right. When we reach the river, pay attention to the signs indicating the path across the Rio Vallaccia (dried up in September 2013). Continuing to descend through the woods on the orographic left of the river, we arrive at San Giovanni/Vigo di Fassa or Soraga. To return to the Soldanella, as we said, we continue straight on and cross the river. We are again at 1900m but the path starts to climb again until we return to a maximum altitude of 2100m. We go round the whole of the Sasso delle Dodici between woods and scree to finally arrive at the above-mentioned fork and take trail no. 615 which will take us back to the car. For the complete tour, not counting the stops, it took us about 7 hours, of which 3 hours to get to the summit and 4 to get down!!! The return trip is quite tiring as it starts out very steep; once you get down to the river you start climbing again and when you finally get to the level you have to tackle a long scree slope. Hike on the Monzoni cantena, less crowded than the nearby Catinaccio but just as beautiful. ATTENTION the ferrata to Sas Aut has been closed since July 2012 for maintenance. There are signs in the valley indicating the closure of path 630 from the junction with path 617 (the one described in my report) to the Costella pass. I seem to have seen that the ferrata cables have been removed this year, so as a ferrata, the section is definitely unusable.