Start of Day 7 - Tissi to Bruto Carestiato Day seven started bright and early, which both had its pros and cons.  Pro because I wanted out of that bunk room and horrible mattress and con because I hadn't slept all night and was so very exhausted.  Throughout the night, when I was kept up by the rumble of our bunkmates snoring (despite my earplugs), I caught glimpses of lightning flashes and knew the next day was going to be a wet one.  Rain didn't really bother us, but the hike to Brutto Carestiato had several exposed sections which to be crossing during a thunderstorm was unwise.   Our hiking notes highly advised that in case of thunderstorms, hike down to a nearby village and take a taxi around the mountain to a trailhead where it would be only a 45 minute hike up to the rifugio.  Lee and I really didn't want to wimp out, but we also didn't want to be unsafe.  So we got up bright and early and attempted to get as far as we could before the rain really hit. 

Foggy morning on the AV1

Getting up early paid off.  The first 2.5 hours were almost entirely downhill on a muddy trail.  During these two hours we descended about half of what the's days total elevation loss would be.  It was something we really didn't want to do in the rain.  We made it down to Riffugio Vazzoler and purchased a strudel to supplement our breakfast before it started to rain.   While we sat eating our strudel we checked the weather and evaluated whether or not we should take the taxi (cutting the hike short by about 3 hours) or if we would press forward.  Ultimately, we decided we would press forward, watch the weather and behave as if we were on any mountain ridge in the Sierras where taxis aren't an option.   Not more than 15 minutes into the next portion of our hike did the sky start rumbling, the rain was coming down and part of me questioned our decision.  I'm not very daring.

Moiazza Sud, Tridente and Torri di Camp In addition to the rain, the weather was just weird.  Even though it wasn't very hot, it was super humid . Fortunately not long after the heavy rain started did it mostly stop.   We had a consistent drizzle for a few hours, but it made not wearing a coat in that miserable humidity much more feasible.   Every once in awhile the sun came and went, and with it the fog.  When that happened, we would get glimpses of the gigantic mountains we were hiking around.  I'm sure on a good day the views would have been stupendous.  We continued to be grateful that it was only the first day after being out seven that our views were affected by the weather.

The most delicate orchids From Vazzoler we had about a 4.5 hour hike that was rough going.  The trail was brutal, slippery, rocky and rough.  Much of it was in the woods, which was a change of pace from the prior week.  We even passed by a couple of streams.  The change in scenery also gave us the opportunity to stumble across new and gorgeous wild flowers.  Our favorites included more deep purple columbine, a beautiful orchid and a rare lily known in those parts.  And although we knew better, we kept stopping to photograph them.  We wouldn't let ourselves stop for lunch, we wanted to stay ahead of the storm but for some reason we couldn't help ourselves and we would stop for photos of flowers.  Six and a half hours after leaving Tissi (around 1:45pm) we arrived at Brutto Carestiato.  The last hour of weather was pretty decent and there were occasional sightings of blue sky.   The cute little rifugio was a very welcome sight.  We finally got to eat our lunch, and not more than 25 minutes after we arrived than so did the fog and an absolutely down pour.  

Beautiful lillies

It was cold enough that the rain quickly turned to some significantly sized and very loud hail.  We were SO grateful to not have been caught in that storm and to be passing the time in what was one of our favorite rifugios.    We were grateful for a private bunkroom,  hot showers, an opportunity to take a nap and what was likely the best meal of the trip:  Pasta with panna and speck, homemade bread, crepes with cheese and panna cotta al ciocolatto.   We would most definitely like to return here, even if just for dinner.

This was the day that we were also more appreciative that we had been (which is saying something) for the trail notes we had been given from the company that arranged our trip for us.  There was a point along the trail where a left turn up the mountain was easy to miss and critical both in terms of safety (in bad weather) and not having to backtrack.   Bruto Carestiato I think we may have been some of the only people at Brutto Carestiato that night that didn't miss that turn.  Others ended up figuring it out before they were in danger, just exhausted.  But there were two Irish women who made it to the rifugio around 10pm that night after having missed the turn, ended up at the next forcella (pass) without anywhere to go, in the dark and fog and 3 meters away from a bolt of lighting that struck the iron cross at the summit.   Those women were lucky to be alive, and we were yet again, very grateful to have had the best notes we had seen of anyone we had met that week.  

Pictures from this day are here.