South side of Rotwand (2806m)

Technical difficulty: 3/10
Fitness: 3/10
Objective danger: 2/10
Landscape: 10/10
Busy: 8/10 (in fall and spring 2/10)

A short loop on amazing Dolomite trails with overwhelmingly beautiful views.

Starting point: Passo Costalunga
Ending point: Passo Costalunga
Length: 11km
Vertical: 650m
Speed: mostly nice and runnable trail.

Route:

We start off from the Costalunga Pass northwards on the trail towards the Roda di Vaèl Hut. We had north-east for a few hundred meters before reaching a trail split and head right (east), following a forest road leading uphill. The trail passes a few small wooden huts along the way. Eventually the road turns into a trail and slowly turns and starts heading north, before passing a last steep step before reaching the Roda di Vaèl Hut. From the hut, we can take a short scrambly detour to the small summit of Col de Ciampac (2340m), for an extra great views of the surrounding dolomite faces.

We turn around and traverse the south face of Rotwand on the Rotwand-Hirzer trail westwards. Most of the vertical gain is behind us and the trails are very flow-y. At the highest point, we pass a large statue of an Eagle, which is a monument to Austrian mountaineer Theodor Christomannos.

The trail here turns northwards again and follows the Hirzelsteig under the west face of Rotwand. On the left below us, we can see our return trail. We turn around shortly after the Rotwand via ferrata turn-off and start heading back south on a parallel lower trail.

We follow the trail towards the Masaré Hut, passing through the ski slopes. Eventually we hit the the cross road we left at the beginning of our loop. From here we just retrace our steps back to the main road.

Photos by @the.running.nomad and @annikasuess