Rifugio Auronzo - Laghi dei Piani

Access to the starting point:
Access from Gorenjska: Take the Border crossing Rateče road to Trbiž / Tarvisio, where you take the motorway towards Udine. Leave the motorway at the exit for Tolmezzo and follow the road to the above-mentioned place. From Tolmezzo, continue in the direction of Ampezzo and the Passo della Mauria mountain pass. The road then begins to descend and leads into the Cadore valley, where you continue to the right (Belluno and Cortina d'Ampezzo on the left) in the direction of Auronzo. After a few more km of driving, we reach the next major junction, where we turn right towards Austria and Tre Cine / Tre Cime (left Cortina d'Ampezzo). We leave the road towards Austria after a few more 100m, as the signs for Tre Cine / Tre Cime direct us right onto a toll mountain road, which after 7km leads us to a large parking lot near the rifugio Auronzo hut.
From the Primorska side: Take the motorway which leads via Border crossing Sežana to Trieste. Continue on the Italian motorway towards Padua, but only as far as the motorway junction where you continue towards Veneto and Belluno. Near Belluno the motorway ends and we continue towards Cortina d'Ampezzo and Auronzo. As the road enters the Cadore valley, we come to a large junction where the road towards Cortina d'Ampezzo goes left and the road towards Auronzo goes right. Here we continue to the right towards Auronzo. Continue as described above.

Path description:
At the Auronzo hut, take the macadam road leading slightly east towards the Lavaredo hut. After about 20 minutes' walk along a very scenic road that leads under the mighty walls of the Three Cinquefoils, you will reach the Lavaredo hut.

From the hut, continue slightly to the left and start climbing up the scree towards the notch (Forcella Lavaredo) between Monte Paterno and the Three Cinas. At the notch where the trail crossroads are, take the wide trail which starts to descend slightly northwards from the notch. To the right, there is a path leading to Monte Paterno from the south side and path 104, which starts descending to the east. The descent to the Locatelli hut can be either via the lower wide path or the slightly more difficult upper path, which crosses the slopes below the western face of Monte Paterno. At the hut from where you have a very nice view of the Monte Paterno and the Tri Cine, the two paths merge again.

From the hut, continue to the right to the east and you will soon see the Laghi dei Piani lakes below you. It is only a short descent down a grassy slope to the lakes.

On the way: Rifugio Lavaredo (2344m), Forcella Lavaredo (2454m), Rifugio Locatelli (2405m)

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