It's all about beauty.
Founder Stephanie Rivera under the Rossdentzähne.My father once told me that there were a few places that I must visit. He told me about the Dolomites when I was about ten years old. Funny thing, my parents only drove through in a car, once, in bad weather, in 1965. But the jagged peaks that loomed high in the clouds left an indelible impression on them.
Friends going to Italy would ask me where to go. While I grew up partly in Europe, I had never been to Italy. But I always told my friends that they had to go to the Dolomites. Finally, I went with my son in 2015. We stayed at a small farm in Kastleruth (Castlerotto) on the flanks of Alpi de Suisi (Seiseralm) and trekked with Reinhold Messner in the Tschiamin Valley, rode the gondola up out of Sankt Ulrich (Ortesei) to Seceda....ahhh, beautiful Seceda....Hiking down through the Troieralm we came upon the Pieralongia hut, a rustic jausenstation by the Cisles Rocks, and shared Südtiroler Buchweizentorte with jhogurt and me, a Forst beer. The Geislerspitzen looked down on us, and we up at them. In that moment, my life changed and I became forever connected to these mountains, these flames frozen in stone. |
There is something for everyone in the Dolomites. From the extreme sport to the extreme spa, and everything in-between. I have seen families with their toddlers up on high peaks and romping down in the meadows among the wild flowers. I have seen eighty year olds shuffling on the groomed paths of the Stegerweg, surrounded by unbelievable views and wild flowers. I have even seen eighty year olds shuffling on a trace mountaineer path with their sons and grandsons, making their way to a sheer rock wall to climb. There are hundreds of kilometers of mountain bike trails, belayed ferrata climbs, ominous peaks to bag, paragliding, mountaineering, marathons, skiing, swimming, you name it.
And then there is the food. And the beer. And the mountain farms that make their own cheeses and meats from animals blessed to eat the sweet green grass and mountain meadow flowers. My favorite is the Bergblütenheusuppe (mountain wildflower-hay soup) at the Hoferalpl by the Volserweiher, and the Nutella dumplings at the Geisleralm in Vilnoßtal. There are also plenty of Biohütten, huts that specialize in vegan, gluten- and lactose-free menus, sometimes along with special mountain spa treatments such as hay baths. This is a world made right. Over the last 100 years, this region developed from a quiet farming area with a hard life into a mecca for outdoor enthusiasts. The gracious and kind locals have opened up their world so the rest of us can bloom in joy, contentment, health and peace. |