Visiting Gods Over The Clouds - Sas Rigais (3025m)

02.10.2013 to 05.10.2013

Geisler Gruppo - Sas Rigais east to west

SAC Hiking lvl: T3

UIAA Climbing lvl: I
via feratta lvl: A/B

The long weekend was the perfect opportunity for a multiple day trip a bit farther than the usual day trip areas from Munich. I planned a 5 day trip to the Dolomitis in Italy which included a 2-day-tour to the Geisler Gruppo with the summit Sas Rigais and a second 2-day-tour through the Sellar Gruppo with the summit Piz Boé. We started after work on Wednesday at 5.30pm and arrived around 9pm at Wolkenstein. Just a 2-minute-walk above the car park, we found a place for our tents. It was the first time i built my new tent and the success was moderate.

my shitty built tent... (back right)

the night was clear, the stars bright and...

the atmosphere was pretty good

After a short breakfast, we went on through the puez nature park up to the stevia hut.

The landscape was just breathtaking and was beyond all of our expectations. We took some time for a break around a tree stripped of its foliage. The sun was shining brightly as we felt the warmth of its rays while a gentle breeze whistled through the landscape. The area behind the tree looked like an usual slope, but after we got closer we saw it was actually an incredible vertical cliff.

crossing a big wall 

After an exhausting 4h hike, we finally arrived at the Regensburger Hütte (2037 m). At this point, we already did an ascent of around 900 meters and descent of 500 meters with our 15 - 20 kg backpacks. So, I'd say our weißbier and yummy pasta we had for lunch were well-deserved after our trek. After a long lunch we continued hiking up to our base camp 700 meters below the summit of Sas Rigais. We eventually found a nice wind protected place to pitch our tents. 

the faces doesn't reflect our happiness about the place

The place looked cozy and the view reminded me of Pandora from Avatar. We were all pretty happy that we found such a perfect spot to build our tents. Fortunately, my tent building efforts worked out much better than my previous attempts, so I was pretty proud of the result.

Panorama with our camp

Just after we built our tents

Afterwards we explored the area around the tents. Unluckily for us, the river we saw on the map didn't have any water. Anyways... we found something much better: our first Edelweiß!!!!! It was a feeling of disbelief when one of us saw it. It took 3 years of hiking, countless summits, blood and liters of sweat until I finally saw it. First, I thought it couldn't be real and my heart was beating quickly when I realized that it was a real Edelweiß.

EDELWEIß!!!!!!!!

When we came back to the camp it was almost dark. We found some wood in the surrounding area and took it with us to start a bonfire. Hans said he would be able to start a fire even with wet wood, so we took his word for it and started chipping the wood. It took us almost 2 hours before we were able to get the fire started, and we may have failed completely if it weren't for Alex, who helped build the fire by blowing onto it! 

4 guys - one mission

The following morning, we saw an epic sunrise! hmm ok only Jacky saw it...

The rest of us were still sound asleep, but he took some nice photos for us. :)

oversleeping the sunrise...

After breakfast, we hid our backpacks in a hole and started for the summit of Sas Rigais without excessive weight to hinder us. The path went through the Wasserinnental and led to an easy via ferrata. Even though it was just 700 ascent meters from the base camp, I was very exhausted and almost felt like throwing up! Luckily I didn't! I felt a little bit better when I saw the others were also pretty exhausted :)

via ferrata to Sas Rigais

We arrived at the summit around 1pm, which was later than we expected. It was my first 3000 meter summit and the view was priceless. I felt it was where the gods must have lived as they watched over the humans in the valley. The usual business was far away and the moment was just unique. No thoughts, no problems.

Panorama at Sas Rigais (3025 m)

finally...

After some time at the summit, we went back via the west slope to the basecamp. We picked up our stuff and stopped at the Regensburger Hütte again in the late afternoon. One beer, one snack and a short shower for me in the forest later, we went on further to the car park.

checking the trail back to the carpark

Back in the valley, we bought some food for the next two days and then headed to our start point for the second tour. We arrived at the Grödner Joch in the early evening just before it got dark. We found a good place on a hill above the car park. It was not as perfect as the last spot but it was still ok. 

our camp at Grödner Joch (2136m)

The next morning started out well with a nice sunrise, and it seemed to be a quite good day, despite the weather forecast saying otherwise. During breakfast, the fog from the valley rose higher. 5 minutes later, the visibility was less than 5 meters and it started raining. So, we went back into our tents and waited for the rain to stop. Unfortunately, the rain had other plans and after 2h in the tents without any sign of better weather we sadly decided to go back to Munich.

two mountain dudes and a sunrise :)

A little disappointed about the weather, but still very happy about the awesome last 3 days, we went home. Dolomitis, we will definitely meet again!