Lake Sorapis via Passo Tre Croci
Cortina D'Ampezzo, Veneto, Italy 2024
We had the opportunity to spend 5 days (2 travel, 3 full) in the Dolomites in October, chasing all the golden larches. I spent weeks pouring over the internet and researching the best larch hikes and best time to visit, but we couldn't account for the insane weather 2024 blessed us with.
The 36 hours leading up to our departure flight, the weather changed 3 times, making it one of the most difficult trips to pack for: It's going to be sunny with scattered clouds! Wait, now it says snow and rain showers all week... Ok, now it's just rain, but we should probably pack snow gear just in case. The actual conversation: "F*ck, Tim. I need to redo the entire itinerary... I don't think we're going to see shit on half the hikes I want to do."
Lake Sorapis had been on my radar for a while, but I did my due diligence, reviewing trip reports from September through November from prior years. My conclusion: the lake wasn't worth visiting in the fall due to low lake levels.
When I sat down to redo the entire itinerary, I had this crazy feeling that I needed to check trip reports for Lake Sorapis - the Dolomites had been receiving uncharacteristically heavy rain and early snow falls for the past 2 months... maybe, just maybe, Sorapis would be worth visiting. I took a few key points away from my research:
Sorapis was definitely worth visiting
Avoid going during the rain (there were a lot of trail reports that mentioned how slick the rock surfaces got when wet)
Take one of the alternate routes, not via Passo Tre Croci - highly trafficked and a significant number of trail reports mentioning inexperienced hikers on this route*.
*I am not against sharing a trail with inexperienced hikers. I recognize that the outdoors are for everyone. What I have a hard time with are hikers who refuse to share the trail, let faster hikers hike through, and/or do not practice leave no trace principles. I also get really frustrated when people hike above their fitness/skill level - this is how injuries happen and put a strain on our search and rescue (SAR) teams. Please be smart on the trails and always have a check-in plan in place.
TRAIL DEETS
Length: 7.1 miles
Elevation Gain: 1932 feet Max Elevation: 6,359 feet
Route Type: Out and Back
AllTrails Difficulty: Hard
DARCY WANDERS' ROUTE
I downloaded the navigation for Lake Sorapis via Passo Tre Croci from AllTrails. While this is a highly trafficked trail, there are a couple bisecting trails that will lead you away from Lake Sorapis. Make sure to follow the signs for Rifugio Vandelli. The trail itself is a mixture of surfaces: packed dirt, rock face, metal stairs, and a couple river crossings. There are also several sections of trail that are very narrow with a rock wall on one side and a massive drop off on the other, if you have issues with heights, then this might not be the trail for you. These sections do have a cable hand rail on the rock wall side.
Getting to Lake Sorapis via Passo Tre Creci had not been our first or second choice; however, we were on a time crunch and it was the easiest of the 3, so we went with it. We flew into Venice late morning and arrived in Cortina d'Ampezzo around 14:15 that afternoon. Our original plan had been to hike Col de la Puina, but this was the only sunny day for our entire trip, so we decided to gamble and put our fitness to the test with Lake Sorapis.
We arrived at the parking lot at 14:45 and were on the trail at 15:00, trying to beat the sun - sunset was at 18:11, plus the fingers-crossed extra 45-60 minutes of twilight, meant we needed to be back to the parking lot by 19:15 at the latest. We also knew we didn't want to do the steep rock sections in low light, so our goal was to be to the lake by 17:00 at the latest (this would give us plenty of time to take all the photos!). I had to chuckle at the number of people we passed on our way up (they were hiking down) who made comments on our late start. Overall, we didn't encounter as many people as I thought we would based on the number of parked vehicles we saw. And, if the very first picture didn't give it away, we made it to the lake! We also made it back to our car at 19:00, right before twilight faded. My Garmin clocked us at an average moving speed of 17 minutes and 38 seconds per mile - I'd say we ate that trail for dinner 😉🥳
GETTING THERE
The easiest way to get to the Lake Sorapis via Passo Tre Creci trailhead is to use the navigation system of your choice with your destination set as Lago di Sorapis Hike Start Point. Parking is free 🥳
TO WANDER, OR NOT TO WANDER
Lake Sorapis is one of the most beautiful places in the Dolomites, making it no surprise that hikers flock to this high-altitude lake during the summer months. The turquoise hue of the lake and the surrounding white rock formations make this a truly magical destination. Make it epic and visit Lake Sorapis during larch season - you'll thank yourself!
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