Carbonin - Helltaler Schlechten

Access to starting point:
Access from Gorenjska: Over the border crossing Rateče we drive to Trbiž / Tarvisio, where we go on the highway in the direction of Videm / Udine. We leave the highway at exit Tolmezzo and we follow the road to the mentioned settlement. From Tolmezzo we continue in the direction of the settlement Ampezzo and mountain pass Passo della Mauria. The road then starts descending and brings us into a valley Cadore, where we continue right (left Belluno and Cortina d'Ampezzo) in the direction of the settlement Auronzo. After few additional km of driving, we come to the next bigger crossroad, where we go right in the direction of the settlement Misurina (left mountain pass Tre Croci). From here we descend on the road to a bigger crossroad (right Dobbiaco and Austria, left Cortina d'Ampezzo). From the crossroad, we continue few 100 meters in the direction towards Cortina d'Ampezzo, and then we park on a smaller parking lot on the right side of the road.
From Primorska side: We drive on the highway which leads over the border crossing Sežana in Trst / Trieste. Further, we drive on Italian highway in the direction of Padova, but only to a highway junction, where we continue in the direction of Veneto and Belluno. Near Belluno the highway ends, and we continue in the direction of Cortina d'Ampezzo and Auronzo. When the road brings us into a valley Cadore we will get to a bigger crossroad, where the road goes towards Cortina d'Ampezzo left, and towards Auronzo right. Here we continue right towards Auronzo. Further, we follow the description above.

Path description:
From the parking lot, we go right on a macadam road, where signs point us to »Dürrensteinhütte / Rif. Vallandro«. After a short ascent, we quickly come to a gate where we enter the nature park Fanes Sennes Prags. Further, we for some time walk on the road on which there are taking turns macadam and asphalt. From the road which mostly runs through the forest few times nice views open up towards the mountain group Cristallo. The road then brings us to a crossing, where signposts point us to the right on a footpath.
The footpath is then ascending mostly through the forest and later few times crosses a road. Not that steep path in the last part towards the mountain hut brings us on grassy slopes from which even nicer views open up on surrounding peaks. From footpath for a short time, we again join the road, and then follows a short steeper ascent to the hut.
From the mountain hut, we continue towards the north on the path 34 following the signs Strudelkopf, Helltal. The path is relatively gentle and wide and soon brings us to a marked crossing. We go left following the signs »Höhenweg, Alta Via«, right leads the path on Strudelkopf. Further, the path is a little narrower and crosses grassy slopes towards the north. Panoramic path through grassy slopes soon brings us to another crossing, where from the left joins the path from the mountain hut Plätzwiesehütte / Rifugio Pratopiazzo.
The path from the crossing then crosses the fence and starts ascending a little steeper. For some time we still walk on the path which leads on Durrenstein / Pico di Vallandro, and then we leave the marked path and go right on pathless terrain. When we leave the marked path we go towards the southeast and start ascending diagonally towards the ridge. On this part there are also some poorly visible footpaths on which we can ascend. At the ascent it isn't important where exactly we are ascending, important is only, that we come on the ridge. And in doing so we have to take into account, that more we go towards the south more gentle will the slope be.
When we reach the ridge, we go left and then we are all the time ascending by the ridge upwards. For orientation we get additional help also from cairns, which are placed by the ridge. At ascent we have otherwise all the time a nice view towards the mountain group Cristallo, Croda Rossa, and from the ridge also nice views open up towards the east, where Tre Cime stand out. In the last part of the ascent towards the summit grassy slopes passes into in rocky slopes and we soon also notice the peak to which it isn't far anymore.

On the way: Dürrensteinhütte / Rifugio Vallandro (2040m)