Passo Gardena - Col de Mesores / Sass dla Luesa

Access to starting point:
A) From Kranjska Gora over Korensko sedlo to Austria, where at the first larger crossroad, we continue left towards Podklošter / Arnoldstein and Trbiž / Tarvisio. By the end of the settlement Podklošter signs for Šmohor / Hermagor point us to the right on a regional road, on which past the mentioned settlement we drive to the end of the valley Gailtal, or more precisely to the settlement Kötschach-Mauthen, where we turn right towards the settlement Oberdrauburg. The path ahead leads us over an Alpine mountain pass Gailbergsattel (982 meters), after which we descend into the mentioned settlement. After we cross the bridge through river Drau, we continue left towards the settlement Lienz. In the main roundabout in Lienz we continue "left" in the direction of the settlement Sillian and Italy. Further, we cross the border between Austria and Italy, and we follow the main road past settlements Dobbiaco / Toblach, Villabassa / Niederdorf, Monguelfo - Tesido / Welsberg - Taisten, Brunico / Brunec. Only a little after the last-mentioned settlement, past which leads a bypass road, we turn left into a valley Val Badia. Further, we drive through the mentioned valley and in the settlement La Villa we turn right towards the mountain pass Passo Gardena. Further, we follow an ascending road to a large parking lot some turns before the mountain pass Passo Gardena. At the parking lot is also a big sign with a caption »Via Ferrata – Klettersteig«.
B) From Nova Gorica, we drive to Italy and drive forward on the highway to the settlement Portogruaro, where at the highway junction we turn in the direction of the settlement Belluno. We follow the highway to its end (we don't turn in the direction towards Belluno), and then we continue driving towards Cortina d'Ampezzo. When we get into Cortina d'Ampezzo, we follow the signs for Alpine mountain pass Passo Falzarego. On the mountain pass Passo Falzarego (2105 meters) we turn right in the direction of Val Badia and at first ascend on the neighbouring mountain pass Passo Valparola (2192 meters), from there we descend into the mentioned valley. In the settlement La Villa we turn left towards the mountain pass Passo Gardena. Further, we follow an ascending road to a large parking lot some turns before the mountain pass Passo Gardena. At the parking lot is also a big sign with a caption »Via Ferrata – Klettersteig«.

Path description:
From the parking lot, we go towards the south following the signs »Utia de Pisciadu«. The path quite steeply ascends and it brings us to a crossing where transverse path towards the secured path Via Ferrata Tridentina branches off to the left. We continue straight and continue to ascend towards precipitous walls of peaks in the group Sella.
The path towards the mountain pass Passo Gardena then branches off to the right, we still continue straight upwards and start ascending on a narrow valley named Val Setus, which is surrounded by the precipitous walls. The path is here ascending on the scree upwards and runs below the cargo cableway. The slope is higher becoming increasingly steep and in the last part, the path is also secured with a steel cable and stemples. The path here few times steeply ascends and also some caution is needed. If we are not used this kind of paths then self belaying is highly recommended. The secured path then soon ends and brings us on less steep slopes where there is a crossing.
To the left, there is only few minutes of walking to the hut Rifugio Pisciadu, and we continue right on the path 677. The path is then ascending diagonally on the scree above the upper station of a cargo cableway. Right from the path, we can also see the peak Col de Mesores, which is from the south side entirely gentle. The path then ascends a little steeper and brings us on an indistinct saddle.
Here we leave the marked path and go right on pathless terrain. On this part there isn't any footpath and we walk on a slope covered with numerous rocks and boulders. From the mentioned saddle we walk towards the north, and we get help from some cairns. Next follows a little steeper descent to a gentle terrain, which is partly covered with grass. At the descent quite some caution is needed, because on a slope there is quite a lot of the slippery sand.
On the left side then a view opens up towards the waterfall, which is situated on slopes of the peak Torre de Murfreit. Further, we walk on gentle wide ridge past a smaller weather station. The slope is then still gentle all the way to the top of Col de Mesores on which stands a bigger cairn.