Rifugio Dibona - Grotta di Tofana

Access to starting point:
A) Access from Gorenjska: From Rateče or Predel we cross the border to Trbiž / Tarvisio and then on the highway in the direction of Videm / Udine to exit Tolmezzo. From Tolmezzo we follow the road in the direction of village Ampezzo and mountain pass Passo Mauria. The road then descends and it brings us to a crossroad, where we continue left (possible also right) in the direction of Cortina d'Ampezzo. At all next crossroads, we follow the signs for Cortina d'Ampezzo. In Cortina d'Ampezzo then we follow the signs for Alpine mountain pass Passo di Falzarego. This ascending road we then follow to the spot, where the road in the direction of the mountain hut rifugio Dibona branches off to the right (turn off is at an altitude approx 1700 meters). At first asphalt road higher brings us on a crossroad, where we continue on the left bottom road (right mountain hut Duca d'Aosta) and we follow it to the parking lot behind the mountain hut Dibona.
B) From Primorska: We drive on the highway towards Venice / Venezia. At town Portogruaro we leave the highway towards Venice and continue right on the highway towards Pordenone. At the next highway junction near Conegliano, we continue right towards Belluno. Near Belluno the highway ends and at the next crossroads we continue in the direction of Cortina d'Ampezzo. Further, we follow the description above.

Path description:
From the parking lot, we continue on a macadam road past a gate. We follow this road to a crossroad with signposts, where we go left on a footpath following the signs »Via Ferrata Lipella«, and right leads the path 403 towards the mountain hut Rifugio Giussani. Already after few meters, we are again at the crossing. This time we go right also following the signs »Via Ferrata Lipella«. After that, the path in ascent crosses slopes below the mighty south wall of Tofana towards the west. At first, we are ascending through dwarf pines, which is soon changed by scree. When we get very close to a wall we are again at the crossing.
At the crossing, we continue straight or slightly left following the signs »Grotta della Tofana« (left Via Ferrata Lipella, right Rifugio Giussani). From the crossing, the path is ascending by walls and it brings us to bigger gully. Here we go right in the gully and already after approximately 10 meters we will on the left notice secured path which leads towards the cave Grotta di Tofana.
The secured path crosses a wall to the left on a narrow ledge. The secured path is otherwise short and technically isn't too demanding. But because the path is quite exposed it is stiil recommended to use of self belaying. After the crossing on the ledge follows a short steeper ascent, which brings us to the entrance in the cave.
In the cave we go straight slightly upwards. From the right side side joins the path on which we will later return. Because through the cave leads a circular path. In the initial part at the ascent, we get help from some iron spikes, and then follows a short ascent on stemples. Cave then turns to the right and then follows a descent on stairs. We continue left and after a short descent cave narrows. We are still slightly descending, and in the last part path turns to the right and then follows a short ascent to the entrance in the cave.
We descend on the ascent route.