Rifugio Dibona - Tofana di Rozes (Via Ferrata Lipella)

Access to starting point:
Access from Gorenjska: From Rateče or Predel we cross the border to Trbiž / Tarvisio and then we continue on a 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. From Primorska: We drive on the highway towards Venice / Benetke / 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. We go left and we still cross scree towards the west. To the right leads the path towards the mountain hut Rifugio Giussani, and straight secured path »Grotta della Tofana«.
After the crossing of scree we will be again at the crossing, where we go right following the signs »Via Ferrata Lipella«. The path here turns a little towards the north and then we soon enter the climbing part of the path. With the help of stemples and a ladder we ascend almost vertically upwards. Next follows one more ascent on a ladder, which brings us in military tunnel (Galleria del Castelletto). The path then for quite some time leads through military tunnels through which we few times also quite steeply ascend. Military tunnel is long approximately 500 meters and ascends for 120 meters. From the tunnel then with the help of steel cables we descend on a little less steep slope below the summit Il Castelletto. Next follows traversing on narrow ledges towards the north, and then the path becomes very demanding. Few times we ascend almost vertically and we get help from only a steel cable. Later at short overhanging part we also get help from a stemple. After that, the path still crosses western wall towards the north. We mostly walk on narrow ledges and occasionally we steeply ascend. On the path we few times also descend a little. Such a path then continues all the way to a crossing a little before the peak Tre Dita (three fingers). It should be noted also, that by crossing of narrow ledges from the vertical walls above us water is often trickling. When higher snow is still melting are this like smaller waterfalls, which can really soak us.
At the crossing, the path towards the summit Tre Dita branches off to the left and forward towards the mountain hut Rifugio Giussani, and we go right where caption »Cima« point us to. From the crossing follows a little longer traversing on the ledge, and then the path turns left steeply upwards. Few times we almost vertically ascend by the steel cable after that steepness slightly decreases. Further, the path runs slightly to the right and continues to ascend by the steel cable. Meanwhile there are also some more difficult almost vertical ascents. The path continues to run slightly to the right and then brings us on the scree where the secured path ends.
After the ascent on the scree we then soon come on the ridge where we join the easier path which runs on the eastern side of the mountain. At the crossing, we continue right on a ridge on which we are then for some time ascending. In the last part, the path avoids the ridge right on the western side. Here on some spots some caution is needed because on the path, there is quite a lot of gravel. Such a path then soon brings us on very panoramic peak.
We descend on an easier path which we joined at the end of the secured path.