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Friday, December 6, 2013

A Mother's Gift- A Month in Italy- Part 11

Rifugio Bruto Cartestiato to Rifugio Pramperet

Elevation gain 2,300 feet
Elevation loss 2,207 feet
Total miles: 10.2

I didn't take many pictures on our way to Pramperet.
I think I was tired.
All my photos were taken with my IPhone.


On the last section to the refuge, the weather turned.
It began to hail and thunder.
It was exciting.

During our entire trek, we kept hearing threats of a bad storm, but it never came to pass.
My mother was smiling down on us.


When the hail hit, we all donned our rain gear.
It lasted maybe 20 minutes.
 
I took this picture of Mark, who didn't really bring rain gear, but was made to purchase this bright blue poncho in Cortina.
 His wife and Andrea, our leader, had insisted upon it!
And yes, he came in handy.


Refugio Pramperet was very rustic and remote.
This was the main sitting, dining area.


Our bunk-rooms were in a separate building than the dining area.
They had no heat.
We hung our wet gear to dry.


Just before dinner a rainbow appeared.

Upon entering the main area,  I was shocked to see two university students working on their laptops while their music filled the room!
Turns out Cinque Torri was the only hut without wifi.

The students had been living there for months, writing their dissertations for their Phds.
One was British and the other Spanish.
They helped the owner in the kitchen and dining room in exchange for their room and board.

Chatting with the British student, I discovered he was majoring in Urban Ecology and would be arguing his dissertation in Venice in about 2 weeks.

Dinner at Pramperet was just as interesting as other huts.
Here we sat at long picnic like tables and benches while the men proudly served us delicious food as elegantly as any expensive restaurant would.
Extremely proud of their cuisine, they asked us over and over how we liked our meal.
Divine except for the canned peas!

We shared the dining room with the local laborers who had spent the day tearing down an outbuilding.
We shared the far end of our table with four German men.
They had been hiking this route every year for years, originally meeting as young fathers at their children's school.
Now, their children were grown and gone, but as grandfathers, they kept up the tradition.

One of these men was a stage actor from Munich.
He had also been the voice of one of the actors in Hangover 2.

Sleeping in a lower bunk by the window on my last night of the trek, I made sure to have two thick wool blankets pulled over me, and I felt sad my journey was almost over.

But I also knew more adventure was ahead...



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