After circumnavigating Sassopiatto-Sassolungo we caught a bus at Passo Sella to San Cristina. We stayed at the lovely Le Chalet and in the morning rode the cable car to Col Raiser to begin exploring the Puez-Odle Nature Park. The Puez-Odle Nature Park is 10,000 hectacres bounded by Val Badia and Val Gardena to the east and west and marked by Passo della Erbe and Passo Gardena to the north and south. It’s a beautiful area and accordingly popular with dayhikers, overnighters, and even mountain bikers. We had spied the Odles (aka Geisler) from Sassopiatto and their name means “needles” in Ladin - certainly an apt description with their jagged teeth! With the snowbound passes we had so far encountered, the Odles were an attractive destination given their lower elevation. Indeed, in our three days spent there we encountered only small patches of snow in the higher passes. *phew* This, coupled with beautiful scenery and one of our favorite rifugios, Malga Brogles, made the Odles a wonderful three day jaunt.

Stepping off the gondola at Col Raiser we were greeted by abundant wildflowers, lush green mountain pastures, and great mountain views. We had a short walk to Rifugio Firenze and we got a room, dropped our packs, and headed out to hike over Forcella della Piza to Stevia Hut, where we had lunch and enjoyed the views from the lounge chairs. Steve did a little extra hiking in the afternoon, Norah enjoyed the playground at Firenze, and we all had a serene evening watching the sunset. The next morning we crossed the pretty Alpe di Cisles, crossed the Odles at Forcella Pana, and descended to Malga Brogles. This was one of our favorite rifugios of the trip. Not only was the setting spectacular, but we got a kick out of staying above the barn. We literally had to dodge cows to get to our room in the evening and our alarm clock was the rooster!

Our final day was spent hiking the popular Adolf-Munkel Weg trail (named for the Dresden Alpine Club founder) from Malga Brogles to Rifugio Genova. We hiked from there to Forcella di Putia and out to the road at Passo delle Erbe. We originally intended to stay at Rifugio Genova, but it was a weekend and everything was booked solid. We met a very nice German couple at Forcella di Putia and they generously offered us a ride from the pass to San Martin in Val Badia. We took them up on their offer and stayed at Hotel Diamont for the night. We had a terrific belated birthday dinner for Steve at Dasser and Norah enjoyed some post hike relaxation in the swimming pool.

Book times and elevation gain/loss for our hiking:

Col Raiser (2107m) to Rifugio Firenze (2039m): 68m/223 ft loss, 20 minutes
Rifugio Firenze to Forcella della Piza (2489m): 450m/1476 ft gain, 1 hr 15 min (+ return)
Forcella della Piza to Stevia Hut (2312m): 177m/580 ft loss, 30 min (+ return)
Rifugio Firenze (2039m) to Forcella Pana (2447m): 408m/1338 ft gain, 1 hr
Forcella Pana to Malga Brogles (2045m): 402m/1319 ft loss, 1 hr 30 min
Malga Brogles to Cason Hut (2111m): 66m/217 ft gain, 1 hr 30 min (+ return)
Malga Brogles to Rifugio Genova (2297m): 177m/581 ft loss, 429m/1408 ft gain, 3 hrs
Rifugio Genova to Forcella di Putia (2357m): 60m/197 ft gain, 30 min
Forcella di Putia to Passo delle Erbe (1978m): 379m/1243 ft loss, 1 hr 30 min

Total: 14.5 hours, 1590m/5217 feet elevation gain, 1719m/5640 feet elevation loss