46.51° N · 12.04° E · Dolomites
A half-day outing with a Cortina guide to make your debut on Dolomite ferratas. The Averau ferrata climbs to a 2,649 m summit up a short wall, and the return passes the Rifugio Nuvolau, above the Passo Giau. Beginner level, but with a vertical section and a lot of exposure.
Who offers it
Independent companies: you book with them, on their terms. Prices are as they publish them and may change.
Step by step
You meet the guide at the office on Corso Italia and check the equipment before setting out for the Cinque Torri.
The Rifugio Averau, at 2,413 m, is at the foot of the wall. You reach it by chairlift from Fedare, on the Passo Giau, or on foot from the Rifugio Scoiattoli, in an hour.
About 100 m of cable with vertical sections. You go up and down the same way, so sometimes you have to wait your turn.
A path leads from the Averau to the Rifugio Nuvolau, at 2,575 m, built in 1883, with views over the Passo Giau.
The Averau rises between the Passo Falzarego and the Passo Giau, above the Cinque Torri, west of Cortina d'Ampezzo. Its ferrata is short, without great difficulties and with some vertical sections, and Guide Alpine Cortina uses it as training for anyone starting out on via ferratas: that is why it is best to go with a guide and early.
A via ferrata is a route over rock equipped with a fixed steel cable and, on the more vertical sections, rungs or staples. You are attached to the cable with a harness and a two-carabiner energy absorber, so you are never loose. In the Dolomites many were born during the First World War, to move troops through the mountains, and today they are the way to reach summits that would otherwise require climbing.
It is run by Guide Alpine Cortina as a group, with a qualified guide:
Book online by choosing the date and number of people. If there are fewer than four of you or you want to go alone, the guides offer the same outing privately: ask for the price by phone or through the contact form.
In summer, on the dates published in the guides' calendar, when the wall is free of snow and the lifts and huts are operating. Summer storms tend to arrive in the afternoon: that is why the meeting is early.
Very close by, at the Passo Falzarego, the cable car goes up to the Lagazuoi and its Great War tunnels. For lunch, the Rifugio Averau is at the foot of the ferrata. If you stay in Cortina, the Hotel Menardi is on the way out towards Dobbiaco.
Who it's for
You walk in the mountains normally, heights don't freeze you and you want to try a Dolomite ferrata with someone who decides for you whether the weather will hold.
You have real vertigo or are looking for a long, technical ferrata. For that, the same guides have the Kaiserjäger at Lagazuoi, of medium level, and the Tomaselli, for experts.
What to bring
Map
What you have around the starting point.
More to do
Tips
The group outing is only confirmed with four people. If you are a couple in June or September, ask about the private guide.
The guides' information sheet does not say whether they rent equipment: ask when booking.
The hut has a restaurant: the return is a good time to stop.
Questions
No. It is a beginner outing with a qualified guide, designed for your first ferrata.
€150 per person in a group, with a minimum of four. The private guide has a different rate: ask at the office.
In summer, on the dates in the calendar on the guides' website. It depends on there being no snow on the wall and on the lifts and huts being open.
Yes, if you have done ferratas before and carry your own approved equipment. If it is your first, go with a guide.
Geocaliahttps://www.geocalia.com/en/italy/dolomites/things-to-do/averau-nuvolau-via-ferrata
