UKC

Anyone stayed a night in the Rifugio O. Falier, before tackling a route on the Marmolada? Am thinking of doing this when I'm out there in a couple of weeks, for a possible go at the Don Quixote, rather than driving/walking in from my base in Canazei. Did you find it worth doing, for the sake of the easier early start? did you eat there in the evening? how much for a meal/bed? anything else you can tell me that might help? thanks

In reply to ripper:

It would be possible to walk up from the valley, but would need a very early start if you were in Canazei. We stayed at the hut , the walk in took just over an hour from my memory, with another hour from the hut to the foot of the route. We left the hut at 5am were climbing by 6 and caught one of the last cable cars down. The route took about 7 hours, but getting off the top onto the glacier and across the glacier to the cable car took us a bit longer than expected.

The hut was quite pleasant, the food reasonably priced. the only issue we had was a large party of schoolkids making a racket!

In reply to drysori:

I climbed Don Quixote and wished I had stayed in the hut, if that helps.

In reply to drysori:

Thanks that's useful - can you remember how much you paid? and did you book in advance? when were you there and how full was the hut? (sorry for all the questions!)

In reply to ripper:

Would imagine it's about 45 euro but there will be a website with price list somewhere. It's cai owned so alpine club or reciprocal rights card will get you a discount on the accommodation

In reply to ripper:

I think we booked, as it was a Friday night, but the hut wasn't totally full. This was July 2012. We paid something like £20 for the bed and £10-15 for the meal.

In reply to ripper:

This summer prices were €55 half board or €45 with Alpine Club membership.
It's 700m haul up to the start of the routes.
There's a 9-berth bivvi hut just below the col; free, but water is variable.
You can also get to Rif. Contrin and then walk across to the col - slightly longer but less brutal and similar costs. I think you can get a jeep taxi to the hut (the road is forbidden for private/hire cars).

A lot depends on your plans after the summit. If you come down the W ridge via ferrata then leaving gear at the bivvi hut is fine.

Finally, there's a hut on the summit, if you don't fancy extending the day to get down and want to enjoy a night on the summit.

The guardians of both are extremely helpful if you contact them through their web pages.