Sue and Martin in Mallorca 2019

Sue and Martin in Mallorca 2019
On the Archduke's Path in Mallorca

Sunday 6 September 2020

22 July 1989 - Alta Via 2 - Day 8 - San Martino to wild camp near bivouac hut Carlo Minazio


Saturday 22 July (Diarist: Martin W)

Despite delivering last night's meal in a somewhat random order, our waiter was good enough to supply us each with a 'shot' of 'Grappo' (aircraft fuel according to John). This probably helped us all to sleep well and wake to a fine morning, rapidly becoming hot. Laurie is a little slow off the mark and has his kit in total disarray whilst everyone else is neatly packed and ready to go by 8:45 am.
 
 
 
We pay, have odds and ends to buy in town before taking to the Funivia once more, this time back up to La Rosetta. An exciting ride, everyone experiencing difficulty in leaping off the chairlift carrying 20kg sacks in front of them.

After a delay due to having to make a phone call to confirm their flight home, Martin B, Dave and John moved off sharpish. I dallied a while, taking photos of Italian kids playing in the snow (probably quite a rarity for most of them).
 
[Again today, the pictures are from the 'advance party' and the text is from the 'rear gunner'.]
 
 
Suddenly the dynamic 3 could not be seen. I moved to a vantage point to try and spot them. I wait a few minutes and Laurie appears. The Guidebook says to follow a water pipe up to the col where there is a sign, and then descend.

We don't realise that we have already reached this point because the sign we see below is pointing in the wrong direction and the pipe continues up the mountain We therefore climb about 300 metres up Cima di Roda before realising our mistake and spotting the zigzag path below. One hour and much energy wasted. In fact, in our defence, it's not easy to see from the map whether the zigzag path goes up or down.

Finally back on the right track, we descend maybe 300 metres until the path curves around the south of Cima di Roda, levelling off on a grassy plateau. We stop for a quick brew and lunch before moving onto the aided section and pass that follows.

Roughly 100 metres of steel cable aided a traverse along a steep cliff. A good ledge was provided most of the way, but one particular section was tricky, requiring leaning out from the cliff for those with high packs, or perhaps ducking under the cable and walking between it and the rock for a few feet for those with packs of reasonable size. I would say that this section was definitely 'airy'!
 
 
A short break was followed by another long cable that was hardly necessary, leading up a sloping section to within a few minutes climb to the top of the col, Passo di Ball.
 
 
 
Down the other side we were in climbers' country proper. Enormous cliffs surrounded the plateau containing Rifugio Pradidali, and little figures could be seen clambering about high above and often heard shouting to each other.
 
 
A short stop at the Rifugio (soup for Laurie, cappuccino for me), followed by a climb up the valley to the north past Lago Pradidali, which was very low.

Bearing east we then began the ascent up to Forcella di Lede. There was much more of this than first met the eye. The first blind summit led to a rocky section where a considerable amount of unaided climbing was in store. I enjoyed this: plenty of good hand holds in the old pitted limestone, and the route was well marked with red paint. From high up, this particular valley could be seen to have a stepped structure - at least three levels were clearly visible. There must be some clear cut geological reason for such a striking feature (- raised beaches?).

After much longer than expected, the 2640 metre col is reached - nearly as high as the surrounding peaks. Stupendous views are by now becoming commonplace, but they are there all the same. To the south, a sea of cloud made for some interesting photos.
 
 
Then a long descent over loose stony paths begins - many photos were finally curtailed by descending below the cloud. Bits of what appeared to be aeroplane wreckage were scattered about.
 
 
 
At about 7 pm we arrive outside the bivouac hut Carlo Minazio.
 
 
Some Italians, one lucky chap wearing a yellow "think pink" sweatshirt (?!), and two girls point out a cluster of tents below in the mist. It is indeed the dynamic trio come to rest before Rifugio Treviso. We are quite pleased we don't have to go any further today.
 
 
 
A lot of purility on the campsite tonight. Big bully boy Dave rubs sheep poo into Laurie's hair after cornering the latter in his tent. Revenge for the electric fence joke? If so, it was not matched in subtlety. However, I believe it was Laurie who started flicking bits of poo around to start with, and although I cannot be sure of the train of events, the war probably escalated for some reason. He who plays with fire...
 
 
(Dave adds: Yes indeed - Laurie flicked sheep shit at my dinner - very puerile - though my reaction was a little over the top, I think Laurie enjoyed it!)

Initial calm tonight was followed by rain and blustery wind that died down again by 10:30 pm.
 
 
  Here's our route - 10 km, with 950 metres of ascent. 

Later:
Martin W has kindly provided the following additional images:

                                    Laurie negotiates a wired section
 
A view from near our campsite
 
             Round-leaved Pennycress

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