Ferrata Trincee to Bech da Mesdi

If you come from Canazei, you may park your car free just behind the tunnel, before the lake. The pictures are taken from Marmolada glacier and you can see the zigzag footpath 698 to Porta Vescovo. You can see Rif. Gorza and the top station of the lift Belvedere from Arabba on the picture of Porta Vascovo.
There is Bech da Mesdi on the right of the lift station. The ferrata goes steep up on the west crest of it. Is it 70 or 80 degrees?

When going up to Porta Vescovo your T-shirt will soon become wet. Have a rest and take the opportunity and admire the opposite mountains – Gran Vernel (right) and Punta Penia (left) from Marmolada Group. Punta Penia (3343m) is the highest point of the Dolomites.
There is Forcela de la Marmolada in the saddle between them, where the famous via ferrata West Crest to Marmolada starts. Notice also the largest glacier in Dolomites beneath the top of Punta Penia.

Take the way “Sent. Geologico Arabba” to the east from Porta Vascovo, but after about 300 meters turn left and go up to the start of the via ferrata della Trincee.
If there is a difficult part in this ferrata, it is in the beginning. The rock slab here is really steep and quite smooth. But the rock is dry, solid and it is a pleasure to hold it. When you reach the summit of Bech da Mesdi (2727m), all the climbing difficulties are over.

The ferrata continues on the crest. Sometimes up, sometimes down. Climbing is much easier now but it is still secured with the metal rope. The ridge is pretty sharp as you can see on the picture.
There is a suspension bridge which emphasizes the beauty of the mountain scenery.

At this point you have possibility to leave the ferrata down to the route “Sent. Geologico Arabba”. (No picture available.)

At this point there is a cave for about 10 people. Good to know in case of bad weather. (No picture available.)

Almost all ferratas in this area contains some ruins from the times of the world war I. and Trincee is no exception. When you change the carabineers between rope anchors you may think about the reason of this or that building hundreds of meters above the valley.
At this point (after the ruins) many people may have orientation problems. The ferrata is very easy here, the steal rope ended. Actually it is the end of thh main ferrata here. You will see two ways: to the left (rock corridor) and also to the right (grass footpath). There are no signs.
Take the way to the right.

Finally after a few minutes of anxiety, you reach a serious way pointer. You are not lost. The way pointer is at this coordinates: N46.47075, E11.87858 .
You will see again some WWI ruins.

At this point there is another cave...

You reach another way pointer to "Galleria". There is also another possibility to take a shortcut down here.
There are two parts of tunnels on the way. The first one is very short and you could cope with it without a lamp. Later, after about 500 meters you reach a much longer system. This time there is no chance without a good lamp. The tunnels are flat, the route inside does not go up or down and thus there is no security rope. It is not dangerous, but without a lamp you would have no orientation.

The picture with the table “Ferrata delle Trincee” is the end of the ferrata. The label with the arrow may also indicate that people can go in the opposite direction. This is surely true in the tunnels, but I can’t imagine descent from the top of Bech da Mesdi to Porta Vascovo. If you want to do the entire ferrata, you should definitely take the described direction in this guide.
The bivouac is open wooden small chalet with 6 beds at ground floor + additional space under roof. It is located just at the end of the tunnels, next to the table “Ferrata delle Trincee”. The bivouac is called Bontanini on some maps.

You will go rapidly down from the bivouac to Passo Padon with Rif Padon and along the ski slope under the wires of the lift down to the east end of the dam.

There is the mountain Mesolina (2642m) on the picture – one of the peaks you climbed today on the picture.
You may take north as well as south side of the lake to go back to the car. There are tunnels marked on the map on the north side, but they are just half-tunnels and pedestrians are accepted. However, the author of this guide took the south side of the lake.

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