Chasing the perfect trail (cont'd V)

After two years without a week in the mountains, Lucas and I managed to spent five days in the mountains near Lago di Garda. I’m particular grateful for doing that again since I kept on having major difficulties with my calves in the past few years. I’ve tried multiple things but the injuries just kept on coming back. After not getting rid of it for several years, I started working with Niklas Jauch in spring this year. We’ve worked a lot on fixing my back and general posture which seems to pay off. It just felt so damn good to run across mountains again.

Please, don’t try to do this without proper training, planning, equipment, etc. but feel free to ask me any question about the trip.

Equipment

You might know my standard picture of my equipment (from 2021, from 2020, from 2019, from 2018, from 2017). Unfortunately, this year I forgot to take a picture of my equipment but it was very similar to 2021. I still wear the same old fashioned stuff that I bought ten years ago.

The route and the journey

We’ve chosen Nago-Torbole at the very north of Lago di Garda as our destination this year. It’s close to many different mountains, has really good trails and via Ferratas, the weather is usually good in September, you’ve got lakes to go for a swim and there is obviously amazing Italian food. Speaking of amazing food, we had a fig tree near our apartment and I’ve never eaten so many figs in my live before.
On this trip, we did for four different routes which was a good mix between trails, via ferratas and a little bit of climbing.

Day 1: Karspitz (16km, 1300hm)

On our way from Munich to Nago-Torbole by car, we’ve decided to go for a run in the afternoon before we reach our final destination. While Lucas was driving, I was searching for a nice little trail on Outdooractive. This one from Schalders to Karspitz (2,517m) and back seemed nice and not too long. So we went out in Schalders and needed to cross 300m of altitude until we’ve reached the starting point of the route. From there on we went uphill on a small trail until Karspitz from where you have a nice view towards Eisacktal and Brixen. The way down was on the other side, crossing a nice mountain hut and we’ve reached Schalders just before the sun was about to disappear behind the mountains.

Day 2: Skyrace Lago di Ledro (21km, 1700hm)

On the second day after a quick morning run to Lago di Garda for a swim and back to our apartment, we’ve decided to do the Ledro Sky Race. It’s a short sky race with 19km and around 1610 meters of altitude (our route was slightly different). The view over Lago di Ledro and the route in general is amazing, but watch yourself:

We’ve started in the village Mezzolago and after ca. 2km flat along the lake, the uphill starts through the forest. At 1793m, we’ve reached the first summit with Carèt, crossing a lot of sheeps and donkeys on our way. From there it’s a quick way down until we went up again to the highest summit with Cima Parì (1988m). Then a beautiful small trail along the back of the mountain starts from where you can see Lago di Ledro all the time.

After that trail, the real downhill starts. It is sometimes quite steep and technical and we basically ran from Cima d'Oro (1802m) down to Mezzolago (665m). After the run, we jumped into the lake and enjoyed our own Italian after-run food.

Day 3: Two Via Ferratas (21km, 1800hm)

On the third day, we’ve decided to do two different via Ferratas that we’ve combined. From both via Ferratas, you have an amazing view over Lago di Garda. We started at Biacesa di Ledro and with the Cima Rocca via Ferrata. This is an easy one, going up to Cima Rocca (1090m) and then down to Cima Capi (909 m).

From there you have the best view over Lago di Garda. We then went to chapel Santa Barbara from where the second via Ferrata dell' Amicizia started. This one is more difficult, has a few very long ladders and until the summit we needed to do 650 meters in altitude through the via Ferrata. From Cima Valdes (1575m), we went down a long downhill. Lucas increased the pace a lot in the downhill but I managed to keep up. I don’t know I did it but but I guess it’s like cycling. You don’t forget how to do it, ie. how to manage technical downhills. We were running a few more kilometers next to a small river until we’ve reached Biacesa di Ledro again.

Day 4: Nago-Torbole via Monte Baldo to Garda (52km, 3200hm)

Throughout the trip, Lucas and I had several discussions about doing a proper ultra trail again. Given my lack of training, I did not feel very excited when Lucas pitched me his idea to run from Nago-Torbole to Garda via the Monte Baldo mountain chain. Especially because of the 3200m of altitude we needed to do. Obviously he convinced me.

So we’ve started in Nago-Torbole in the morning and for the first 10km we needed to go from 223m to 2079m, doing 1800m in altitude. Fun. Most of the way was a small trail through the forest which protected us from the rain on that day and which was at some stages very steep. We’ve reached the first summit Monte Altissimo di Nago at 2079m, followed by a downhill for a few kilometers going down to 1425m. Now the second uphill started towards our highest summit Cima Valdritta (2218m). Due to the cableway Malcesine, the mountain was suddenly full of people. It was an up and down crossing several peaks. On one uphill Lucas increased the pace so much that I barely could keep up. Then we’ve finally reached Cima Valdritta. At this point, I could definitely feel the 3000m in altitude we’ve already done.

Lucas and me on Cima Valdritta (highest peak of Monte Baldo)

While we’ve reached the highest peak, the next few kilometers were again an up and down until Refugio Chierego where we’ve stopped for a non-alcoholic wheat beer. After a quick refresher, we were running to Refugio Fiori del Baldo where we’ve passed an Italian wedding. From there on it was only going down anymore where Lago di Garda was always to our right. We were lucky enough to escape a thunderstorm and did a fun and fast downhill through the forest to Rubiana. After a few more kilometers the trails ended and we needed to run on asphalt. It was roughly 8km until we’ve reached Garda and jumped into the water before we had dinner and took the bus back to Nago-Torbole. It felt amazing to do an ultra trail again.

Running down with Lago di Garda on the right

Bonus: via Ferrata called Rio Sallagoni

On the last day, we’ve did a very short via Ferrata called Rio Sallagoni just to shake out our legs. It goes through a canyon and is quite fun - except with soar legs.

I’m very grateful to be able to do these kinds of runs and adventures again with Lucas together. Here is to the next one!