Val Fiscalina and Croda Rossa Day Hike

Worth the drive

The valley runs south from the hamlet of Moso, flat-bottomed and wide, with the Sesto Sundial peaks — Cima Una, Cima Nove, Cima Dieci, Cima Undici, Cima Dodici — lined up along its eastern side. The names come from the shadow they cast at the corresponding hour, which is the kind of thing that makes the geography here memorable.

The walk to Rifugio Fondovalle is barely more than a stroll. Continuing to Rifugio Zsigmondy-Comici under the Croda Rossa turns it into a proper day.

A long valley on a gentle gradient

Fondovalle is about forty minutes on the flat from the car park. Zsigmondy-Comici is another two hours with roughly 700 metres of ascent, most of it in the last stretch. Reckon on five to six hours for the round trip with a hut stop.

Up the Fiscalina to the huts

From the Fiscalina car park a broad track follows the stream south through meadow — this section is busy with families and it's easy walking. Past Fondovalle the valley narrows and the path steepens, climbing through pine and then scree towards the head of the valley.

The final approach to Zsigmondy-Comici is under a series of huge walls, and the hut sits at 2,224 metres in a bowl beneath them. Coming back you can vary the descent via Rifugio Pian di Cengia if you want the higher line and don't mind an extra hour.

The Meridiana peaks

Turn round about half an hour up the valley and look back — the Sundial peaks stack along the eastern flank in a way you don't notice while you're walking towards them. Higher up, the amphitheatre at the head of the valley is genuinely imposing without ever requiring anything harder than walking.

A north-facing valley

The valley faces north and stays cool; it holds snow later than the south-facing Cortina slopes and is a good choice on a hot day. Huts here typically run late June to early October. It's a Sesto valley, so the language flips to German and so do the timetables.

The upper section is committing in poor visibility — the path crosses scree with few landmarks. Turn round at Fondovalle if the cloud is down rather than pressing on.

Why I go here on busy weekends

This is where I go when Tre Cime and Sorapis are heaving. Yes, it's an hour's drive. But the first stretch of the valley is glorious, the parking rarely fills the way the toll road does, and the huts up at the head have the atmosphere the famous ones lost about ten years ago.

Meadow foregrounds and big walls

The meadow at the valley mouth gives you something the high Dolomite walks rarely do: a soft green foreground under grey rock. Shoot the peaks with grass and stream in front rather than climbing higher for a cleaner angle.

Going higher, or not

Stopping at Fondovalle is a genuinely lovely two-hour outing with children. Going the other way, Zsigmondy-Comici links into the high paths around Tre Cime, which makes an ambitious but very fine full-day traverse for strong walkers.

The sundial that named the valley

The Meridiana di Sesto — the arc of peaks including Cima Undici, Cima Dodici and Croda dei Toni ringing the head of Val Fiscalina — was historically used by shepherds to read the time of day from the sun's position over each summit, which is where both the peaks' numbered names and the valley's local nickname come from.