Cengia Col dei Séch loop from Gena Bassa

After the usual paved stretch up to Gena Alta, take the forest road next to the drinking fountain and at the end turn at two cairns to cross a small stream just above a waterfall (there is a sign posting a prohibition ordinance for visiting the canyons of the Dolomiti Bellunesi National Park dated July 12, 2018).

Here begins a long stretch always marked with faded red dots and cairns.

The trail footprint on the ground is almost always clearly visible but faint, and attention is needed to spot the various signs.

You are above Val Pisson and then above Val dei Forti, cross the watershed of Val Covolera and reach a short, not difficult rocky gully which is climbed up to near a fairly large cave/shelter.

From here, traverse to the right to a short connecting ledge that leads to the bottom of a large gully: a few dozen meters of somewhat steep ascent and you arrive at "Al Boschet".

From this small wood, the markings (always very faded dots and cairns) would lead to Forcella de la Caza Granda; at a certain point, however, the traces are left and you bend right crossing the forest in a gently sloping side hill section.

There is no exact defined point to traverse (this is also noted in the guides): you have to stay just above the starting elevation of the Cengia Col dei Sech which is already well visible before entering the small wood.

Shortly before reaching the gully where the ledge begins, I noticed a short track that allowed me to descend peacefully inside.

The Cengia Col dei Sech runs up to the bypass of the west shoulder of Col dei Sech, it is very wide and – with care – does not cause problems for those used to these routes.

Between the channel for attacking the summit of Col dei Sech and the bypass of the west shoulder, there are some steps where more attention is needed.

From the large grassy terrace below the west shoulder, you can see the entire first stretch southward of the return ledge which ends above another grassy terrace: memorize the entire line well because once you start the connection, mid-range visibility is limited due to vegetation.

The very first meters of descent below the west shoulder require a couple of moves of about first grade climbing.

Upon reaching the second grassy terrace, a long ledge stretch heading east begins.

It is difficult to give directions here: you must follow the cuts between the dwarf pines which are still fairly passable, but slowly.

You also pass through a small wood where you "walk normally", then narrow cuts among the dwarf pines and then another small wood ending on a large drop above a gully.

From here, and even earlier, the Forzelon de le Mughe and the last, more difficult (in terms of orientation) ledge, running north-south, are clearly visible; it leads to the descent path from the Forzelon.

You need to descend into the wide gully which has a fairly regular and walkable slope just above an impassable rock drop.

To find the descent gap, I walked beside the band of dwarf pines on the very steep edge between the small wood and the watershed.

At a certain point, you notice a diagonal with 2/3 small first-grade steps breaking the verticality of the edge: helping yourself with the dwarf pines, you descend fairly easily.

From inside the watershed, climb the gully a few dozen meters to exit to the right and reach a large, very noticeable tree among all the other dwarf pines and lower shrubs.

Just above the tree, you can see some cuts among the dwarf pines, and here begins the more complicated "labyrinthine" part in terms of orientation.

The cuts are not continuous or linear.

Sometimes you find some nice corridors along rock edges, but they soon end.

Sometimes it is better to gain some altitude and take some grassy or gravel gullies to go forward with a "vertical zig-zag" and avoid the always very annoying walks on top of dwarf pines.

Today the grass among the dwarf pines was often quite tall and showed many flattened areas probably due to passing animals: since animals avoid effort, I tried to follow the flattened grass strips among the various cuts.

In the end, you do not really need a pre-recorded GPS track to follow the slightest turns here (although it is very useful for the general direction): you have to rely on close observation of the terrain while advancing with limited overall visibility.

It is very useful, before entering the gully, to carefully observe this last ledge in its entire development.

Finally, return to the parking lot following the Forzelon de le Mughe path which, in the upper part, is narrow, has some exposed steps, and a couple of short equipped sections: there are several cairns but they are not always easily visible.