Kajetan Jelinek Ledge from Tofana di Mezzo to Val Travenànzes

Premise

This route was traveled on August 3, 2022, and all the subsequent observations and considerations are fully valid only for that day.

In the following daily report, the term "guide" refers to the book "Guide to Via Ferratas and Ledge Routes of Cortina d’Ampezzo and Surroundings" by Fabio Cammelli.

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Approach to the start of the Kajetan Jelinek Ledge

From the exit of the upper station of the Freccia nel Cielo cable car, proceed towards the Formenton Via Ferrata which leads to Tofana di Dentro.

Today, I first made a quick detour to the summit of Tofana di Mezzo: from the cable car exit just... 53 meters of altitude difference❗ 😊

For the Formenton Via Ferrata, after the short crest jump where the equipped section begins, descend along the initial diagonal ledge almost to the Tofana Saddle.

At the point where the steel cable leads to a first uphill section, leave the via ferrata and continue the descending diagonal on a gravel-strewn path but not difficult – near the divergence point of the two routes, there are two red writings on the rocks: "CANTORE" and "RIF. GIUSSANI".

At the end of the gravelly diagonal, you find a first very obvious red square trail marker that "marks the way" for the descent to the Giussani Hut.

Now descend towards the large basin on the left, steeply, without reaching the bottom of the basin, continue on the path on the left side: today there was a nice melting pond in the basin.

Following cairns, you quickly reach a saddle bordered by a low outcrop ahead, then turn left going down always on the marked path leading down to the Giussani Hut.

You gain a ridge that divides two other basins, with the one on the right much larger: a true amphitheater.

At a small promontory with various cairns and remains of a stone wall, the path turns sharply left and you must abandon it to cross the right amphitheater basin.

After the first meters without a clear trail, head towards the base of the rock band closing the basin above, where the "dedicated cairns" for this route start.

The second half of the amphitheater basin is a small system of overlapping ledges, and you must aim for the highest one to more comfortably reach the crest saddle exit (with a cairn clearly visible even from medium distance).

From the crest saddle (from where you can have a first partial overhead view of the Jelinek Ledge) descend directly on the ridge-crest and then a bit below to the left until reaching a key turning point not to miss: at about 2880 meters there is an iron pole with two black arrows painted on the base rock.

The arrow pointing straight leads to Némesis, while the one pointing right leads to the Jelinek Ledge: cairns are visible shortly beyond in both directions, so just go right without much consideration of the cairns.

Basically, you go back a short distance on the other side of the ridge-crest just descended, and then... the spectacle of the Jelinek Ledge appears.

You are inside a majestic amphitheater with spectacular stratification of ledges, and the highest one right at the base of the rock band is the correct one.

To reach the actual start, you must traverse over scree for more than 100 meters from the first cairn encountered after reversing direction at the iron pole.

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Traversing the Kajetan Jelinek Ledge

The guide states that the ledge is "...logical and intuitive, without any interruption or jump...", and then "...shaped in an arch, regular and free from any difficulty...".

All true if "free from any difficulty" is meant only in an alpinistic difficulty sense.

It remains very exposed with some short narrower sections where you must support yourself with hands on the wall for balance: only balance supports, no strength holds.

There are also some steps where the ledge inclines a bit outward on a dirt-gravel base: however, you can get a foothold with your shoes.

Therefore, it is not among the most difficult ledges overall, but remains "delicate".

The trend is a slight descent, with modest intermediate ups and downs.

You exit this "Dantesque Amphitheater" above a saddle at the base of a large yellowish tower, but it is not over yet.

There is an arched stretch that begins to circle the large yellowish tower bringing you to another saddle from which a low panoramic small tower branches off outward that can be reached without real climbing steps: it is worth reaching it for an impressive view.

Another short stretch leads above another saddle with a cairn, then you begin bypassing a ridge that leads into the very large Potofana valley.

The true "ledge-style walkway" section ends here, but you still have to be careful.

A first cairn (a bit collapsed and that I "reinforced") passes a few meters above the head of a narrow channel staying near the base of the rock band.

A few meters further the view opens on the very large valley, and it seems down to the left that there is the possibility of descending diagonally: NOT POSSIBLE because lower down there is a band of vertical jumps.

You continue along the altitude at varying distances (but always close) from the rock band, seeking in the scree the best and somewhat discontinuous more consolidated traces.

You must reach exactly the final channel "resting" against the wall on the opposite side of the valley part entered: the guide gives an altitude of about 2735 meters for the entry point, matching what my barometric altimeter indicated, which I calibrated all day at known crossing altitudes.

The GPS showed a slightly higher altitude, but in the last 150 linear meters I had no altitude variations more or less of 5 meters: you must stay high to enter the channel at the most comfortable point.

Now begins the direct descent towards Val Travenanzes.

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Descent in Val Travenanzes from the end of the Kajetan Jelinek Ledge

The descent inside the channel after the end of the Jelinek Ledge is the reason why you must bring crampons and an ice axe.

The guide writes that the bottom of the channel may be "snow-covered and/or icy at the beginning of the season, or (in late summer) covered by a thin superficial layer of soil and gravel, beneath which hides an ice slide as hard as steel".

Today, August 3, 2022, considering the little snow fallen last winter, we were in the late summer expected situation.

At the entry point there was a snow-ice-free corridor on the left side, which then allowed ascending on the gravel under the higher snow-ice patches.

So I descended without crampons up to the gravel, where I noticed (not visible from higher up) that someone earlier in the season had made "shoe scrapes" brushing away tongues of gravel on top of the black-brown ice continuing below.

Looking carefully, and considering the little and discontinuous ice remaining in this unusual year, I continued without crampons over lines with larger emerging stones, but... I also made a small scrape by stepping on a finer gravel patch.

I believe that being able to descend freely is a truly unusual situation: if I were to return, I would put ice axe and crampons in the backpack without any doubt.

Once the channel opens into the valley, everything becomes quite simple on never too steep slopes: just go slow on parts with loose stones.

You then cross the almost flat (at that point) ledge of the Cengia Paolina Colleselli already mentioned in the "Summary" sheet.

After crossing the ledge, continue descending in the valley: here the guide writes to move a little right before starting the descent, but I did not do it because I wanted to pass among a group of large boulders – anyway there are no slope or jump difficulties.

Continue losing altitude to about 2300 meters where there is a last large isolated boulder followed by a smaller squared one a little lower on the right.

On your left starts a comfortable gravel ledge below a rock band, and traces can be seen crossing it.

You reach these traces near the base of the rock band and at about 2250 meters (but a few meters above the traces) there is a war cave with ruins at the base.

Continue descending where the ledge meets a ridge with evident rocky outcrops, covered by grass and dwarf pines on the right side of the watershed.

Descend on the right gravel on very discontinuous traces keeping outside the pines, and then the traces turn a bit left roughly in the center of the widening valley.

In the first stretch of this gentle valley I did not see cairns (but this does not mean they are absent), then I encountered some closely spaced just before the jump below the valley: these cairns guide left (to bypass the jump) on a now well-recognizable path under a rock band.

You reach a reddish cavern with dripping water and a cairn at the base, and here you reverse direction: descend a very short steep section of a few meters and then the cairns guide right under a low blackish rock band – here I found a small spring on the rocks at mid-height and filled a 1-liter bottle in about 15 seconds. 😊

The path continues for some tens of meters on the same diagonal, then makes a wide hairpin left turn leading to a plateau.

Here the cairns guide to the "final big surprise": after the plateau begins a ledge-path under often overhanging and "multi-color" rock bands – absolutely spectacular.

Also spectacular is the parallelism with the bottom of Val Travenanzes now nearby.

It is a war path and various historical evidences are present.

It is a long stretch, well over half a kilometer.

At a certain point, below and a bit ahead of the walking direction, a characteristic right-angled bridge over the bottom of Val Travenanzes can be seen: it is a reference point for the final descent.

So far, beside the ledge-path only vertical walls are visible.

Soon after passing the ideal parallel joining the bridge to the ledge line, a steep slope swelling interrupts the verticality beside the ledge.

There is a reddish cave with a large cairn, and just after you descend a few steep and slippery meters because of the swelling.

A few meters and you turn sharply right where a small ledge emerges guiding under the edge of another overhanging and spectacular rock band.

Here you already note a possible easy final descent among grasses and sparse dwarf pines to reach directly the right-angled bridge.

However, I "listened to the guide" and continued still along this last small ledge until reaching the "Austro-German Zone Command" hut.

From here I descended to the now very close bottom path of Val Travenanzes through the not difficult scree below.

There remain a little over 6 relaxing kilometers on foot to the Sant’Uberto parking and about 7.5 km descending by mountain bike to return to the Freccia nel Cielo cable car parking.

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Final considerations

I repeat what I said about ice axe and crampons.

The guide literally writes "Necessary to carry ice axe and crampons", and I agree.

What I defined as the "Dantesque Amphitheater" of the Kajetan Jelinek Ledge lies above jumps beneath which runs a stretch of the Cengia Paolina Colleselli (the section arriving at Némesis if traveling counterclockwise).

It is a vertical: rocks falling from the Jelinek Ledge end on the Cengia Paolina Colleselli – ATTENTION❗