Haus Valentin Blog – Alta Badia

Well, never mind walking, Via Ferrata-ing, painting or flower walks, this week has seen Alta Badia positively vibrating with live music! Haus Valentin guests and staff have been enjoying a festival this week celebrating 175 years of music in the Alta Badia, all taking place in a large beer tent just a stone’s throw away in San Leonardo.  The evenings’ entertainment (attracting locals and tourists alike, of all ages, some lederhosen clad and some not!) have so far included orchestras, blues bands and acoustic projects, with the grand finale kicking off at 6.30am (!) this Sunday with some good old oom-paa tunes….

Müjiga de Badia - see www.mujigabadia.it

Meanwhile the annual Alta Badia jazz festival is well under way, and on Thursday night HV staff Jenny, Al and Anna found themselves being very happily swept along in a jigging crowd following the fantastic marching ‘P-Funking’ band on the streets of Corvara. An assortment of 15 men with brass instruments and drums all playing, marching and dancing at the same time: certainly not traditional but definitely great fun.

Taking a break from walking on the Viel dal pan

But back to the serious stuff …with fine weather for several weeks now and only the most stubborn patches of snow remaining some great high level walks have been going out, including Sas De Putia (a new one for us this season), Giro De Tofana De Rozes (one of my favourites!) and Croda Dal Lago….all circular walks around very different but equally spectacular mountains.

Anna's Dad walking on the Veil dal Pan with Civetta (3,220m) behind

The Veil Dal Pan walk with stunning views of the Marmolada was enjoyed so much by all that what was supposed to be an ‘easy’ walk turned into a 6-hour one with us all deciding that we’d ‘just like to see what’s round the next corner’ – and the next!

Horse Riding in the Dolomites for Lynne's Birthday

On the Via Ferrata front, several guests over the last few weeks have joined organised groups to tackle their first ever VF, Cirspitze (grade 2a), and came back buzzing and eager for more.  Al returned from Michelli Strobel (grade 3b) on Thursday with the obligatory fine layer of dust all over him and his rucksack – an unavoidable side-effect of descending via an enormous scree slope!  Whether or not some staff are able to walk or climb without a cowboy swagger this week remains to be seen….six of us went for a two hour horse trek in the lovely Lungiaru valley to celebrate Lynne’s birthday on Wednesday and some were suffering the saddle-related consequences.

Wildflowers in the Alta Badia above Pedraces Badia

On a wildflower walk near Pedraces and Corvara

The wild flower presentations on Friday nights have been proving very popular so far this season (thank you Flower People!) – Friday night also happens to be cocktail night in the Haus Valentin bar (could there be a correlation between wild flower enthusiasts and cocktails?!) and the staff are gradually perfecting the art of cocktail making, though apologies to guests who may have been lightly sprayed by exploding cocktail shakers recently…… A safer alternative was quiz night, this week taking place outside on the terrace at dusk which meant occasional contributions from the chalet owners who were on their balcony above (no, Rainer, the answer isn’t ‘Harry Potter’ to ANY of the questions).

The 'Enrosadira' above Haus Valentin & Pedraces

Until the next blog we’ll say ciao as it’s about time that we sat down with some cappuccini and set about devising a programme of walks for the coming week – a very enjoyable task given the endless possibilities!

P.S We’d like to follow Arabba’s lead by saying thank you for the lovely cards sent by guests who’ve stayed at Haus Valentin recently (one anonymous, but we know who you are!), and also for the amazing box of sweets and choccies!

Anna