Alta Via 6 / About

The Alta Via 6 is one of 10 Alta Via’s in the Italian Dolomites.  It is also called the Alta via dei Silenzi, The Alpine Road of Silence, on account of the remote massifs the route passes through. It is considered one of the more difficult Alta Via routes not because of its technical difficulties but because it is so isolated.  It goes down the Southern Carnic Alps on the east side of the arterial Piave river.  As the route goes through the Friulian Dolomite peaks of Spalti di Toro, Cima Dei Preti and Mont Durano it becomes very remote and way finding is diffucult. There are also very few Refugio or Mountain Refuges here and it is necessary to use 2 or 3 rustic Bivacco sheds.

The route crosses a mixture of forested valley, alpines meadows and rocky mountains with many exposed sections. On some of the more exposed  rocky stretches the route is protected by wire cables and metal ladders which you can clip onto.

In total the route is 190 km and takes 11-13 days to complete. It is the longest of the 10 Italian Alta Via Routes It starts at Sappada in the Tyrol and heads south ending in Vittorio Veneto on the edge of the Venetian Plain. I hope to walk it from 2th September to 12th September 2021. 

A Map of the Alta Via Routes, 1 -6, in the Italian Dolomites

The crux of the walk is the very remote section between the rustic shelters of Bivacco Bivacco Laghét de Sora and the Bivacco Paolo Greselin on about Day 05.  The route goes along the now abandoned path over the Forcella dei Cacciatori and Forcella Compol passes on the eastern flank of the mountain called Cima dei Preti.

More on the Alta Via 6 can be found on Wikipedia  here . The text might be in Italian but google can translate it.

There is a map of the intended route here . However some bits are missing but you get the jist. You can zoom in on this map which is the intended route and notthe actual route I take which will be displayed upder the green “Map”  box tab