Summit & Silence
in the Dolomites

Wake early, while mist still hangs between the trees and first light begins to reach the Dolomites. The day begins with Wyda, the movement and breathing practice of the Celts, taught in the open-air during summer. Afterwards, at the spa, choose between the forest scents of larch, stone pine and mountain pine for the Tree Circle Ceremony. Wood, warm stone, sound and massage follow. Beyond the windows, the mountains are waking too.

Set out with mountain guide Herbert, who has walked the Polse since he was a boy. Paths disappear into spruce and pine, then open into meadow and climb towards higher ground. As you walk, the trees and plants start to separate into things you can name, and Herbert fills you in on the people who have lived and worked among them. Higher up, the forest thins, the views open and the Dolomites begin to fill the horizon.  

At 1,400 metres, the steep slopes of Schmiedthof are full of herbs; around 80 varieties grow in the clear air and long hours of mountain sunshine. The Frener family cultivate them by hand. Walk the rows with Laurenz and Giada discovering what is flowering and what is ready to be gathered or dried for the season ahead. Tastes teas, blend herbal salts. Later, back at FORESTIS, some of those same mountain herbs find their way into the plate in Roland Lamprecht’s Forest Cuisine.

For generations, summer drew people and livestock into the cooler high pastures. Follow Herbert through meadows where cattle graze the grasses of the Alpine summer. Hear of families living in mountain huts, turning the morning's milk into butter and cheese. Stop at a traditional malga for lunch, at a table with the people who still work these pastures. Up here, summer has always been precious, and nobody wastes it.

Climb higher to ODLES LODGE, just four chalets alone in the high forest. Walk part of the way while your luggage goes ahead. The fridge is already full, with jams and fresh juices, cheese and butter, eggs, smoked ham and fish. In the morning, a mountain breakfast comes to the door. The rest of the day, the kitchen is yours. In the shared courtyard, there’s a pool, stone pine sauna and steam bath. Sit on your private terrace as the light moves across the Dolomites. Let the hours soften.

On the final morning, leave while the mountains are still dark. Follow Herbert by headtorch, the path appearing a few steps at a time, breath loud in the cold. Keep climbing. Then wait. First light touches the pale rock of the Dolomites, and peaks that were silhouettes begin to take shape. Below lies the landscape you have spent five days moving through. Above, only sky. There is nowhere further to go.

There’s a profound clarity that comes standing above a landscape you walked through and seeing it at once. Perhaps it's the effort of getting there. Or the scale of what surrounds you. After five nights in the high country, what stays with you may not be how far you walked or how high you climbed. It may simply be standing there, with nowhere else to reach for. Mountains don't hand over answers. Sometimes it's enough to find that questions feel different from up high.