Have you ever slept in your car at an altitude of 2,320 m / 7,611 feet? Well, on September 19, 2022 I and quite some others have had the same idea :)

Tre Cime di Lavaredo
^{Dolomites - Italy}

There is a huge car park at the Rifugio Auronzo, just besides the Tre Cime di Lavaredo (Drei Zinnen - Wikipedia: Tre Cime di Lavaredo), in my eyes the most iconic rocks not only in the Dolomites.

To get to this parking lot you have to drive 16 km / 9.94 miles on a beautiful toll road from Misurina at about 1,756 m / 5,761 feet up to the Rifugio Auronzo at 2,320 m / 7,611 feet.
It was a Monday and I thought on a work day there wouldn't be many people, but I was wrong, because at 11am the road was already closed due to full parking lots. So I came back in the late afternoon because most people had left by then and they opened the road again. I paid 60 Euros toll for staying up there over night (30 Euros until midnight and 30 Euros for the second day).

As said above, the road is beautiful and I enjoyed driving, but you could have bad luck and a slow camper drives in front of you what would make the drive quite unpleasant because there are not many chances to overtake ... I've been lucky 😁

Tre Cime di Lavaredo - Italian Dolomites - Johann Piber

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The image above shows the two gravel parking lots which are meant for campers. My van is on the upper one - pleasant view towards the Cadini group - Cadini di Misurina, isn't it?

The weather was awesome for hiking and boring for photography ... just blue skies and no clouds, no drama in the sky.
Nevertheless, after parking my van I went for a little hike to the other side (north-west) of the Tre Cime di Lavaredo to see and photograph them at sunset. The setting sun lit the mountains beautifully but I wished there would have been some clouds around.

Tre Cime di Lavaredo

Tre Cime di Lavaredo - Italian Dolomites - Johann Piber

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In quite a distance I could see the Dreizinnenhütte - Antonio Locatelli Hut.

Dreizinnenhütte - Antonio Locatelli Hut

Tre Cime di Lavaredo - Italian Dolomites - Johann Piber

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Tre Cime di Lavaredo - Italian Dolomites - Johann Piber

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The Cadini Group - Cadini di Misurina was looking awesome in the evening light but some clouds around would have added so much to the scene.

Cadini di Misurina

Tre Cime di Lavaredo - Italian Dolomites - Johann Piber

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Tre Cime di Lavaredo - Italian Dolomites - Johann Piber

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The night in my van was cozy, but only inside the sleeping bag. The next morning all the little puddles around have been frozen, what means it was quite cold not only outside the car but also outside the sleeping bag 😉

I got up at 5am and have been one of the first hiking on the path around the 3 big rocks. Only two others have been up and they hiked another path. It was a freezing but beautiful morning, almost cloudless still though.

Rifugio Auronzo

Rifugio Auronzo - Tre Cime di Lavaredo - Italian Dolomites - Johann Piber

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On my path to my first viewpoint I have taken some photos of the mountains ranges in the south where the soon rising morning sun has begun to paint the clouds and the mountains in lovely colours.

Tre Cime di Lavaredo - Italian Dolomites - Johann Piber

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Tre Cime di Lavaredo - Italian Dolomites - Johann Piber

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Tre Cime di Lavaredo - Italian Dolomites - Johann Piber

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At the Cappella degli Alpini I left the path that went very close to the Tre Cime to get a better overview of the mountains. There were still no clouds around these huge rocks, but in the warm morning light they looked awesome anyway.

Tre Cime di Lavaredo

Tre Cime di Lavaredo - Italian Dolomites - Johann Piber

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Tre Cime di Lavaredo - Italian Dolomites - Johann Piber

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This rocky mountain is in the north of the Tre Cime di Lavaredo and called Schwabenalpenkopf - Torre dei Scarperi.

Torre dei Scarperi

Tre Cime di Lavaredo - Italian Dolomites - Johann Piber

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The little lakes on the northern side of the Drei Zinnen would give amazing reflections, but it was still quite dark because the sun was on the other side and it was windy.

Tre Cime di Lavaredo - Italian Dolomites - Johann Piber

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A while before I have been back at my car I have taken an image of a mountain range of which I have no idea what it is named and if you remember the images above, I have already taken a photo of it the night before 😎

Tre Cime di Lavaredo - Italian Dolomites - Johann Piber

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Search Google for hotel+misurina+reflection and you will find tons of images of the hotel at the Lago di Misurina in the image below. When the light is right, there's an amazing reflection of the hotel and the mountains behind in the lake ... photographed a million times.

Lago di Misurina - Tre Cime di Lavaredo - Italian Dolomites - Johann Piber

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So, that was it for today - I hope you've enjoyed my post and the photos I have taken during the hike a little bit.

Information

All photos were taken with the Canon EOS R and one of these lenses: Canon RF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM, Canon RF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM, Canon RF 100-400mm F5.6-8 IS USM, Canon EF 16-35mm 1:4 L IS USM, Canon EF 50mm 1:1.8 L STM, SIGMA 105mm 1:2,8 DG MACRO HSM.
If you are interested in the image data, I leave all EXIF and IPTC information stored in the pictures.

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Thank you so much for visiting my blog,
have a wonderful weekend

^{Photos and Text: @johannpiber | Johann Piber | All rights reserved - do not use without my permission
Please contact me if you would like to get one of my photos in full resolution or visit my NFT galeries ⬇️}