The sixth stage starts from the
Marinelli refuge and proceeds downhill following
CAI trail
146. At an altitude of 1985m you leave the dirt road to head left along the path that passes near the
small Plotta lake and then again downhill toward the ruins of Casera Monumenz. With a traverse directed to the basal walls of Creta di Collina to gain the recessed passage of the
ladder (short equipped section where no specific equipment is required), you come out on the ridge of the
Stivale before descending rapidly to the area of the
casera Collinetta di Sopra (rideri) equipped through a well-trodden but rather grassy path.
Keeping to CAI 146, you reach the M. Croce Carnico Pass with its wide forecourt. Near the building dedicated to Maj. Macchi (at the back) is the start of CAI 401 trail that climbs to Pal Piccolo on the original World War I route (in 2024 a landslide came down from the southern walls of Pal Piccolo, knocking down the trail; at present a safety cable has been installed to cross the apex of the landslide safely, it is about 15 meters).
The trail alternates between steeper climbs and less steep sections and leads into the small valley below the bifid peak of Pal Piccolo. The proposed route trespasses into Austria and enters inside one of the tunnels of the Pal Piccolo, exiting on the northern side a short distance from the summit cross and the characteristic iron dome. Travelling along the trenches from the Austrian first line, one reaches the Italian one (Italian entrenchment) and continuing in a southerly direction downhill among the remains of barracks (Italia path) one reaches a crossroads. Keeping to the left (CAI 401) tending downhill, the route turns east toward the Freikofel Saddle, through meadows and sparse scrub, until the more marked descent beyond the saddle. Trail 401 transits the base of the southern slope of the Freikofel and reaches the Pal Grande di Sotto cheese factory, then continues-again uphill-to the Pal Grande di Sopra cheese factory. Keeping the path well clear (now CAI 402) after a stretch of false-flat ground, the trail climbs steeply to the Sella Avostanis, reaching it at around 2110m elevation.
Past the saddle, now descending to the right, the obvious trail gains the basin of Avostanis Lake and then joins the dirt road that leads, with a steep dive, to Malga Promosio, the day's stopover point.
