What to See in Dolomites - Top Sights and Attractions

Mountain in Italy. The Schlern is a mountain of the Dolomites in South Tyrol, Italy. The peak at the north west end of the mountain was first ascended in July 1880 by Johann Santner. It is named the Santner Spitze in his honour.

The Schlern dominates the villages of Seis am Schlern and Völs am Schlern, and the summit can be reached following the circular route marked with the number 1 from both villages.

At 1,700 metres (5,577 ft), there is the Schlernboden inn and on the summit plateau is the Schlernhaus inn 2,457 metres (8,061 ft), both open from 1 June to 15 October. The highest summit is the Petz with 2,564 metres (8,412 ft).

The Schlern is sung of in the Bozner Bergsteigerlied as one of South Tyrol's landmarks. Its characteristic profile appears on the Der Schlern - Zeitschrift für Südtiroler Landeskunde (Magazine for South Tyrolean Regional Studies) and the logo pressed into Loacker's wafer biscuits.^[5]

Mountain in Italy. Monte Antelao is the highest mountain in the eastern Dolomites in northeastern Italy, southeast of the town of Cortina d'Ampezzo, in the region of Cadore. The Monte Antelao is an ultra-prominent peak.

It is known as the "King of the Dolomites" (- Marmolada, the highest of all the Dolomites, is the "Queen" although composed mostly of limestones). As the highest pinnacle of the eastern Dolomites, the Antelao is not part of a closed massif or a high plateau, but a single, mighty rock pyramid. Like many Dolomite peaks, Antelao is steep, rocky, and pointed; it also sits close to the edge of the Dolomite uplift and so has dramatic drops to the nearby valleys. When the weather is good, Monte Antelao is clearly visible from Trieste on the Adriatic Sea.

The summit was reached for the first time in 1850 by the hunter Matteo Ossi from San Vito, who then accompanied the mountaineer Paul Grohmann to the summit in 1863.

The easiest route is from the north, known as the "Laste", a steep, narrow ridge. It involves a good deal of exposure, and a few short technical sections, such as a chimney, protected by cables. There is a refuge, the Rifugio Galassi, which is located below the Forcella Piccola in the upper Val d'Oten.^[6]

Mountain in Italy. Cima Brenta is the highest mountain in the Brenta group, a subgroup of the Rhaetian Alps in the Italian Region of Trentino-Alto Adige, with a reported height of 3,150 metres. The mountain rises imposingly up between the rock towers and pinnacles of the central Brenta Group. A sharp ridge connects the mountain on its southern side to the Spallone die Massodi. The northern ridge steeply descends towards Bocca del Tuckett. Towards north west a slender couloir descends all the way from the top towards the Vedretta di Brenta Inferiore, the mountain's 'lower' glacier. Large shouldering formations extend towards the west, culminating in the Cima Mandrone and the Punti di Campiglio, and northwest, culminating in the Cima Massari. Above these formations a glacier, the Vedretta di Brenta Superiore, the 'upper' glacier descends the mountain, being cut off by a vertical precipice over the Vedretta di Brenta Inferiore. On the eastern side the mountain rises up with an imposing 700-meter high vertical rock face with on its left side a distinct orange-like color. Above this lies a horizontal ledge, the Cengia Garbari, on which the Via delle Bocchette Alte proceeds. The actual mountain has two summits that are some 250 meters apart, of which the eastern top reaches the highest altitude. The glaciers, vedrette, have been shrinking steadily over the last decades as a result of climate change. The historical name Cima Brenta was not always as evident as it is today. The toponymy of these parts was largely established by Nepomuceno Bolognini. The mountain, somehow, became a place where nationalistic sentiments were demonstrated. In 1889 the Austro-Hungarian authorities decided to rename the mountain to Kaiser Franz Josef-Spitze. The name never caught on -not even in German literature. When the occasion occurred to raise a large yellow-black imperial flag on the summit, fully visible from Val Rendena as well as from Molveno, local guide Giuseppe 'Bepaccia' Zeni and some companions climbed the mountain to take it down. In 1912, on the other hand, the Italian flag was hoisted by irredentists on Cima Brenta, deliberately just before the first snow fall, so that the flag remained visible until the next summer. Around 1953 electricity company SISM, predecessor of ENEL proposed to build a cable car trajectory from Molveno to the top of Cima Brenta. The plans were abandoned and in 1967 the mountain became protected as part of the Parco Naturale Adamello-Brenta.^[10]

Mountain in Italy. Campanile Basso is a mountain in the Brenta group, a subgroup of the Rhaetian Alps in the Italian Region of Trentino-Alto Adige, with a height of. It is of a slender, almost fully vertical shape on all sides, rising 300 metres straight up. The mountain is named for its similarity in shape to a belltower and it being low compared to the neighboring Campanile Alto and Brenta Alta. The German alpinist Karl Schulz introduced in 1884 the name Guglia di Brenta, a name widely used until World War I and especially enduring in German literature, but considered inappropriate by locals and Italian climbers. Geologically, Campanile Basso is entirely formed of Triassic sedimentary rock, dense and compact dolomite. Due to its inaccessible appearance it was long left untouched during the alpine exploration of the Eastern Alps. Around the turn of the century a competitive race for the first ascent started, which took inspiration from the emerging nationalistic feelings in the region, as much as from the ascent of rock climbing as a sport. Most of the illustrious forebears of modern rock climbing climbed this mountain during the first half of the Twentieth century.^[11]

Mountain in Italy. Monte Civetta is a prominent and major mountain of the Dolomites, in the Province of Belluno in northern Italy. Its north-west face can be viewed from the Taibon Agordino valley, and is classed as one of the symbols of the Dolomites.

The mountain is thought to have been first climbed by Simeone di Silvestro in 1855, which, if true, makes it the first major Dolomite peak to be climbed. The north-western face, with its 1,000-metre-high cliff, was first climbed in 1925 by Emil Solleder and Gustl Lettenbauer. It is historically considered the first "sixth grade" in six-tier scale of alpinistic difficulties proposed by Willo Welzenbach (corresponding to 5.9). Thirty years later UIAA used this as a basis for its grading system.

The famed Svan mountain climber Mikhail Khergiani died in a climbing accident on Monte Civetta in 1969.^[15]

Mountain in Italy. Cima Tosa is a mountain in the Brenta group, a subgroup of the Rhaetian Alps in the Italian Region of Trentino-Alto Adige, with a reported height of 3,136 metres. it is the second highest peak of the Brenta group in the southern limestone Alps after the Cima Brenta.

The height of the summit marked on the IGM maps is 3173 m, which would make it the highest peak in the Brenta Dolomites. An electronic measurement campaign in 2015 determined the new height. The change could be linked to the partial melting of the ice cap that covers it. Being the second highest peak of the Brenta group also changed Cima Tosa's prominence making its prominence 589 m above the Bocca di Brenta.

The mountain rises above Val Rendena with its 800-metre (2,600 ft) vertical north face with a steep couloir called Canalone della Tosa dividing it from its ante-peak, Crozzon di Brenta. The summit is topped by a snow cupola above the rock face, almost like a shaven head, hence the name Cima Tosa (Iocal dialect: Shaven Summit). The south-eastern side descends in a series of snowy terraces and vertical rock pillars.^[16]

Mountain in Italy. Monte Pelmo is a mountain of the Dolomites, in the province of Belluno, Northeastern Italy.

The mountain resembles a giant block which stands isolated from other peaks, so can be seen clearly from the neighbouring valleys and from nearby mountains such as Antelao and Monte Civetta.

Monte Pelmo was one of the first major Dolomite peaks to be climbed, by Englishman John Ball, who later became president of the UK's Alpine Club, in 1857. He set out with a chamois hunter from the Boitevalley towards Monte Pelmo. Over the long ledge named after Ball, which the chamois hunters refused to cross, Ball got into the large cirque, through which he climbed over the small Pelmo glacier to below the summit structure.

West of the summit lies a secondary peak, Pelmetto (meaning "Little Pelmo" in Italian), at 2,990m high, which has a 1,100-metre (3,609 ft) high north face.

So there are only a few possibilities for climbing. The best known (and easiest) ascent leads over the south-east flank. The route of the first climbers still offers a rewarding but long and strenuous mountain tour in the second degree of difficulty. Problems can be found with the above-mentioned, exposed ball band. Climbing skills and surefootedness are necessary. The ascent of Monte Pelmo should also be carried out in safe weather and without snow.

On some rocks on its western side people can admire dinosaurs prints (Sign "Orme di Dinosauri"). These are the traces of at least three dinosaurs that are approx. 220 million years old. From the path to the tracks you walk steeply uphill for about half an hour.

This mountain is surnamed "God's armchair" because its shape looks like an armchair.^[20]