I know that create a page that includes all Dolomites Mountains is very difficult, but with the help of the other climbers and trekkers that love Dolomites like me, I�m sure that this work is possible. I agree with Reinhold Messner, when tells that Dolomites are the 8th wonder of the world! The emotion when you are in front of Tre Cime of Lavaredo (Drei Zinnen) or Gran Vernel, for example, is the same than you are in front of Angkor Wat in Cambodia or in front of the Pyramides in Egypt. They aren�t high like many mountains of the alps: they are all between 2000 and 3300 meters, and the only glacier that is alived to the time, is that one of Marmolada.

Between May 1915 and October 1917 the Dolomites were the stage of one of the most horrific moments in history. In an exhausting war of attrition, the Italian and Austrian Armies fought out First World War battles in these mountains. Walking around Dolomites you looking for many weapons, trenchs, military positions and tunnel.

Panoramic view

Croda da CampoCima BagniCampanili Pop�raCima Pop�raMonte GiralbaPala di Pop�raCroda Rossa di SestoCima UndiciCroda dei ToniCima UnaAntelaoMonte PaternoCima GrandeLastron dei ScarperiPunta dei Tre ScarperiSorapisPelmoTorre dei ScarperiCroda dei RondoiPiz PopenaMonte CristalloRocca dei BaranciCima Piatta AltaCivettaTofana di MezzoTofana di DentroMonti SpeciePicco di VallandroCroda RossaCime di SestoMarmoladaGran VernelPiccola Croda RossaCunturinesLa VarellaPiz Bo�Cr. del BeccoC. PisciaduC. NoveC. DieciSassolungoS. CiampacP. PuezDantersassLe OdleC. Colli AltiM. MuroP. Tre DitaSass de PutiaM. RovinaPlan de CoronesPloseOrtles/Cevedale Group

Croda da CampoCima BagniCampanili Pop�raCima Pop�raMonte GiralbaNeunerSextener RotwandElferZw�lferEinserAntelaoPaternkofelGro�e ZinneSchusterplatteDreischusterspitzeSorapisPelmoSchwabenalpenkopfSchwalbenkofelPiz PopenaMonte CristalloHaunoldHochebenkofelCivettaTofana di MezzoTofana di DentroStrudelk�pfeD�rrensteinHohe GaisslGsellknotenMarmoladaGran VernelKleine GaisslCunturinesLa VarellaPiz Bo�SeekofelC. PisciaduNeunerZehnerLangkofelS. CiampacPuezspitzenZwischenkofelGeislergruppeHochalpenkopfMaurerkopfDreifingerspitzePeitlerkofelAferer GeisselnKronplatzPloseOrtler/Cevedale Group

Summit View Hochgrabe: the complete Dolomites. Hide / German / Italian Annotations

* for this section thanks to Gangolf!

Higher mountains

MOUNTAIN	ALTITUDE	GROUP	NEAR VILLAGE	MAP
Marmolada � Punta Penia	3343	Marmolada	Canazei - Malga Ciapela	TABACCO 06
Monte Antelao	3264	Antelao	San Vito di Cadore	TABACCO 17
Marmolada � Punta Rocca	3250	Marmolada	Canazei - Malga Ciapela	TABACCO 06
Tofana di mezzo	3244	Tofane (Cortina)	Cortina d'Ampezzo	TABACCO 03
Tofana di dentro	3238	Tofane (Cortina)	Cortina d'Ampezzo	TABACCO 03
Tofana di Rozes	3225	Tofane (Cortina)	Cortina d'Ampezzo	TABACCO 06
Monte Cristallo	3221	Cristallo	Cortina d'Ampezzo	TABACCO 03
Monte Civetta	3218	Civetta	Selva di Cadore	TABACCO 15
Punta del Sorapiss	3205	Sorapiss	Cortina d'Ampezzo	TABACCO 03
Gran Vernel	3210	near Marmolada	Canazei - Malga Ciapela	TABACCO 06
Cima Vezzana	3192	Pale di San Martino	San Martino di Castrozza	TABACCO 022
Cimon de la Pala	3184	Pale di San Martino	San Martino di Castrozza	TABACCO 022
Sassolungo (Langkofel)	3181	Sassolungo Group	Campitello - Corvara	TABACCO 06
Cima Tosa	3173	Brenta Dolomites	Madonna di Campiglio	Kompass 73
Monte Pelmo	3168	Pelmo	Selva di Cadore	TABACCO 15
Piz Boè	3152	Sella Group	Corvara	TABACCO 06
Cima Brenta	3150	Brenta Dolomites	Madonna di Campiglio	Kompass 73
Croda Rossa (Hohe Gaisl)	3146	Croda Rossa	Misurina	TABACCO 10
Punta dei 3 Scarperi (Dreischustersp.)	3145	Sexten Dolomites	Sesto (Sexten)	TABACCO 10
Croda dei Toni (Zwolferkofel)	3094	Sexten Dolomites	Sesto (Sexten)	TABACCO 10
Cima 11 (Elfer)	3092	Sexten Dolomites	Sesto (Sexten)	TABACCO 10
Sasso Vernale	3058	near Marmolada	Canazei - Malga Ciapela	TABACCO 06
Monte Popera (Hochbrunnerschneid)	3015	Sexten Dolomites	Sesto (Sexten)	TABACCO 10
Catinaccio d'Antermoia (Kesselkogel)	3002	Catinaccio	Vigo di Fassa	Kompass 629
Tre Cime di Lavaredo (Drei Zinnen)	2999	Sexten Dolomites	Misurina	TABACCO 10
Sassopiatto (Plattkofel)	2958	Sassolungo Group	Campitello - Corvara	TABACCO 06

Subgroups

Thanks to Vid Pogachnik to understand more about Dolomites subgroups, look the interactive map.

Point on big red numbers to see mountain group names, click on them to get their SummitPost pages!

Getting There

The Dolomites are situated in the north-east Italy, among the italian regions of Trentino-Alto Adige and Veneto. They are reaching easily by car, bus and somewhere also by train from all parts of Italy and from Austria (through the pass of Brennero and Tarvisio). An excellent service to travel inside the region is that one of Dolomiti Bus. By train you can arrive in the Trentino-Alto Adige area by the line Verona-Innsbruck and in Veneto (Cortina-Cadore area) by the line Venezia-Calalzo. For more informations click here. By air, the nearest airport are: Ronchi dei Legionari (East side), Venezia Marco Polo and Milano Malpensa (from her 3 hours by train/bus to Trentino area).

Eastern Dolomites

Cadore Dolomites: Cadore is the eastern Dolomites region. It consists of 22 villages: Pieve, Auronzo, San Vito, Borca, Vodo, Cibiana, Valle, Perarolo, Ospitale, Calalzo, Domegge, Lozzo, Vigo, Lorenzago, Santo Stefano, San Pietro, Sappada, San Nicol� di Comelico, Comelico Superiore, Danta, Zopp�, Selva. Its borders are: North North-Ovest with the province of Bolzano (Val Pusteria) and with Austria, at East South-East with the provinces of Pordenone and Udine (Friuli), at South with the zone of Belluno and at West with Agordo and Zoldo.
About its geography, Cadore consists in all the slab of River Piave from his rise on Peralba. His line of border follow the ridge of the slab like follow:
To East: the mountains that divide Carnia from Cadore, Mont Duranno, Cridola and Terza Grande. To North: from Cima Sappada to Monte Peralba until Monte Croce Comelico pass. The highest and important peaks in this region are Monte Pelmo, Monte Civetta and Monte Antelao. The last one, Monte Antelao, is called "the King of the Dolomites", second for high only than "the Queen of the Dolomites", i.e. Marmolada. An other important group between Cadore and Cortina Dolomites is Marmarole.

Dolomiti di Sesto - Sexten Dolomites: these mountains are situated in Alto Adige, but very near to Veneto and Austria. You can reach Sesto (Sexten) or from Sappada (half an hour through Monte Croce Comelico pass) or from Bressanone (on highway Innsbruck-Verona exit at north of Bolzano and south of Brennero) by local route.
The main mountain of these group are the Tre Cime of Lavaredo (Drei Zinnen) , the symbol of Dolomites, with many difficult climbing routes and a beautiful path that go around (better to do in the early morning!). Other beautiful mountains with a lot of routes to reach the peak is �Monte Paterno� (the path to the peak starts from the path taht go around Tre Cime and has some tunnels created by soldiers during I WW), �Punta dei 3 Scarperi�, and a beautiful place where spend a quiet day is the lake of Braies, with around trees and mountains.

Cortina Dolomites: by train or car from Venice to Calalzo and then by bus or car to Cortina d�Ampezzo. From Bressanone, an highway exit near Brennero (the border between Austria and Italy in the highway Innsbruck-Verona) by a local route.
Cortina d�Ampezzo is a very famous mountain village in the heart of Dolomites. The main mountains of the region are Cristallo, Tofane (reaching also by telpherage) and Sorapiss, hard to reach by climbers. There are a lot of accomodations and two campings in Cortina.
On the Falzarego mountain pass (about 45 minutes from Cortina by car or bus) there are the tunnels created during the first World War by the Austrian and Italian Soldiers, and you can walk inside the mountain around these tunnels with a light to see and some part with a view from the wall of the mountain! You can walk until the refuge lagazuoi, and then go down by telpherage to the pass.

From left: Sas Putia, Odle di Eores, Fanes-group and Tofana di Rozes in the background, Odle-group

Western Dolomites

Sassolungo/Langkofel GROUP - Sella GROUP: many people consider these mountains the Dolomites heart. Anyway, this region has the problem that during the summer (specially since the end of july to the end of August) is very crowded. This group is among important mountain pass reaching by car like Sella and Pordoi. The main villages of the region are Corvara and Canazei, both very nice, with a lot of accomodations and some campings. You can reach these villages from Cortina through Falzarego pass, or from the highway Innsbruck-Verona exit Ora (between Trento and Bolzano) by a local route. From Sella pass you can reach nice peaks like Sassolungo and Sassopiatto (Plattkofel) and to do a nice tour around the mountains and refuges. From Pordoi pass you can reach Piz Bo�, and to do the crossing to Corvara through the Mezd� Valley (look the information about this tour on the Piz Bo� Page).

Marmolada GROUP: the main mountain that gives the name to the group, Marmolada, is the higher of the Dolomites and has two peaks: Punta Rocca, 3100 meters, reaching by telpherage, and Punta Penia, 3343 meters, reaching through easy alpin climbing with passages of I grade (II in case of ice among the rocks). The places where start the routes around the group are Fedaia pass, reaching by car from Corvara, with two refuges and some accomodations and a nice lake (on this pass there is also a museum of the war on the mountains during the I WW) and Malga Ciapela, small village some miles from Fedaia pass with a camping and the telpherage to Punta Rocca. An other mountain near Marmolada very nice is Grand Vernel.

Catinaccio, Latemar, Pale di San Martino GROUPS: Situated in the south-side of Dolomites, between Trentino and Veneto, these groups have a lot of solutions for trekkers and climbers, and you can organize some days among beautiful paths, views and refuges, like ref. Re Alberto , (Catinaccio), Ref. Pedrotti (Pale di San Martino) to climb Cima Vezzana and Cimon della Pala. In an other group, Latemar, there is the nice Ref. Torre di Pisa : if you want to sleep in this refuge during to summer you have to book before to be sure to find some place. You can reach Catinaccio and the beautiful Vajolet Towers, from Vigo di Fassa (Trentino), Latemar from Predazzo (Trentino) and Pale di San Martino from San Martino di Castrozza.

From left: Sella-group, Marmolada, Sassolungo-group, Pale di San Martino

Mountain Conditions

Origin and Morphology

The particular morphologic shape of the Dolomite Mountains is well known. Above a certain altitude the vertical profile prevails over the horizontal one in such a way that the rocks seem to escape gravitational force and soar upwards in gothic style.

The geological history behind this exceptional landscape is rather complex and not isolable from the general geologic events that have involved the whole of the southern alpine area. The development of this upheaval included a great number of fragmentary collapses of rock masses, elevations, hydrologic, oceanographic, climatic, volcanic and biologic variations.

All this can be found in the physical evidence of the strata that constitute an indisputable record of the succession of the events in chronological order, the oldest at the bottom and the more recent at the top. This succession is, however, far from being a regular spatial order, indeed its complexity is divided among areas of limited settlement and often presents considerable discordance with the surrounding zones.

In an attempt to define an average situation of the stratigraphic conditions, it may be observed that the deep and rather uniform base, on which all the rest is placed, consists of metamorphic rocks, or crystalline schists belonging to the remotest formation derived from pre-existing lithic masses, the appearance of which has been cancelled by successive episodes of compression due to the high pressure and temperatures in the very deep layers.

Above this base extends a huge plate of porphyritic rock (ignimbrite, tuff and lava) deposited in consequence of a vast and long period of volcanic activity during the Permian (about 250 million years ago). The present outcrops of this constitute the so-called "porphyritic plate of Bolzano", the largest porphyry area in the Alps and Europe, which extends on the left of the Valle dell'Adige from Merano to Pergine and continues east to Agordo, forming a huge plateau of about 1500 square kilometres.

Immediately above this porphyritic plate, there are the arenaceous deposits with cemented fluvial sands that contribute to the deltic strands, intercalated with calcareous deposits derived from the increasing extension of the ancient sea called Thetis which existed for over 180 million years, that is until 40-50 million years ago. On the bottom of this sea, in diverse conditions of depth, saltiness and temperature and mostly variant in time and intercalated by new episodes of volcanism, the rocks that constitute the Dolomites today were gradually formed.

The dolomite, chemically consisting of double carbonate of calcium and magnesium, are carbonate rocks composed of at least 50 to 90 per cent of dolomite material which has replaced the calcium carbonate by a process of exchange called diagenesis, subsequent to the formation The present morphology of the Dolomites, which arouses so much interest, is characterized by the spectacularity of their spires, peaks and towers alternated with ledges, summital plateaus, etc..

These forms are ascribed to the heavy compact and rather rigid strata supported by other less resistant ones, marl and sandstone, that at times constitute extensive intercalations. The steepness of the rock walls is due to the fact that the marls are less resistant to erosion so they are more easily removed by erosive action, causing undermining and periferical collapses, as can be seen by the vast screes at the bottom of the rock walls.

The considerations made for the Western Dolomites (Sella Range, Sassolungo, Catinaccio, Sciliar, Latemar, Siusi, calcareous Marmolada Range, Pale di San Martino) cannot readily be applied to the Brenta Dolomites, neither from a geological point of view nor a morphological one.

The Brenta Group, compared with the Dolomites of the Ladin and Ampezzano Valleys which are generally in a state of advanced collapse, is still rich in powerful rock movements, due to the lack of interpositions of softer layers in them which lead to a morphological situation that accelerates disintegration due to senescence. In this sense their rigorous alpine appearance is increased and at the same time they are less approachable by man.

Lastly, it should be mentioned that in more recent times, that is starting about one million years ago, the Quaternary glacial period began which covered our territory with ice at least four times.

The action of the glacial flows, variously divided within the valleys at both a low and high altitude, gave the finishing touch to the alpine morphology, rejuvenating the landscape and, at the same time, increasing the tendency of the slopes to collapse.

In conclusion four structural elements, with all their reciprocal prevalences and interferences, of the landscape may be observed in the dolomite morphology:

1. the tendency of the rocks to collapse at high altitudes privileging the vertical line rather than the horizontal one
2. intercalation of the ledges creating vast balconies which interrupt the rock walls at rather uniform altitudes
3. the presence of huge detrital mantles that surround and bury the base of the rock elevations
4. the glacial modelling that can be seen especially where the valleys widen, accentuating the verticality of the flanking rock walls.

De Dolomieu should also be remembered because, apart from having given his name to the Dolomites, he anticipated with foresight, in 1798, the importance of the modern concept of folds and compressions in alpine tectonics. As he pointed out in a report on one of his last journeys to the Alps:

"...I have collected many observations on the deposits, accumulations and fills, on the superposition and its "deplacement"; very important phenomena for the physical history of our globe that have not been given enough consideration whereas they may provide the solution to the more essential geological problems and lead to quite opposite results to most of the accepted theories ...God knows whether I will be able to carry out all the research I have in mind during my lifetime. I will recommend the scientists to continue where I have left off".

External Links

Dolomiti SuperSki
For Skiing in the hearth of Dolomites
Dolomiti Homepage
To choose your accomodations around Dolomites
Eastern Dolomites
All about this Dolomites Area
Belluno Dolomites National Park
All about this beautiful park!

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