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Etymology

The Dolomites, also known as the "Pale Mountains", take their name from the carbonate rock dolomite. This was named after the 18th-century French mineralogist Déodat Gratet de Dolomieu (1750–1801), who was the first to describe the mineral.⁶

History

See also: White War § The Dolomites sector

For millennia, hunters and gatherers had advanced into the highest rocky regions and had probably also climbed some peaks. There is evidence that the Jesuit priest Franz von Wulfen from Klagenfurt climbed the Lungkofel and the Dürrenstein in the 1790s. In 1857 Irishman John Ball was the first known person to climb Monte Pelmo. Paul Grohmann later climbed numerous peaks such as the Antelao, Marmolada, Tofana, Monte Cristallo and the Boè. Around 1860 the Agordin mountaineer Simone de Silvestro was the first person to stand on the Civetta. Michael Innerkofler was one of the climbers of the Tre Cime di Lavaredo. Later very important local mountaineers, known for many first ascents, were Angelo Dibona and Giovanni Piaz.⁷

During the First World War, the front line between the Italian and Austro-Hungarian Army ran through the Dolomites, where both sides used mines extensively. Open-air war museums are at Cinque Torri (Five Towers), Monte Piana and Mount Lagazuoi. Many people visit the Dolomites to climb the vie ferrate, protected paths through the rock walls that were created during the war.

A number of long-distance footpaths traverse the Dolomites. They are called alte vie (German: Dolomiten Höhenwege – high paths), and are numbered 1 to 10. The trails take about a week to walk, and are served by numerous rifugi (huts). The first and the most renowned is the Alta Via 1. Radiocarbon dating has been used in the Alta Badia region to demonstrate a connection between landslide activity and climate change.⁸

Geography

The region is commonly divided into the Western and Eastern Dolomites, separated by a line following the Val Badia–Campolongo Pass–Cordevole Valley (Agordino) axis.

Current classification

The Dolomites may be divided into the following ranges:

• Sella
• Marmolada
• Tofane
• Langkofel Group
• Brenta Group
• Geisler Group
• Peitlerkofel Group
• Puez Group
• Fanes Group
• Schlern Group
• Rosengarten
• Latemar
• Pala
• Lüsen Mountains
• Civetta
• Pelmo
• Marmarole
• Cadini Group
• Cristallo Group
• Sorapiss
• Antelao
• Bosconero
• Vette Feltrine
• Schiara
• Prags Dolomites
• Sexten Dolomites
• Friulian Dolomites

Tourism and sports

The Dolomites are renowned for skiing in the winter months and mountain climbing, hiking, cycling and BASE jumping, as well as paragliding and hang gliding in summer and late spring/early autumn.⁹¹⁰ Free climbing has been a tradition in the Dolomites since 1887, when 17-year-old Georg Winkler soloed the first ascent of the pinnacle of the Vajolet Towers.¹¹ The main centres include: Rocca Pietore alongside the Marmolada Glacier, which lies on the border of Trentino and Veneto, the small towns of Alleghe, Falcade, Auronzo, Cortina d'Ampezzo and the villages of Arabba, Urtijëi and San Martino di Castrozza, as well as the whole of the Fassa, Gardena and Badia valleys.¹²

The Maratona dles Dolomites, an annual single-day road bicycle race covering seven mountain passes of the Dolomites, occurs in the first week of July.

Other characteristic places are:

• Mount Pasubio and Strada delle 52 Gallerie (a military mule road built during World War I with 52 tunnels)
• Altopiano di Asiago and Calà del Sasso, with 4,444 steps, the world's longest staircase open to the public.

Major peaks

Major passes

Major parks

See also

• Alta Via 1
• Belluno
• Brenta group
• Dolomiti Bellunesi National Park
• Golden age of alpinism
• Italian front (World War I)
• Silver age of alpinism
• Strada delle 52 Gallerie
• Via ferrata
• White Friday (1916)
• White War

Bibliography

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Coolidge, William Augustus Brevoort (1911). "Dolomites, The". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 394.
• Provincia di Belluno, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano-Alto Adige Autonome Provinz Bozen-Südtirol, Provincia di Pordenone, Provincia Autonoma di Trento, Provincia di Udine, Regione Autonoma Friuli-Venezia Giulia, 2008. Nomination of the Dolomites for inscription on the World Natural Heritage List UNESCO. Nomination Document. 363 pp. https://web.archive.org/web/20131225070444/http://fondazionedolomitiunesco.org/documentazione-2/01_DOLOMITES_nomination_document_jan2008_1236608233_1294933181.pdf
• Bainbridge, William (2020). Topographic Memory and Victorian Travellers in the Dolomite Mountains. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. ISBN 978-94-6298-761-6.
• "HD Pictures of the main areas of the Dolomites". Bruno Mandolesi.
• "360 degree panorama Dolomites". SiMedia Srl. Archived from the original on 26 January 2011. Retrieved 14 April 2010.
• Roger. "Walks and Via Ferrata in the Dolomites". CommunityWalk.com. Archived from the original on 8 January 2018. Retrieved 14 April 2010.
• "Strada delle 52 Gallerie". Eclectica.
• "Monte Piana in the Dolomites". Eclectica. August 21, 2006.
• "Via Ferrata Lagazuoi Tunnels". Eclectica. August 9, 2006.
• "Up to the Turquoise Lake". Eclectica. August 1, 2006.

External links

• Franco Grisa Timelapse
• North of Italy in 4K - Bashir Abu Shakra
• Dolomites on Hike.uno
• Italian official cartography (Istituto Geografico Militare - IGM); on-line version: www.pcn.minambiente.it
• Report on the via ferrata Bocchette di Brenta
• Information of the Dolomites

References

1. Ladin: Dolomites; German: Dolomiten [doloˈmiːtn̩] ⓘ ("Dolomiten" in Langenscheidt German-English Dictionary); Venetian: Dołomiti [doɰoˈmiti]: Friulian: Dolomitis /wiki/Ladin_language ↩

2. "Dolomiti, le montagne rosa". italia.it (in Italian). Archived from the original on 2021-11-29. Retrieved 2020-07-02. https://web.archive.org/web/20211129222827/http://www.italia.it/it/idee-di-viaggio/siti-unesco/dolomiti-le-montagne-rosa.html ↩

3. "The Dolomites UNESCO World Heritage Site". Dolomites UNESCO World Heritage (in English, German, and Italian). Archived from the original on 4 February 2024. Retrieved 4 May 2024. https://www.dolomitiunesco.info/en/the-dolomites-unesco-world-heritage-site ↩

4. "The Dolomites". UNESCO (in English, French, Arabic, Spanish, Japanese, and Dutch). Archived from the original on 25 April 2024. Retrieved 4 May 2024. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1237/ ↩

5. "Adamello-Brenta UNESCO Global Geopark". Retrieved 17 January 2023. https://en.unesco.org/global-geoparks/adamello-brenta ↩

6. Saussure le fils, M. de (1792): "Analyse de la dolomite". Journal de Physique, vol. 40, pp. 161–173. ↩

7. Die Besteigung der Berge - Die Dolomitgipfel werden erobert (German: The ascent of the mountains - the dolomite peaks are conquered) https://www.dolomythos.com/de/lexikon/besteigung-berge.asp ↩

8. Borgatti, Lisa; Soldati, Mauro (2010-08-01). "Landslides as a geomorphological proxy for climate change: A record from the Dolomites (northern Italy)". Geomorphology. Landslide geomorphology in a changing environment. 120 (1–2): 56–64. Bibcode:2010Geomo.120...56B. doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2009.09.015. /wiki/Bibcode_(identifier) ↩

9. Draper, Robert (2015-08-16). "In Italy, Hiking and Haute Cuisine in the Dolomites - The New York Times". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 26 March 2024. Retrieved 4 May 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/travel/italy-dolomites-hiking-trekking-camping.html ↩

10. Williams, Ingrid K. (2018-08-30). "36 Hours in the Dolomites". The New York Times. Retrieved 2020-04-18. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/30/travel/what-to-do-in-the-dolomites.html ↩

11. Huber, Alex. "The Perfect Perfume". Rock and Ice Magazine. Archived from the original on 2008-02-15. https://web.archive.org/web/20080215155815/http://www.rockandice.com/inthemag.php?id=15&type=news ↩

12. Koch, Amy Tara (25 November 2019). "Hut Skiing in the Dolomites: Storybook Scenery and Grappa Included - The New York Times". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2 April 2024. Retrieved 4 May 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/25/travel/ski-safari-dolomites-italian-alps-rifugios.html ↩