HISTORIC PATHS
DOLOMITES
ROUTES OF THE FIRST ASCENTS
Following in the footsteps of the pioneers of alpinism on historic routes in the Dolomites
1857
Sir John Ball
MONTE PELMO
Normal route (II)
Monte Pelmo was the first major Dolomite summit ever reached by a human being. Thanks to a long rock ledge (climbing sections up to II-) that now bears his name, Sir John Ball reached the large, bowl-shaped cirque above the great rock barrier. His companion at the time, a chamois hunter he had actually brought along as a local guide, refused to climb along this ledge. In his account, Ball speaks only disparagingly of his companion, who allegedly did everything he could to jeopardise the summit success. And so John Ball, who had set out from the Boite Valley, reached the 3,168-metre summit alone via the Pelmo Glacier, which still existed at the time, and went on to usher in a golden era of ascents of further Dolomite peaks in the years that followed.
1860
Simone de Silvestro
CIVETTA
Traverse (C)
In 1860 the hunter Simone de Silvestro, together with fellow hunters whose names are not known, became the first person to deliberately reach the highest point of the Civetta. They climbed through the south-east flank of the mountain by the route now known as the Tivan route, which has since become the normal route and therefore the easiest ascent to the summit. The starting point for their venture was the village of Val di Zoldo. Besides the normal route, there are now also several beautiful via ferratas that make an ascent of the Civetta possible for many more people, such as the Ferrata degli Alleghesi or the Ferrata Tissi.
1863
Paul Grohmann
ANTELAO
Normal route (II)
When Paul Grohmann heard that a certain Matteo Ossi was said to have reached the summit of the Antelao as early as 1850, he promptly rented him as a guide so that he too could reach this beautifully shaped peak. In his book "Wanderungen in den Dolomiten", published in 1877, he describes this ascent as follows: Matteo Ossi agreed to come along, but at some point fell to brooding, looked for excuses and declared that he had lost his way – in short, he could no longer find the route. But my brave Ampezzo guides found the right way at once. We set foot on the summit of the Antelao at 11.45, and I believe I may say that we stood on a peak no one had ever trodden before.”
1864
Paul Grohmann, Francesco Lacedelli, Angelo Dimai, Santo Siorpaes
TOFANA DI ROZES
Traverse (C)
The first ascent was made on 29 August 1864 by Paul Grohmann with the locals Francesco Lacedelli, Angelo Dimai and Santo Siorpaes. The year before, Grohmann and Lacedelli had already made the first ascent of the Tofana di Mezzo. As on that climb, they chose the route from the Forcella Fontananegra via the north-east flank, today's normal route. Grohmann's description of the summit at the time: „I am no friend of listing countless peaks to describe a view, and I shall refrain from doing so here too, yet one detail of the panorama remains unforgettable to me: the fearsome crags of the two other Tofana summits close by, and between them, further back, the Gaisl peeps out, the Croda Rossa of the Ampezzo people; only its uppermost part, but that blood-red, a strange contrast to the grey limestone walls of the Tofana!“
1864
Paul Grohmann, Francesco Lacedelli, Angelo Dimai
PUNTA SORAPIS
Southeast flank (III)
After two earlier attempts had to be abandoned because of the weather, Paul Grohmann, together with Francesco Lacedelli and Angelo Dimai, made the first ascent of Punta Sorapis. They reached the summit on 16 September 1864 from the west via the Vallon del Banco and the Fopa di Matiak, crawling through a slanting crack on the west flank of the Fopa di Matia. They then descended via what is today the usual normal route, abseiling for the first time ever in the Dolomites. According to legend, on reaching the summit and taking in the breathtaking view of the surrounding Ampezzo Dolomites, Paul Grohmann appointed Francesco Lacedelli the first mountain guide of the area.
1864
Paul Grohmann, Angelo Dimai, Fulgenzio Dimai
MARMOLADA
Normal route (A)
As early as 1802, three priests (Don Giovanni Costadedòi, Don Giuseppe Terza, Don Tommaso Pezzei), a surgeon (Hauser) and an episcopal judge (Peristi) are said to have reached the summit ridge near Punta di Rocca from Passo Fedaia. Another group followed in 1852. However, neither reached the highest point. John Ball's alleged ascent in 1860 was also disproved by Paul Grohmann, who verifiably reached the highest point of Punta Rocca in 1862. Finally, on 28 September 1864, together with Angelo and Fulgenzio Dimai, he made the first ascent of Punta Penia, 35 metres higher, and thus of the highest point of the Queen of the Dolomites.
1865
Paul Grohmann, Angelo Dimai, Santo Siorpaes
MONTE CRISTALLO
Normal route (II)
There is not much to be found about the first ascent of Monte Cristallo. What has been passed down, however, is that Paul Grohmann, together with Angelo Dimai and Santo Siorpaes, were the first to reach the summit on 14 September 1865. I have not been able to find out which route they chose to climb the highest summit of the Cristallo group. Most likely, though, it was roughly along today's normal route on the southeast face and over the south ridge, which has a maximum climbing difficulty of UIAA grade II.
1865
Giuseppe Loss
CIMA TOSA
Normal route (II+) - east flank
Cima Tosa was the first major summit ever climbed in the Brenta. On 20 July 1865, Giuseppe Loss from the village of Primiero in Trentino reached the summit with five other unknown companions. They approached the mountain from Val d'Ambiez and climbed via Malga Prato, Forcolotta di Noghera, Pozza Tramontana and the Vedretta della Tosa to the foot of Cima Tosa. They then climbed up the same chimney that is still considered the easiest ascent of what is (now) the second-highest summit in the Brenta Dolomites. At the time it was still the highest point in the Brenta (then 3,173 m). Since its ice cap melted, Cima Brenta is now slightly higher.
1869
Paul Grohmann, Franz Innerkofler, Peter Salcher
GROSSE ZINNE
Normal route (III+)
1869 was to be Paul Grohmann's year. Having already made the first ascents of the Langkofel and the Dreischusterspitze that year, he reached his highlight on 21 August with the Große Zinne. Franz Innerkofler, who had scouted the mountain beforehand, led the group to the summit in under 3 hours via the normal route, which is still the most frequently climbed today. Grohmann had previously walked around the Drei Zinnen, and on seeing the north face he remarked: "Here on these precipices, on these truly vertical walls, surely only a bird could get up".
1869
Paul Grohmann
LANGKOFEL
Normal route (III)
On 13 August 1869, the Viennese mountaineer Paul Grohmann succeeded in finding a route to the summit of the Langkofel. His line, which leads from the Cunfinböden into the Langkofel cirque and from there via a gully exposed to rockfall into the Amphitheatre, is no longer climbed in its lower section today. The upper part of the route, from the Amphitheatre up to the summit, still roughly follows the original line. In the lower section, the climb goes via the Fassaner Band, past the glacier and the ice gully.
1869
Paul Grohmann, Franz Innerkofler, Peter Salcher
DREISCHUSTERSPITZE
Normal route (III)
In the same year as the first ascent of the Langkofel, about a month earlier, on 18 July 1869, Paul Grohmann and the guides Franz Innerkofler and Peter Salcher succeeded in "conquering" the Dreischusterspitze. The three-man rope team bivouacked about 1 1/2 hours above Sexten and then reached the summit in around 5 hours. A remarkable achievement, because the route still follows in their footsteps today, and you have to put in a real effort not to take longer than the pioneers did more than 100 years ago.
1870
Johann Baptist Vinatzer
FURCHETTA
Normal route (III-)
The first ascent was made as early as 1870, when the Val Gardena hunter Johann Baptist Vinatzer climbed solo to the summit of the Große Furchetta. Vinatzer later also became a mountain guide. The official first ascent, however, was not made until 10 years later, by Johann Santner on 3 September 1880. Also notorious are the attempts on the Furchetta north face, where the two top climbers of the time, Hans Dülfer and Luis Trenker, initially failed in 1914. It was not until 1925 that Emil Solleder and Fritz Wiesner made the first ascent of this face.
1870
Edward Whitwell, Christian Lauener and Santo Siorpaes
PIZ POPENA
South Ridge (IV)
On 16 June 1870, the Englishman Edward R. Whitewell, together with the Swiss Christian Lauener and the local mountain guide Santo Siorpaes, made the first ascent of this peak. At the time, the summit of Piz Popena was even considered the highest point of the Cristallo massif. The ascent via the south ridge (Via Inglese) was made on 4 August by the Britons S. Phillimore and A. G. S. Raynor with the three guides Antonio Dimai, Michael Innerkofler Jr. and Zaccaria Pompanin.
1870
Edward Whitwell, Christian Lauener and Santo Siorpaes
HOHE GAISL
Innerkofler (IV)
As early as 1865, Paul Grohmann, together with Angelo Pizzo and Fulgentio Dimai, narrowly missed the summit via the north-west route. Although technically the easiest line, it runs over a steep, crumbling basin of clay rock and reddish stone and is no longer climbed today. On 20 June 1870, Whitewell and the mountain guides Siorpaes and Laneuer succeeded in reaching the main summit. Today the route opened by Michl Innerkofler through the east face in 1882 together with J. von Schlögel Ehrenkreuz is considered the normal route.
1870
Edward Whitwell, Christian Lauener and Santo Siorpaes
CIMON DELLA PALA
Normal route (III+)
As early as 1869, Paul Grohmann made a first attempt to climb the Cimon della Pala via the east flank. The second attempt, in 1870 by the Englishmen E. R. Whitwell and F. F. Tuckett, failed as well. Both failed at the same spot – where today a steel cable makes the ascent easier. Whitwell tried again that same year, this time together with Christian Lauener and Santo Siorpaes. That day they climbed over several subsidiary summits before they were finally able to locate the highest point and secure the first ascent of the Cimon della Pala.
1874
Johann Innerkofler, Michel Innerkofler
ZWÖLFERKOFEL
Normal route (IV)
The first ascent of the Zwölferkofel was made by the local mountain guides Johann and Michel Innerkofler on 28 September 1874 via the so-called ice gully between the Mittlerer and Hoher Zwölfer. Today's normal route no longer follows in their footsteps. The ice gully has largely melted away and is now mostly just an unpleasant scree slope. Today the route climbs the rock to the left of the gully – a UIAA grade III route first climbed by Johann and Michel Innerkofler with J. Reichl and M. Simon on 6 September 1887.
1874
Johann Grill, G. Hofmann, N. Winhart
TRIBULAUN
Normal route (III)
The first attempts to climb it, made by English mountaineers with the help of Swiss guides, are documented from 1869. However, all of them failed, and the Pflerscher Tribulaun was declared unclimbable. On 21 September 1872, however, Heinrich Waltzenbauer and his guide G. Pittracher reached the east summit. Finally, in 1874, Johann Grill and the Munich tourists G. Hofmann and N. Winhart succeeded in climbing the main summit from Gschnitz via today’s normal route, with Grill and Hofmann climbing barefoot. A year later the mountain was climbed from Pflersch for the first time, opening up what is still the most popular ascent today.
1874
Charles Comyns Tucker, T. H. Carson, Francois Devouassoud
ROSENGARTENSPITZE
Normal route (III+)
Records differ as to the exact date of the first ascent of the Rosengartenspitze. Officially it took place on 31 August 1874, though other sources also mention 1873. What is certain, however, is that it was the Englishmen Tucker and Carson together with their mountain guide Devouassoud. They climbed via the normal route still used today, from the "Gartl" across the west flank and then along the north ridge to the summit. Alpine history was made twice more on the Rosengartenspitze: first by Antonio Dimai and Luigi Rizzi in 1896 with their route through the 600-metre east face, and then by Paula Wiesinger and Hans Steger in 1929 with their direct route, starting from the lowest point of the east face and following the direct fall line of the summit. Their route ("Steger") is today one of the greatest classics in the Dolomites.
1875
Beacheroff, Tucker, Della Santa, Devouassoud
SASS MAOR
Normal route (IV)
On 4 September 1875, a party of four – the English mountaineers H. A. Beachcroft and Charles Comyns Tucker together with Giovanni Battista Della Santa and François Devouassoud – became the first to reach the summit of Sass Maor. The first ascent went up the NW side into the notch between Sass Maor and Cima della Madonna and, in its upper section, followed the south side of this imposing rock formation to the highest point. Even today, this first ascensionists' route (at grade IV, no less) is the easiest "normal route" up one of the most impressive and important summits of the Pala group and the entire Dolomites.
1879
Michel Innerkofler, Georg Ploner
WESTLICHE ZINNE
Normal route (III+)
Because of its lower height, the Western Zinne was considered a less desirable objective than its bigger neighbour. As a result, it was not until 10 years after the first ascent of the Grosse Zinne that the two alpinists Luigi Orsolina and Gustav Gröger made an attempt. In August 1879 they got as far as a rock pinnacle on the south flank, which in the fog they mistook for the summit. A few days later, on 21 August of the same year, Michel Innerkofler, a cousin of Franz Innerkofler, and Georg Ploner, innkeeper in Schluderbach, reached the highest point and cleared up the error. Today the Western Zinne is one of the truly great Dolomite classics.
1879
Loránd Eötvös, Michel Innerkofler, F. Happacher
EINSERKOFEL
Normal route (III-)
Little is known about the first ascent of the Einserkofel. Only that the two mountain guides Michael Innerkofler and Franz Happacher, together with Loránd Eötvös, reached the summit via the south flank on 26 July 1879. Their route is still regarded today as the normal route and the easiest ascent of this adventurous, bold peak of the Sexten Sundial. But the north face of the Einserkofel, too, has repeatedly seen alpine history written with daring routes.
1881
Michel Innerkofler, Hans Innerkofler
KLEINE ZINNE
Normal route (IV)
Because of its steep faces, the Kleine Zinne was long considered unclimbable. Early attempts on the north face by Dimai and Ißler in 1878 and by Siorpaes and Grünwald in 1881 failed. On 25 July 1881, the guides Michel and Hans Innerkofler were supposed to lead the Viennese Josef von Schlögel Ehrenburg up the Kleine Zinne, but they left him behind at the start of the climb and reached the summit via the south-west side. They needed just an hour and a half to climb this alpine classic. Today, guidebooks allow two to three hours. Their ascent was considered the hardest climb up to that time and was a milestone in the development of climbing.
1899
Otto Ampferer, Wilhelm Hammer, Karl Berger
FIRST SELLA TOWER
Normal route (III)
You might think that these little towers, just a few among the seemingly endless spires and pinnacles of the mighty Sella massif, would hardly stand out – yet they are the most striking and popular climbing objectives in the entire massif. Superb rock quality, easy access thanks to a short approach from the Sella Pass, a sunny aspect that allows climbing on these south faces even in winter, and the stunning setting are just some of the reasons why. A rewarding objective for anyone visiting the Dolomites. The normal route on the First Sella Tower is often combined with the Second Sella Tower. The difficulties are similarly moderate, the climbing sections entertaining and the terrain varied.
