800m (from Maier Alm)
The route runs along ledges and walking terrain through the Latemar towers, with grassy flanks to the south and stunning views down steep walls on the north. It is not as popular as the routes on Catinaccio (see Via Ferratas of the Italian Dolomites, volume 1, for details of routes in that area), and you will have a good chance of a quieter day out.
This is a good mountain route with a superb panorama of the Dolomites, particularly the Catinaccio peaks immediately to the north of Passo Costalunga.
This route can be attacked from a variety of directions, your choice perhaps best dictated by where you are staying (Obereggen Tourist Information www.eggental.com, email [email protected], tel. 0471.615795, fax 0471. 615848; APT Val di Fiemme Cavalese from www.aptfiemme.tn.it, email [email protected], tel. 0462. 241111, fax 0462.241199).
From the west (Bolzano) or north (Passo Costalungo) you can not only drive to Obereggen, but take a chairlift (from the end of June to the end of September) up to Oberholz (2090m). It is also possible to drive up to Maier Alm, 2037m (which you will see on maps with a variety of different spellings), from the Obereggen side on a road which is surfaced, except for the final approach up to Maier Alm.
From the southern side you can drive from Cavalese up to Maier Alm via Pampeago and Passo Pampeago, though the road is unsurfaced for the 2½km from Pampeago to the pass. Another approach from the south is to use the lift system from Predazzo (only operates from the end of June to the end of September) to Passo Feudo and walk in to Rifugi Torre di Pisa, 2671m, from there. The rifugio is in a wonderfully panoramic position.
View of the Torri Di Latemar range from the south
The route is described here as a circuit from Maier Alm (large car park), climbing to Rif. Torre di Pisa. From there you descend into a vast scree-filled bowl (Conca Valsorda) and then to the start of the ferrata at Forcella dei Campanili. The ferrata is easy technically, and except for part of the final descent to Forcella Grande would only be Grade 1 not Grade 2. However, the route does have a lot of exposure, and a good head for heights and surefootedness are necessary on a number of unprotected sections on steep ground. Also, whichever approach you make, it is quite a long day requiring a good level of fitness – there is no slack in the timings. Try to do the route when the weather is stable and clear, as the views throughout the route make this a very satisfying mountain day out.
Follow the track up behind Maier Alm leading up a ski piste, and in 15 minutes, almost level with the top of a chairlift, there is a boulder field with waymarks for path 22 in both directions. Take the right fork which heads up through the boulders until, in about 10 minutes, you are above the chairlift. Path 22 continues ahead but the approach to Rifugio Torre di Pisa turns left, heading directly up to the steep scree above you. Waymarking at this junction point is not brilliant, though 22TV is painted faintly on a rock, and after about 5 minutes R.Pisa/Lat H is painted on a large rock (note that Rifugio Torre di Pisa is also known as the Latemar Hutte). The next 30 minutes or so are the hardest work of the day, as you climb arduously up the steep scree, gaining about 400m in the process, to arrive at a forcella with a large avalanche fence. From this forcella you can see 516 (the path to Rif. Torre di Pisa) painted in large numbers on a rock ahead. The path from here has been well engineered and in a further 30 minutes you arrive at the rifugio. It is a small, family-run rifugio (sleeps 20), open from the end of June to the beginning of October, tel. 0462.501564.
Path 516/18 climbs up behind the rifugio to a ridge where, on a clear day, fantastic views open up before you including Latemar (today’s target), Piz Boe, Marmolada, Pelmo, Civetta and Pale San Martino. Waymarks are excellent now for the rest of the day, as you descend from the short ridge into a bowl which can hold snow early in the season; this (and other snow crossings mentioned later on) are on easy-angled ground. About 20 minutes from the rifugio you continue straight ahead passing the junction of the path on the left which leads up to Forcella dei Camosci. Path 516/18 continues for a further 20 minutes, with little height gain or loss, across the vast scree and rock bowl until you reach the well-signed junction of paths 511/18 and 516. Path 511 is indicated as Sentiero Attrezzata and Biv. Rigatti 1 hour 20 minutes; this is somewhat optimistic, as the climb up path 511 to Forcella dei Campanili takes about 20 minutes, and then a notice at the start of the ferrata informs you it will take 1½ hours! However the views from Forcella dei Campanili are quite stunning, looking down to Passo Costalunga and across to Roda di Vael and Punta Masare (see Via Ferratas of the Italian Dolomites, volume one). This viewpoint is the first of a number of amazing panoramas to the north.
Follow waymarks up from the route sign to the first cables in about 7 or 8 minutes. About 10 minutes of cabling (quite loosely tensioned and with long gaps between pegs) leads up and along a series of ledges. From the end of the cable, about 5 minutes of walking (in places quite exposed) leads to a spectacular gully of brown eroding rock, where there may be early-season snow. Cables go across the gully and up onto a ledge on the other side. More exposed walking follows, with only one short cable protection, to reach another spectacular gully with large chock-stones in a further 10 minutes. Soon after crossing the gully there is an exposed move around a corner, and 10 minutes further on a large cairn indicates the path up to the highest peak of the Latemar group, Torre Diamantidi, 2842m (also known as Torri Di Latemar and Latemarturme). The climb to the Torre Diamantidi summit is optional; it’s about 100m (15 minutes) of additional uphill effort zigzagging up scree slopes and about 10 minutes for the descent.
Offset ladder on descent at east end of BOLZ 1
If you choose to continue without the ascent of Torre Diamantidi, a good path continues ahead, passing the descent-path rejoin-point after only a few minutes. Following a very exposed unprotected down-climb, intermittent cabling leads in 10 minutes to an unusual vertical ladder with offset rungs; this is about 12m long and feels quite strange, with each step of down-climb having your feet at different heights. Some serious rock fall has occurred close to the ladder; it is not a place to hang around. Cross the gully (where the cable is quite high in the air) and climb up to a ledge where there is a view of Biv. M Rigati. Cables lead down from here to Forcella Grande and the bivuoac, 2620m, the ferrata thus taking about 1½ hours to complete. The bivouac is an open shelter with beds for nine people. It is possible to climb Cima Latemar, 2791m (also known as Schenon) from Forcella Grande. It is exposed in places, and ascent and descent would add at least an hour to the route timings for the day.
The return route is on path 18, which traverses back along the steep slopes of Torre Diamantidi around the 2600m contour. It is not well marked from the bivuoac, but follow a zigzag path down heading roughly south-east for a couple of minutes to a clear signpost. Path 18 heads east from this point to Passo Costalunga in 3 hours, and west (the direction for your return) back to Rif. Torre di Pisa in 2 hours. Simply follow the waymarks, with some exposed places, but nothing like those you have encountered on the ferrata, back to the junction of paths 18/516 and 511 below Forcella dei Campanili; this takes 35–40 minutes.
You can retrace the
