Dolomites

The Dolomites 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] The prior local vernacular name of Monti Pallidi came from the mountains' reddish to purple hues viewed at sunset from said carbonates' reflection of the shone alpenglow.^[7]

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.^[8]

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^{[peacock prose]} 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.^[9]

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.

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.^[10][11] 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.^[12] 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.^[13]

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.

• 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