The stories of those who love the Dolomites

5 stories to describe the “Pale Mountains”

The Dolomites have a soul. You realise this when you see the unique outline of their peaks, you feel it when you touch a dolomite rock with the palms of your hands and when you listen to the stories of people who have chosen to live in these mountains.

Mountain dairy herdsmen, sports enthusiasts, mountain hut wardens, Alpine guides: Men and women who are very different from one another, each with their own story to tell, which always has the same protagonist: the Dolomites. Inimitable mountains, with a thousand faces and one huge soul, which is in all those who love them. Like Marta, Adam, Danilo and Carlo. Here are their stories!

When I grow up, Marta

What do you want to do when you grow up? Boys often say, “a football player”, while girls say, “a singer”. Not Marta. When she grows up, Marta wants to be a mountain dairy herdswoman because she wants to stay close to the Dolomites. This is her story.

Adam, the skilled climber

Pushing beyond one’s physical limits, picking oneself up after a defeat and physical training. These are the secrets of a “skilled” climber. To these though we wish to add another factor: love for the mountains. Adam Ondra, one of the most renowned climbers ever, tells us about this.

My reward, Rinaldo

Managing a mountain hut is not easy because you must take into account so many things and it is not always easy to have everything you need, when you are high up in the mountains. That’s why you need to have a real passion for such a job, just like Rinaldo, the warden of the Peller mountain hut.

The “recycler”, Danilo

Sometimes History, with a capital “H”, mingles with our childhood memories, like those of Danilo. As a child, he would climb up the mountains to retrieve the metal left there by the Austrian soldiers, like a pirate hunting for treasures.

There’s strength in numbers, Carlo, the Benini Trail

Sometimes, when you go mountain climbing, you ask yourself, “How on earth did they manage to build the trail up here?”. Carlo, who at the end of the Sixties created a route in the Brenta Dolomites, with the help of a lot of people, will tell you how it was built. Because there’s strength in numbers!

Published on 06/06/2023