The history of mountaineering in Cortina and the Dolomites began long before pitons, carabiners, climbing shoes or mountain huts as we know them today. In the second half of the nineteenth century, men such as Paul Grohmann came to these mountains in search of still-unclimbed summits and found in Cortina’s first mountain guides indispensable companions for exploring a region that, from a mountaineering point of view, was still largely unknown.
Within a few decades, everything changed. Once the major summits had been climbed, mountaineers turned their attention to the great walls. Antonio Dimai, Angelo Dibona and the guides of their generation helped transform the Dolomites into one of the great centres of European mountaineering. Reaching the summit was no longer the only thing that mattered: difficulty, the line chosen and the way a wall was climbed were becoming important in their own right.
In the 1930s, a new generation of young Ampezzo climbers inherited that tradition. The Scoiattoli di Cortina were founded in 1939 and, after the war, one of the most intense periods in Cortina mountaineering began: from the great routes on the Tofane to climbs in the Western Alps, culminating in the ascent of K2 in 1954. In the decades that followed, climbing itself would also change profoundly, with the renewed importance of free climbing, the breaking of the sixth-grade barrier, the development of modern crags and, eventually, sport climbing.
I have brought together the history of mountaineering in Cortina in six chapters, following the thread that connects the first explorations of the nineteenth century with the mountaineering and climbing of today.
History of mountaineering in the Dolomites: Grohmann and Cortina’s first mountain guides
The story begins in the second half of the nineteenth century, when many of the great summits of the Dolomites were still unclimbed. Paul Grohmann came to Cortina and found in the first Ampezzo mountain guides the men capable of accompanying him into mountains that, from a mountaineering point of view, were still largely unknown. It was the beginning of Dolomite mountaineering and of the mountain guiding profession in Cortina.
Read chapter 1 →
When the Dolomites discovered the great walls
By the end of the nineteenth century, the great summits had largely been climbed, but a new era was beginning in the Dolomites. With Antonio Dimai, the objective was no longer simply to reach a summit: the walls themselves, their difficulties and the search for new lines were becoming the real focus. The profession of mountain guiding changed along with mountaineering itself.
Read chapter 2 →
Angelo Dibona and the age of modern climbing
With Angelo Dibona, climbing reached a new level of maturity. His routes crossed some of the greatest walls in the Alps and brought free-climbing difficulty close to the limits of the period. Dibona also represented a particular idea of the mountain guide: a great climber, but always a professional responsible for the safety of those who placed their trust in him.
Read chapter 3 →
A new generation of mountaineers
In the 1930s, a different generation emerged in Cortina. They were no longer only mountain guides climbing with their clients, but young men who climbed for the sheer passion of it, searching for new routes and ever greater difficulties. It was in this environment that the Scoiattoli di Cortina were founded in 1939, destined to become leading figures in the history of mountaineering in Cortina.
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The Scoiattoli and the great post-war era
After the war, the Scoiattoli returned to the walls with renewed energy. The Pilastro di Rozes, the Grand Capucin, Cima Scotoni and many other climbs marked an extraordinary period. The culmination came in 1954, when Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni reached the summit of K2.
Read chapter 5 →
From tradition to modern mountaineering
From the 1960s onwards, the way climbers looked at rock changed once again. Aid climbing gradually gave way to the pursuit of free climbing, and passages that only a few years earlier had been overcome with aid ladders and pitons began to be climbed using only the natural holds.
The old sixth-grade barrier was broken, while new techniques, equipment and training methods opened up possibilities that had previously been difficult to imagine. New crags appeared, along with a generation of climbers for whom difficulty became an increasingly important field of exploration. It was a transformation that brought climbing into the modern era.
Read chapter 6 →
A personal connection
This story also has a personal meaning for me. My great-grandfather, Tobia Menardi “Amanaco”, worked as a mountain guide in Cortina from 1885 to 1924 and, many generations later, I chose the same profession. I am a member of the Scoiattoli di Cortina and have had the good fortune to know personally some of the men belonging to the more recent generations whose stories are told in these pages.
That is also why I wanted to bring this history together: not only to trace how mountaineering has changed on the mountains of Cortina, but also to preserve and tell the story of a small part of the world to which I belong.