Pala di San Martino  Photos:  Recent | Best | Popular Elevation:  9,797' Page Views:  47. Good page?    Administrator:  Tom Erickson Submitted By:  Rodger Raubach on Nov 21, 2011 Make this area a Favorite What's New  Printer View Add Area  Add Route  Add Photo  Add Comment  Add Event  Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun 73° | 54° 72° | 52° 64° | 43° 61° | 45° 61° | 48°

Pala di San Martino from Cima della Madonna.

Description 

The Pala di San Martino is one of the dominant features of the Pala Group, rising to the lofty height of 2987 meters (9,797 feet). In addition to being one of the higher summits of the Dolomites, it has a certain majesty due to the massive nature of the mountain. Weather and clouds can play a major role on this big monolith, and descent in low visibility conditions is inadvisable.

A very famous and popular route was established in 1920 by Guenther Langes and Edwin Merlet, the mighty "Gran Pilaster," comprising 20 pitches of ~5.5 climbing over 600 meters of rock. Combined with the tedious approach and lengthy, somewhat complicated descent, the summit bivouac box sees a lot of use, especially in cloudy, wet conditions.

Getting There 

The valley base of San Martino di Castrozza is the valley terminus of the Rosetta funicular station. The cable car is used to access Rifugio Rosetta at 2,578 meters (8,456 feet). From the Riugio, a marked footpath leads to the base of the Gran Pilastro.