All Locations > International > Europe > Italy > Dolomites > Pala Group

Pala di San Martino Climbing

Climbing Area Map This is our best guess at this area's location.
Fix Location

This area is empty. Areas can contain sub-areas or routes, but not both.

Before adding a route, consider if you should first add a sub-area (or several) to this area.

Add Sub-Area · Add Route

Explore this area in 3D

Use onX Backcountry to explore the terrain in 3D, view recent satellite imagery, and more. Now available in onX Backcountry Mobile apps! For more information see this post.

Elevation:	9,797 ft
GPS:	46.26798, 11.86764 Google Map · Climbing Area Map
Page Views:	891 total · 6/month
Shared By:	Rodger Raubach on Nov 21, 2011
Admins:	Tim Wolfe, Shawn Heath Page Updates (admin only)

See Weather Forecast

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.