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List of forums / Italy / Dolomites / Monte Aiarnola - 2456 m

Monte Aiarnola - 2456 m

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bagi14. 09. 2025 10:24:56
Monte Aiarnola belongs to the Sexten Dolomites and is a very special mountain. Special because it only shows its wild, high-alpine character in the summit part. Up to there the ascent on it is a gentle walk, at least from where we two started. This is the San Antonio pass, where you can park for free and where there are no usual crowds of Dolomite hikers nasmeh.

First we walked along the gravel road past numerous pastures with uniform building architecture, then turned onto an equally gentle trail that rises only slowly in wide zigzags. Even higher above the forest line it doesn't go up very fast, but only up to the point when a steep and wide gully opens up. There we shifted to a lower gear and surprisingly soon found ourselves in front of a large cross zmeden.

Nothing was clear to us. For the summit it was too early, but the prominent cross convinced us otherwise. We didn't let ourselves be fooled and called the digital map for help. I almost forgot to close my mouth from surprise. The real summit was still very, very far. We had no choice but to tackle the narrow path that led towards it. From here on it's complete high mountains. There are markers, no protections. Not even in the scree gully, where we switched caution to the highest level and harnessed all experience. When we finally clambered onto some kind of ridge … another surprise. Monte Aiarnola was still far away and no better path led to it. Finally we clambered to the summit, but we abandoned the idea of a circular route with continuation to the Forcella Valdarin saddle. As far as I could see it leads a narrow and exposed path without protections and that was too much for that day. The fatigue from previous days and the drive home required return along the known access route. It wasn't easy, but at least there were no additional surprises velik nasmeh. There followed only the gentle part and after a good six hours we concluded this visit to the Dolomites. More in the photo-story …

Coordinates of the starting point (Passo Sant'Antonio): 46.5727039N, 12.4809100E
Monte Aiarnola - 2456 m We park at the pass Passo Sant'Antonio1
Monte Aiarnola - 2456 m Right by the main road there are numerous signposts2
Monte Aiarnola - 2456 m Autumn moisture has taken care of enormous boletus mushrooms :)3
Monte Aiarnola - 2456 m We walk along a pleasant gravel road past the pastures above Auronzo4
Monte Aiarnola - 2456 m Soon it becomes a cart track, where some buildings are already more abandoned5
Monte Aiarnola - 2456 m Further on, the path becomes a proper mountain trail, but still very gentle.6
Monte Aiarnola - 2456 m Marking of our path.7
Monte Aiarnola - 2456 m Wet grass provides a thorough shoe washing.8
Monte Aiarnola - 2456 m Final branch-off to Monte Aiarnola.9
Monte Aiarnola - 2456 m Slowly rising above the valley fog.10
Monte Aiarnola - 2456 m View towards the giants…11
Monte Aiarnola - 2456 m Right on the edge of the views. The fogs rise faster than us :)12
Monte Aiarnola - 2456 m For a short time our goal even appears.13
Monte Aiarnola - 2456 m Unexpected junction. The path to Auronzo is not visible, all overgrown.14
Monte Aiarnola - 2456 m Here dawdling ends. A steep gully opens before us.15
Monte Aiarnola - 2456 m One path leads up there too, but unmarked and poorly trodden.16
Monte Aiarnola - 2456 m Surprise. At the top of the gully a prominent cross awaits us. Surely not the summit, or what???17
Monte Aiarnola - 2456 m From here true wilderness reveals itself. Map check shows we are still far from Monte Aiarnola.18
Monte Aiarnola - 2456 m Still quite some additional ascent awaits us.19
Monte Aiarnola - 2456 m Occasionally the clearly visible trail veers into dubious slopes.20
Monte Aiarnola - 2456 m Loose scree gully without reliable footholds or handholds.21
Monte Aiarnola - 2456 m Somehow we scramble over the toughest parts and continue…22
Monte Aiarnola - 2456 m Helloo … only there is the main summit???23
Monte Aiarnola - 2456 m It's getting steadily closer, but still several ups and downs to it.24
Monte Aiarnola - 2456 m At the top we catch our breath and take a break.25
Monte Aiarnola - 2456 m Continuing towards the saddle Forcella Valdarin does not inspire confidence, so we turn back26
Monte Aiarnola - 2456 m We know the most difficult part, but experience is required here27
Monte Aiarnola - 2456 m Final descent from the debris chute28
Monte Aiarnola - 2456 m View back to the wild world of all sorts of Crod29
Monte Aiarnola - 2456 m Far right in the middle of the photo is that first cross that we encountered30
Monte Aiarnola - 2456 m This is how it looks from the descent perspective31
Monte Aiarnola - 2456 m Follows a descent down the wide, also partly collapsed gully …32
Monte Aiarnola - 2456 m And we are already at the path junction33
Monte Aiarnola - 2456 m We return again past the pastures which are all mowed and arranged in sequence34
Monte Aiarnola - 2456 m Sign for Passo Sant'Antonio35
Monte Aiarnola - 2456 m Conclusion36
Monte Aiarnola - 2456 m This time it added up to 12 km and 1100 m elevation gain37
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