Brenta Dolomites

The Brenta group stands apart from the rest of the Dolomites, west of the Adige, and is built of the same pale limestone into towers, pinnacles and narrow ledges. From the late nineteenth century the Società degli Alpinisti Tridentini equipped routes across the walls with fixed cables, ladders and pegs, most famously the Via delle Bocchette, which traverses ledges partway up the faces and is one of the defining via ferrata itineraries in the Alps. Brown bears, reintroduced to the area in a project from 1999, live in the surrounding Adamello-Brenta park. UNESCO included the group in the Dolomites listing in 2009.

What you actually see

• The Bocchette route - ledge traverses equipped with cables and ladders.
• The pinnacle walls - pale limestone towers separated from the main Dolomites.
• The hut network - refuges linked across the group for multi-day routes.
• The bears - a reintroduced population in the surrounding park.

When to go

July to September; snow and ice block the ferrata routes outside that window and huts close. Conditions can change in a day at altitude.

Honest expectations

Via ferrata require a harness, kit and a head for exposure; they are not walks. Huts must be booked. Weather closes routes at short notice.

Nearby

Lake Molveno lies east; Madonna di Campiglio is west.