Pale di San Martino

The Pale group encloses an altopiano, a plateau of bare pale dolomite at around two thousand six hundred to two thousand eight hundred metres, several square kilometres of rock pavement, hollows and boulders with almost no soil or vegetation, ringed by peaks rising above it. The cable car from San Martino reaches the Rosetta at about 2,700 metres, so the plateau can be walked without a climb. The Pala di San Martino and Cimon della Pala are classic climbing objectives on the group's outer walls. Weather on the plateau is exposed and navigation is hard in cloud, since the terrain gives few landmarks.

What you actually see

• The rock plateau - square kilometres of bare dolomite pavement.
• The Rosetta lift - a cable car reaching 2,700 metres directly.
• The Cimon della Pala - a sharp peak sometimes called the Matterhorn of the Dolomites.
• The huts - refuges on and below the plateau edge.

When to go

July to September; the plateau holds snow late and the cable car runs seasonally. Winter turns the area into a ski resort with the plateau closed to walkers.

Honest expectations

Navigation on the plateau is genuinely difficult in cloud, with few landmarks and no shelter. There is no water. The cable car closes between seasons.

Nearby

San Martino lies below; the Primiero valley runs south.