The Brenta Group or Brenta Dolomites () is a mountain range, and a subrange of the Rhaetian Alps in the Southern Limestone Alps mountain group. They are located in the Province of Trentino, in northeastern Italy. It is the only dolomitic group west of the Adige River. Therefore, geographically, they have not always been considered a part of the Dolomites mountain ranges. Geologically, however, they definitely areFranco de Battaglia e Luciano Marisaldi, Enciclopedia delle Dolomiti, Zanichelli Editore, Bologna 2000, - and therefore sometimes called the "Western Dolomites". As part of the Dolomites, the Brenta Groupas "Component Site 9." has been officially recognized as UNESCO World Heritage SiteUNESCO Decision 33COM 8B.6 - Natural properties - Properties deferred or referred back by previous sessions of the World Heritage Committee - The Dolomites (Italy), Appendix 1.2, Component Site 9 under the World Heritage Convention.
Geology and glaciology Geologically, the Brenta Group is very different from the granite-formed neighboring mountain groups like Ortles and Adamello/Presanella. The main peaks are formed of hard compact dolomite, while the peripheral subgroups often are made up of more calcareous dolomite or limestone. The hard dolomite (dolomia principale) was originally formed during the Mesozoic era, under the surface of the shallow Tethys Ocean, some 200 million years ago. The hard compact dolomite with a high magnesium content was formed during the Upper Triassic period. The softer, more calcareous material was deposited later, in the late Triassic and early Jurassic period. The difference is clearly noticeable for the climber who gets a much more compact and reliable rock on the peaks of the central part of the Brenta Group than in the peripheral subgroups. Eventually, these layers were pushed upwards by the tectonic activity that led to the formation of the Alps during the Eocene, starting some 66 million years ago and leading to the formation of folds and thrust faults. Subsequent erosion carved out the dolomitic landscape with its steep vertical pinnacles, as we know it now.Castiglioni-Buscaini, CAI Guida dei Monti d'Italia: Dolomiti di Brenta, CAI-TCI (1977), page 26-29. Although the remnants of huge moraines suggests that the Brenta group was once encapsulated by big glaciers, the remnants of those are now very modest and have been steadily shrinking over the course of the last hundred years. Traditionally, the Brenta glaciers were relatively small and called "vedrette".Castiglioni, page 29-30 Over the last hundred years their size has been reduced to often smaller than half of their original size around 1900. Climate change appears to be the main reason.
Geography The Brenta Group is separated from: the Ortler Alps in the north by the Noce Valley the Adamello-Presanella group in the west by the Campo Carlo Magno Pass and the river Sarca the Fiemme Mountains in the east by the Adige valley. The Brenta Group covers a relatively large area. It can be subdivided into a Southern Sector, comprising the Tosa massif, the Ambiez chain and the subgroups of Vallon, Fracingli, Ghez; Central Sector, comprising the Sfulmini chain and the Cima Brenta massif as well as the subgroups of Monte Daino, Gaiarda/Altissimo and Grostè. Northern Sector comprising the Northern chain and the subgroup of La Campa. Technically, the shouldering mountains, as there are on the east side Cima Paganella, Monte Gazza, and on the west side the Doss del Sabion should be considered part of the Brenta Group, but they are very peripheral. The Brenta Group counts a number of lakes of which the Molveno Lake and the Tovèl Lake are the most significant.
Peaks
Notable peaks of the Brenta Group are: Peak Elevation (m/ft) Cima Tosa 3173 10,410 Cima Brenta 3155 10,352 Crozzon di Brenta 3123 10,247 Pietra Grande 2935 9630 Campanile Basso 2883 9459 Croz dell'Altissimo 2339 7674
Recent research has suggested that Cima Tosa is not as high as 3173 metres and is probably lower than Cima Brenta.
Mountain passes The main mountain passes of the Brenta Group are: Pass LocationType Elevation (m/ft) Bocca di Tuckett Madonna di Campiglio to Molveno snow 2656 8714 Bocca di Brenta Pinzolo to Molveno snow 2553 8376 Passo del Grostè M.di Campiglio to Cles footpath 2440 8006
Exploration history The Brenta Group had probably been frequently explored by local hunters, but the scientific and alpinistic exploration started in 1864Silvio Girardi: Molveno, Andalo, Fai della Paganella, Manfrini 1973, page 193; Castiglioni, page 32. when John Ball, (Irish-)British explorer and founder of the British Alpine Club, undertook the east–west traverse of the Brenta Group over the Bocca di Brenta. A year later he reached the summit of the Cima Tosa, only to find out that a few days earlier, on July 20, 1865, the summit had been claimed by Bepi Loss from Primiero and his companions. Ball wrote about his endeavors in the Alpine Journal"From Riva to Pinzolo by Molveno" Alpine Journal I, page 442-444, 1864, See also: "A Guide to the Eastern Alps" in The Alpine Guide Longmans, London, 1868 and attracted other British explorers to the Brenta Group. Douglas Freshfield, a later chairman of the prestigious Alpine Club arrived in 1871. He and his companions Francis Fox Tuckett and the French guide François Devouassoud from Chamonix. These men, who all would become main figures of the Golden Age of Alpinism were active in the Brenta Group and Presanella in 1871 and 1872. In 1871 they reached the summit of the Cima Brenta.Douglas Freshfield, "Italian Alps", Longmans Green&Co, London, 1875 (reprinted 1972 by the SAT "Le Alpi Italiane") Other British mountaineers of that era that would add to the exploration of the Brenta Group were Arthur John Butler (a.o. 1884: Cima degli Armi, 1885: Campanile Alto), Albert de FalknerDe Falkner was actually of Swiss noble descent, becoming an avid Garibaldino in the 1860s. and Edward Theodore Compton (1881: Crozzon di Brenta)."Expeditions in the Brenta Group", Alpine Journal XI, page 413-414, 1874 The latter built up a career as an artist in Germany and had fully integrated into the ranks of the Deutsch-Oestereichische Alpen Verein (DÖAV), for which he made a large series of paintings and illustrations, also featuring the Brenta Group in some remarkable images.Examples of his work available in Wikimedia Commons: E.T. Compton. Trentino was 'Welshtirol',A beautifully illustrated contemporary description of Welschtirol in: Prof Dr Max Haushofer: "Tirol", Velhagen und Klasing, Leipzig/Bielefeld (1899) page 170-192 part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until 1918, so it was only natural that the DÖAV took an interest in the exploration of these mountains. After Karl SchulzEduard Richter, u.a. "Die Erschliessung der Ostalpen", Band III, page 297-349 "Die Brentagruppe", Berlin : Verl. DÖAV, 1893-94 had reached the third and highest summit of the Crozzon di Brenta and reported his findings, other German and Austrian alpinist found their way to the Brenta Group.
Important explorative and descriptive work was done by Alfred von Radio-RadiisAlfred von Radio-Radiis (1875-1957) was actually of Italian birth and descent, belonging to a prominent family from Gorizia. He became a founding member of the prestigious Club Alpino Accademico Italiano (CAAI) in 1904. But as CEO of the Saurer Truck Company, he always remained loyal to his Austrian allegiances. See: http://www.saurer-mein-laster.at and Hanns Barth.They jointly published their findings in the course of three years in an extensive report "Die Brentagruppe" in the Zeitschrift des DÖAV 1906, page 327-361, Zt. 1907, page 324-364, Zt. 1908, page 361-398. A treasure! with gorgeous photographic images by Radio-Radiis himself, as well as illustrations by E.T. Compton. German speaking alpinists like Gottfried Merzbacher, Steck, Mayr, Adang, HeinemannAn exhaustive overview of particulars about all these early alpinists is to be found on http://www.angeloelli.it/index.htm and others left their mark on the Brenta Dolomites. Around the turn of the century a competitive spirit developed between Italian and German speaking alpinists, which took its main inspiration from the emerging nationalistic feelings in the region. Besides that, the explorative character of alpinism gave way to the ascent of rock climbing as a sport. The completion of the Italian unification in 1870 triggered expectations in Italian speaking Tyrol. The spirit of Irredentismo was increasingly present among the local alpinists, who had founded in 1872 their own Società degli Alpinisti Tridentini. In 1882 they constructed the first mountain hut located within the Brenta Group, close to Bocca di Brenta: Rifugio Tosa, at . Local Alpinists like Carlo and Giuseppe Garbari and Nino Pooli, started to follow in the tracks of the local guides Matteo & Bonifacio Nicolussi and Antonio Dallagiacomo, who had led all the foreigners to the summits. The antagonism with the Germanic climbers was exacerbated by an alleged practice of piggybacking on Italic efforts. The DÖAV Sektion Bremen decided to construct a large mountain hut at the rocky saddle just above the Rifugio Tosa in 1897.The legal procedure to reclaim the property of this building for the SAT actually succeeded before the Vienna Supreme Court in 1914. After the war it was named after Trentino wartime volunteer Tommaso Pedrotti. Castiglioni, page 65; Girardi, page 201-203. A similar situation was created at Passo Tuckett where the SAT had constructed the small rifugio Sella in 1905 and the DÖAV Sektion Berlin built a larger hut right next to it.The building was turned over to the SAT after the war and was named after the British alpinist and explorer Francis Fox Tuckett. Castiglioni, page 52. When the last undisturbed major peak in the Brenta Group, Campanile Basso, was finally climbed by Berger and Ampferer in 1899, it appeared that they had heavily relied on the work of Garbari and Pooli, who had stopped just off the summit.see main article: Campanile Basso During the First World War the Brenta Group remained undisturbed by warfare and it is fair to conclude that after Trentino became allocated to Italy at the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, the exploration of the Brenta Group had been largely completed. The era of sports climbing had begun and innumerable climbing routes in all possible difficulty rates were traced on the vertical walls of these mountains over the years.
Via delle Bocchette The access to the peaks and pinnacles of the central part of the Brenta Group was facilitated by the construction -by order of the SAT- of a via ferrata that would respectfully avoid the summits but would connect the passes and indentures called bocchette between the peaks. The work on the Via dell Bocchette Centrali started in 1935.