Clockwise from top left: Unusual bear’s ear; devil’s claw; round-leaved pennycress
In terms of trees, beech grow up to about the 1000m line before conifers take over. Silver fir, spruce and several types of pine tree mingle with the Arolla pine, which can reach 2600m in altitude and is recognisable for its tufted needles and reddish bark. A further tree of note is the springy low-lying dwarf mountain pine, a great coloniser of scree, while another high achiever is the larch, the sole non-evergreen conifer. It loses its needles with the onset of winter in a copper-tinged rain and can reach up to 2500m. It has legendary origins, created by the forest animals and dwarves as a wedding gift for their generous benefactor and queen. The fronds and bunches of wild flowers they made it from quickly withered, but the queen cast her filmy veil over it – reproduced each spring as the fresh green lacy shoots.
Wildlife
One of the beauties of walking is the chance it gives you to observe the surprisingly abundant wildlife that inhabits these mountains. The easiest sightings are of marmots: adorable furry social creatures a bit like beavers, which live in extensive underground colonies and hibernate from October to April. In the summer months they forage for favourite flowers on grassy slopes, only returning to the safety of their burrows on the shrill warning cry of their omnipresent sentry, an older figure standing stiff and erect on a prominent rock.
The widespread conifer woods provide shelter for roe deer, although often you only catch a fleeting glimpse of them due to their shyness. Higher up, seemingly impossible rock faces and scree slopes are the ideal terrain for herds of fleet-footed chamois: mountain goats with short curved horns like crochet hooks. Another impressive and even more rare creature is the majestic ibex, sporting its distinctive sturdy grooved horns. Due to overzealous hunters, they became extinct here back in the 1700s. However, healthy groups survived in both a royal game reserve in Italy’s Valle d’Aosta and the Engadine in Switzerland. Specimens were brought back to Dolomite habitats around 50 years ago, and there are now well-established groups.
A more recent example of reintroduction is that of brown bears, which had also previously been victim of hunting. However, the dwindling nucleus in the Adamello-Brenta park has been slowly and successfully boosted by bears from Slovenia and the latest head count is 24.
Alpine marmot
Birdwatchers will enjoy the delightful small songbirds in the conifer woods, while sizeable birds of prey such as kites, buzzards and golden eagles may be spotted above the tree line. One special feathered treat is the showy high-altitude wall creeper. Fluttering over extraordinarily sheer rock faces in its hunt for insects, it flashes its plumage (black with red panels and white dots) and attracts attention with its shrill piping whistle. There is also the ptarmigan, a type of high-mountain grouse that nests on grassy slopes and makes sounds a bit like a pig snorting. In winter, with a perfect white plumage camouflage, it can patter over snow surfaces without sinking thanks to fine hairs on its claws, akin to snowshoes. However, the queen of local birdlife is undoubtedly the spectacular capercaillie, a cumbersome dark-coloured ground bird (similar to black grouse) that inhabits conifer woods. A rare sight for the lucky few, your best bet to see one is in autumn, when they scout for laden bilberry shrubs. An excellent guidebook is Birds of Britain and Europe by Bertel Bruun (Hamlyn: London, 1992).
Warning There are two potential dangers in terms of wildlife. The first is bites from ticks (zecche in Italian), which may carry Lyme’s disease (borreliosis) and even TBE (tick-borne encephalitis), which can be life-threatening to humans. The problem is limited to the Feltre-Belluno districts and applies to heavily wooded areas with thick undergrowth. Sensible precautions include wearing long light-coloured trousers (which will show up the tiny black pinpoint insects more easily) and not sitting in long grass. Inspect your body and clothes carefully after a walk for any suspect black spots or undue itching, which is a sign that a tick may have attached itself to you. However, before attempting tick removal by grasping the head with tweezers, take the time (5 minutes) to cut off its air supply by applying a cream, such as toothpaste, or oil, which will oblige it to loosen its grip. If in any doubt, don’t hesitate to go to the nearest hospital, where a blood test for antibodies may be suggested after three to four weeks have passed. More information is available at www.lymeneteurope.org.
The second warning concerns vipers (or adders): smallish light grey snakes with a diamond-patterned back. Their bite can be fatal, particularly for children and the elderly, but it is extremely rare. Although widespread, especially in abandoned pasture and old huts, they are timid creatures that slither away very quickly if they consider themselves to be in danger. Snakes only attack if threatened, so if you meet one – on a path for example, where it is probably sunning itself and may be lethargic – give it ample time and room to move away. In the unlikely circumstance that someone is bitten, seek help immediately, keep the person calm and bandage the affected area.
The landmark church at San Cipriano (Walk 35)
Protected areas
Set up in 1993, the vast Parco Nazionale Dolomiti Bellunesi (www.dolomitipark.it) spreads across rugged ranges in the southernmost Dolomites. Around the same time, as local administrations became more environmentally enlightened, the Dolomiti d’Ampezzo park (www.dolomitiparco.com) appeared in the Cortina district. Both are now making up for lost time with excellent education programmes, forest and wildlife management and path upkeep. Earlier, a host of parchi naturali had been established under the regional jurisdiction of the financially autonomous Trentino-Alto Adige region. The first – the Sesto Dolomites, Fanes-Sennes-Braies, Puez-Odle and Sciliar (see www.provincia.bz.it/natura and click on Parchi naturali) – were followed by Paneveggio-Pale di San Martino www.parcopan.org and Adamello-Brenta www.pnab.it.
The website www.parks.it is useful as it gives a general picture of Italy’s various regional and national parks.
Getting there
The vast outlook from Rifugio Auronzo (Walk 9)
The Dolomite mountains are in the northeastern part of Italy, near the Austrian border. They occupy an area in the shape of a parallelogram that extends across the regions of Trentino-Alto Adige (South Tyrol) and the Veneto. The main block is bordered by the Val Pusteria in the north, Santo Stefano di Cadore and the Piave river valley in the east, a line connecting Belluno, Feltre and Trento in the south and the busy Adige–Isarco river valley running up through Bolzano and Bressanone (as well as the Brenta group near Madonna di Campiglio) in the west.
By plane
The nearest international airports in Italy are at Verona www.aeroportoverona.it, Treviso www.trevisoairport.it and Venice www.veniceairport.it, and in neighbouring Austria at Innsbruck www.flughafen-innsbruck.at. All have good bus services for rail or other coach connections for onward travel.
By train
International lines serve the stations south of the