The Catinaccio and the Vajolet Towers

King Laurin's Rosengarten

Above the Val di Fassa, on the border between Trentino and South Tyrol, rises the Catinaccio, in German Rosengarten, the "rose garden", one of the most famous mountain groups of the Dolomites, a long chain of jagged peaks and towers of pale dolomite. Its German name comes from one of the most beloved legends of the Alps: King Laurin, king of the dwarfs, had a marvellous garden of roses on the mountain; betrayed and taken prisoner because the roses revealed his hiding place, he cursed the garden, so that no one could see it by day or by night. But he forgot twilight: and so, at sunrise and sunset, the rocks of the Catinaccio light up with pink, red and purple colours, the phenomenon called enrosadira, typical of all the Dolomites, but here particularly intense.

In the heart of the group stand the Torri del Vajolet, the Vajolet Towers, three slender, vertical pinnacles of rock, named after the climbers who first climbed them at the end of the nineteenth century, Delago, Stabeler and Winkler, a legendary destination for climbers. They can be admired from the Re Alberto refuge (Gartlhütte), at about 2,600 metres, reached with a steep path from the Vajolet and Preuss refuges, which in turn can be reached from Gardeccia, above Pera di Fassa and Vigo di Fassa, where shuttle buses arrive in summer. The walk from Gardeccia to the Vajolet refuge is easy, while the last stretch to the Re Alberto refuge is steeper, but offers an unforgettable view of the towers.

Tip: to see the enrosadira, stay at sunset at a refuge or in Vigo di Fassa; the road to Gardeccia is closed to private cars in summer.

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Where it is

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