Tre Cime di Lavaredo

A group of three peaks in the Dolomites of northeastern Italy, the three peaks together forming one of the most photographed mountain features in the Alps. The three peaks — Cima Grande at 2,999 metres, Cima Ovest at 2,973 metres, and Cima Piccola at 2,857 metres — rise as near-vertical limestone towers from a high plateau in the Sesto Dolomites. The north faces of all three peaks are sheer for over 500 metres, and the resulting wall has produced more first ascents in the development of European rock climbing technique than any other equivalent climbing area.

The first ascent of Cima Grande came in 1869 by Paul Grohmann — the same Austrian climber who had completed the first ascent of Marmolada five years earlier. The route was a relatively straightforward climb on the southern flank. The first ascent of the north face of Cima Grande, by Emilio Comici and the brothers Giuseppe and Angelo Dimai in 1933, marked one of the foundational moments in the development of modern rock climbing. Comici's route — the Via Comici — established standards of route-finding and technical difficulty that shaped Italian climbing for the subsequent decades. The Dimai brothers were guides; Comici was a climber whose innovations in technique and protection would be carried forward by the next generation.

The north faces of the Tre Cime have produced an extraordinary density of significant first ascents. The Yellow Edge of Cima Piccola, the Cassin Route on Cima Ovest, the Brandler-Hasse on Cima Grande — each among the most respected rock climbs in the Alps. The faces have been used as test pieces for several generations of European climbers, and routes continue to be opened and refined in the modern era.

The climbing on the Tre Cime is technical limestone rock climbing rather than mountaineering in the traditional sense. The peaks are reached by easier southern routes that involve essentially no technical difficulty. The north faces — the climbing objectives that have produced the cultural weight — are the destination for climbers who specialize in vertical rock at altitude. The fatality rate on the technical routes has been moderate; the routes are well established and the rock quality is generally good, though weather variability and rockfall have produced consistent incidents over the climbing history of the area.