Each mountain in the Dolomites is like a piece of art.
Reinhold Messner
WHY HIKING MONTE RITE AND THE MESSNER MOUNTAIN MUSEUM DOLOMITES
On 8th May 1978 the Italian montaineer and extreme climber, Reinhold Messner, together with his fellow climber, Peter Habeler reached 8,848 meters climbing Mount Everest without oxygen masks.
A landmark date for world mountaineering that made them immortal and changed forever the history of climbing. About that experience Messner said he remembered one thing in particular: not the actual climbing, but the moment when his climbing companion bent over him and hugged him thankfully after reaching the top.
The emotional story made a big impression on me, and triggered the desire to know more about that climber, the Messner Mountain Museum Dolomites on Monte Rite and a whole world unknown to me: that of the Dolomites' early mountaineering.
WHERE IS MONTE RITE
Summer - Monte Rite - one of the Dolomites' peaks rising up to 2,183 metres between the villages Venas and Vodo di Cadore and towering the mountain village of Cibiana di Cadore (in the Belluno province). There are just over three hundred people living in Cibiana di Cadore, a tiny village, whose Cibiana Pass (at 1,536 metres) is actually our starting point for the hiking up.
MONTE RITE: NATURE AND HISTORY
Our hiking destination is the Messner Mountain Museum Dolomites on top of Monte Rite: Europe's highest museum. Up there you can touch the clouds and from the top a magnificent view of the Dolomites opens up. However, Monte Rite is not just a place of amazing nature, it is also a place with a heavy history burden of human suffering that resulted from the First World and Second World War.
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Hiking my own hike to Monte Rite
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| Superb view of the King Antelao on the trail |
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| View of the Cadore Valley along the hike |
MONTE RITE: ART FOR PEACE IN AN EX-MILITARY BARRACK
It is exactly one of these old military barrack that we find half a way through our hike up. After the ex-barrack restoration, since 2016 an art exhibition has been staged there: the Biennale Arte Dolomites. Artists from all over the world, including Yoko Ono, have been hosted in the fort with the support of Cibiana municipality.
In fact, over time Cibiana itself has earned a reputation as an art village with street art on the houses facades depicting its local history.
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| Painted village of Cibiana di Cadore |
The former military barrack is more than 100 years old and the Biennale art exhibition in the ex-barrackis a sign of peace and cultural dialogue beyond borders.
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| Biennale Arte Dolomiti in a former-military barrack on Monte Rite |
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Biennale Arte Dolomiti exhibition
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The refurbished ex-military barracks interior
 | View from inside the ex-barrack
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MONTE RITE: VIEW FROM THE TOP
High up at the top, Monte Rite (2,183 metres above sea level) towers the Boite river valley: so high up it is that even in summer it disappears in the puffy clouds. However, when you are up there you do not have a sense of fear, but a sense of respect to the point of emotional worshipping.
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View from the top of Monte Rite
Here we are on the terrace of Monte Rite where the Messner Mountain Museum is located: from here there is a wonderful 360 degree view of the fantastic mountains of the Cadore area; a grandiose and uninterrupted amphitheater of mountains surrounding the museum. That's why they call it "the museum in the clouds".
This is the final destination of our two-hour climb, and certainly the most spectacular along the trail. But the route is not far behind, marked as it is all along by the carved Cadore valleys, by the peaks of iridescent colors and by the chiseled rock pinnacles!
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Terrace at the top of Monte Rite
MONTE RITE: FROM THE EX-FORT TO THE MESSNER MOUNTAIN MUSEUM DOLOMITESMonte Rite is a special mountain: in 1914 on the summit the Italians built a fort to stop the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph's troops, and in the First World War in 1917 Monte Rite was conquered by the Austrians who abandoned it in 1918 after blewing it up.
In the Second World War, the ruins sheltered partisans. The fort recovery project by Reinhold Messner has led to the setting up of a museum in 2006 handing down to posterity both the history of this area and the history of Italian mountaineering.
When you go into the museum, a long half-lit hallway opens up in a row of single rooms. They store the mountaineers' and climbers' glorious stories listing items and collections from their climbing expeditions: it's a bit like digging into the belly of a mountain full of treasures.
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Messner Mountain Museum Dolomites hallway inside Monte Rite fort
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MONTE RITE: EARLY CLIMBERS' ARTIFACTS
Today it is easy for climbers from all over the world to climb the Dolomites or any other giant peak without taking much risk and without any real discovery and adventure. However, in the past it was completely different and when visiting the museum one understands that the history of climbing the Dolomites was a very risky and tough challenge.
The eraly climbers who paved the way for further pioneering climbing from Emil Solleder, to Emilio Comici to Angelo Dibona have done so with unprecedented love, passion, boldness and prowess.
Looking at the mountain pioneers' artifacts and mementos, it is striking to see how these men climbed the highest peaks with everyday zouaves pants, simples socks, a shirt and leather shoes! I simply could not imagine using these light shoes to go for a walk, let alone climbing above 2,000 metres on the Dolomites.
Even before tracing the climbing trails, their genius was listening to what nature and the mountains had to say and teach them: for example, Emilio Comici's technique was to climb by doing the same as a falling drop. He would follow the straightest path up, the same as a drop of water does. The logical way climbing, they called it.
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| Letters, diaries, photos of pioneering climbers in Messner Mountain Museum Dolomites |
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Artifacts of Dolomites' early climbers in Messner Mountain Museum Dolomites
MONTE RITE: THE MUSEUM PAINTINGSIn the museum picture gallery there are paintings and art works that show the Dolomites in different art periods from Romanticism to Contemporary art.
However, a painting attracted my attention: Messner's portrait. The explorer has been depicted with a wild beard, and wild eyes that are studying you deeply: it is such an intense look that only a man who has climbed all 14 highest peaks in the world can have.
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| Reinhold Messner's portrait on display in Messner Mountain Museum Dolomites |
MONTE RITE: THE MUSEUM FOSSIL FINDS
“The museum in the clouds” as they have named Messner Mountain Museum Dolomites also hosts some evidence of the origin of the Dolomites' rocks: 250 million year old claraia shell fossils and fossils of palm ferns dating 240 million years ago and what were once coral reefs in the tropical sea before the Dolomites' formation.
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| The glass cubes on top of Messner Mountain Museum Dolomites |
On the museum-fort roof, guns and artillery pieces have been replaced by glass cubes to allow you to see the mountains from inside. It is no coincidence that they call it the "museum in the clouds".
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Messner Mountain Museum from the outside
MONTE RITE: TWO HIKING TRAILSWe hiked up the trail numbere 496 which is meandearing mostly in the middle of pine forests. However, a shuttle bus service leaves from Cibiana di Cadore Pass and takes you to the top of Monte Rite on the former military road (trail number 479).
Actually, when Messner thought up to refurbish the former Monte Rite fort and turn it into a museum, he asked to have a shuttle bus service to come up to the top for everyone to enjoy the place. After all, the mountains belong to everyone.
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The path leading to the Dolomites mountain refuge...
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...and to Messner Mountain Museum Dolomites
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The amazing mountain southern side view from the Dolomites refuge
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Celebrating our conquest of Monte Rite with a beer
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The panorama from the Dolomites refuge and the Messner Mountain Museum is just breathtaking: the best of the Cadore mountains!
To the south you can see the Bosconero range, the Pale di San Sebastiano and Spiz di Mezzodì; to the west you can see the Moiazza, Civetta and Monte Pelmo; to the north you have the imposing Antelao, Sorapis; further down the Tofane, Lagazuoi and Croda del Lago.
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The panorama from the Dolomites refuge
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MONTE RITE: THE 360-DEGREE PANORAMA
Below you see peaks that range from 2,100 to 2,700 metres, some with funny names like the Priests' Peak (2706 m.) or the Friars's Peak (2355 m.) and the famous Sassolungo di Cibiana (2413 m.) and the Sassolungo's teeth.
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| The Bosconero range |
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| The Bosconero range and a ravine |
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| The valley view from the ravine |
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In the photo below in the background on the left you can see the "Queen of the Dolomites", the Marmolada, topped by the glacier: the heighest peak is Punta di Penia (3,342 m.).
To the right the Monte Pelmo (3,168 m.) and the Pelmetto (2,994 m), the Little Pelmo, covered by the clouds. It looks like a seat with two armrests that is why it is called the "caregon" (in my😉 Veneto dialect, the big chair).
One could write for hours about the fascinating Lord of the Dolomites, Mounte Pelmo and its compact and enormous shape! |
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Holding Monte Pelmo in one hand😉
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| Monte Pelmo and the signage for the nature trail as seen from Monte Rite |
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| Mountain hut on the slopes from Monte Rite |
The eyes can stretch to the Cadore Boite river valley, the lakes and the villages of Pieve di Cadore, Calalzo, Domegge and Lozzo.
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The lake and villages of the Boite river valley from Monte Rite
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| The Boite river valley |
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These Dolomites peaks absorb the essence of your soul and they give it back to you purified. The landscape is surrounded by slopes downhill covered by a dense carpet of dark green forests and we savour every single moment of our hike. It is time to descend as the clouds are continuing to form.
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On our way back, we marvel at how the sunlight plays with the clouds over the grey peak tops as if it were the fingers of a pianist upon the rocky keys of these mountains.
Below we catch a glimpse of the sharp-edged Sorapis chain, the famous backdrop mountain for Cortina d'Ampezzo and its cloud-kissed neighbour, Monte Antelao nicknamed "the King of the Dolomites".
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| On the left the Sorapiss chain and Monte Antelao, the King of the Dolomites, in the centre |
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Monte Rite and the Dolomites refuge signage on the trail
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| Wild meadow and pastures along Monte Rite trail |
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Back to Monte Rite trailhead
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As the clouds keep coming and going and the day is drawing to a close, our time on the mountain is running out. Following the contours of the sloping path we cross the lush forests through the original path that we had climbed in the morning which led us down from Monte Rite to the Cibiana Pass.
MONTE RITE HIKE TRAILHEAD AND HIKE BOOK TIME IN SUMMERMonte Rite, the Messner Mountain Museum Dolomites and the Dolomites refuge can be reached on foot or by shuttle bus. There are two options: - trail nr. 494: the trail meanders in the woods and trailheads starts from the spot called Quattro Tabià before Cibiana Pass (book time: 3 hours);
- trail nr. 479: trailhead is Cibiana Pass: you can catch a shuttle bus (at a charge) or on the same dirt road you can hike up (book time: 2 hours).
- Difference in altitude between departure and arrival: 700 metres.
The time shown is just indicative, depending on the individual pace, medical fitness and physical conditions.
ACCOMODATION AND FOOD
MESSNER MOUNTAIN MUSEUM DOLOMITES ON MONTE RITE
THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE HIKING
Before hiking check the situation, in particular: - Terrain and trail conditions: by phoning the refuge or the local tourist board.
- Weather conditions.
- Leave early: the hike is rather short; however, we suggest to get the top as early as possible before the crowds that reach the refuge for lunch.
- Dress accordingly: weather can change suddenly, so prepare your hiking gear well.
- Sleeping in the Dolomites refuge: always call well in advance to book, especially in the summer.
- Planning your trip is the key to a safe hiking!
CIBIANA DI CADORE STREET ARTCibiana di Cadore is a little village whose house facades are painted with local stories from artists from all over the world. Here you can see some of the spectacular village graffiti.
INTERACTIVE MAP OF THE MOUNTAINS AROUND MONTE RITEHere you can see the interactive map of all the Dolomites around Monte Rite with the mountain names and heights.
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Hope you have enjoyed our Monte Rite summer hike to Messner Mountain Museum!
Thanks for reading.
Arrivederci!
MarcoPoloSpirit
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