Falzarego Pass - Lagazuoi
Deep in the Dolomites. Falzarego is dialect in this area for "false king." The name is a reference to a fairly typical Dolomitic folk tale in which a vainglorious king of the Fanes, a peace loving people who somehow became wealthy and powerful through their alliance with the marmots (!), is turned to stone for leading his people into a series of pointless and ruinous wars. The mountain in the foreground is Lagazuoi, the backdrop to the climax of the story, wherein the king is petrified.
Oddly enough...
One of the most pointless, protracted and brutal campaigns of WWI were fought on Lagazuoi, and other surrounding mountains. Modern historians maintain that there was little or no larger strategic value in holding these rocky summits far from the main alpine passes, but, compelled by policy that was made far away by people who were numb to the human cost, both the Austrians and the Italians went to superhuman lengths to gain and hold their positions. When the ground battle finally reached a stalemate, both sides carried the front deep inside the mountains, tunneling as close as they could to the enemy positions, loading the tunnels with several tons of dynamite and blowing entire parts of the mountain, the enemy and often even their own soldiers off the face of the earth. To make matters worse, the winter of 1916 was the most severe on record, with snows regularly reaching depths of 40 feet at the highest positions. Avalanches alone claimed at least 10k lives in this region during that winter. Tens of the thousands more died from explosions, gunfire, accidents, fatigue and the extreme cold (down to 30 degrees below zero). As a result of this tunneling and dynamiting, the south face of Lagazuoi that you see in these pictures looks totally different than it did before the first World War, and people climbing in the scree still occasionally turn up a fragment of human bone. Today, a ski lift and small resort try hard to make this place cheerful again, but on the day we were there, the ski resort hadn't yet opened for the season and the whole place seemed ominously still and quiet. You can freely explore some of the remaining Italian and Austrian tunnels into the mountain, but we didn't have time.
Falzarego Pass - Lagazuoi
Deep in the Dolomites. Falzarego is dialect in this area for "false king." The name is a reference to a fairly typical Dolomitic folk tale in which a vainglorious king of the Fanes, a peace loving people who somehow became wealthy and powerful through their alliance with the marmots (!), is turned to stone for leading his people into a series of pointless and ruinous wars. The mountain in the foreground is Lagazuoi, the backdrop to the climax of the story, wherein the king is petrified.
Oddly enough...
One of the most pointless, protracted and brutal campaigns of WWI were fought on Lagazuoi, and other surrounding mountains. Modern historians maintain that there was little or no larger strategic value in holding these rocky summits far from the main alpine passes, but, compelled by policy that was made far away by people who were numb to the human cost, both the Austrians and the Italians went to superhuman lengths to gain and hold their positions. When the ground battle finally reached a stalemate, both sides carried the front deep inside the mountains, tunneling as close as they could to the enemy positions, loading the tunnels with several tons of dynamite and blowing entire parts of the mountain, the enemy and often even their own soldiers off the face of the earth. To make matters worse, the winter of 1916 was the most severe on record, with snows regularly reaching depths of 40 feet at the highest positions. Avalanches alone claimed at least 10k lives in this region during that winter. Tens of the thousands more died from explosions, gunfire, accidents, fatigue and the extreme cold (down to 30 degrees below zero). As a result of this tunneling and dynamiting, the south face of Lagazuoi that you see in these pictures looks totally different than it did before the first World War, and people climbing in the scree still occasionally turn up a fragment of human bone. Today, a ski lift and small resort try hard to make this place cheerful again, but on the day we were there, the ski resort hadn't yet opened for the season and the whole place seemed ominously still and quiet. You can freely explore some of the remaining Italian and Austrian tunnels into the mountain, but we didn't have time.