| Monte Civetta | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 3,220 m (10,560 ft) |
| Prominence | 1,454 m (4,770 ft) [1] |
| Listing | Alpine mountains above 3000 m |
| Coordinates | 46°22′48″N12°03′12″E / 46.38000°N 12.05333°E |
| Geography | |
| Parent range | Dolomites |
| Climbing | |
| First ascent | 1855 |
Monte Civetta (3,220 m) is a prominent and major mountain of the Dolomites, in the Province of Belluno in northern Italy. Its north-west face can be viewed from the Taibon Agordino valley, and is classed as one of the symbols of the Dolomites. [2]
The mountain is thought to have been first climbed by Simeone di Silvestro in 1855, which, if true, makes it the first major Dolomite peak to be climbed. The north-western face, with its 1,000-metre-high cliff, was first climbed in 1925 by Emil Solleder and Gustl Lettenbauer. It is historically considered the first "sixth grade" in six-tier scale of alpinistic difficulties proposed by Willo Welzenbach (corresponding to 5.9). [3] Thirty years later UIAA used this as a basis for its grading system.
The famed Svan mountain climber Mikhail Khergiani died in a climbing accident on Monte Civetta in 1969. [4]
In 2013, a large tower of the NW side collapsed from Cima Su Alto. Nobody was in the wall or the hiking route below at the time. [5] In 2022, Reinhold Messner who had been climbing there in the 1990s described the spot, where the 400 m high, 50 m deep and 100 m wide tower broke off. [6]
