Cima Dodici

Drive up the Val d'Assa from Asiago and take the rough gravel road up the Galmarara valley to Malga Galmarara (1,611 m); the road is slow and rutted, unsuitable for low cars, and you can also start lower at the Basa Senocio junction (about 1,100 m), adding about 3 km each way. From the malga follow the military road (Zoviellostraße), cutting a hairpin on a marked path, to the Busa della Pesa (1,777 m), then path 830 through dwarf mountain pine past the turn-off for Bivacco Tre Fontane to Bivio Italia (1,987 m), a junction of Great War military roads with a tiny emergency shelter. Continue north on the Kaiser Karl Straße; where it bends right towards the Busa del Cavallo, keep straight on a footpath to a crossroads with four signposts and take path 835 for Cima Dodici (about 40 minutes). It joins the crest path 208 at the Portello di Galmarara (about 2,185 m); turn right along the normal route. After an easy traverse a steep rocky step needs care, especially in descent and when wet, and leads to the summit (2,336 m) with its two crosses and a wide view over the Brenta, Pale di San Martino, Lagorai and the Valsugana lakes. Descend the same way (about 2½ hours), or make a long loop: descend east to the Bivacco Busa delle Dodese (about 50 minutes), traverse below Cima Undici to the Great War battlefield of Monte Ortigara (2,106 m, about 1 hour) and return via the Valle dell'Agnella, path 839 and Bivio Italia, 8–9 hours and about 950 m in all. The plateau is a maze of karst hollows and old military tracks: fog often comes in during the day, and route-finding then becomes the main difficulty. There is no water on the route.