Grosté Lodge
Your place of refuge on the final stage of your journey across the Brenta Dolomites is the Grosté lodge, situated below the pass of the same name, Pietra Grande and Pietra Vagliana. From this lodge, you’ll be able to see all the peaks you’ve scaled on your journey along the Via delle Normali.
These places were particularly dear to the Trentino mountaineer Giovanni Graffer. When he was 14 years old, Graffer scaled Campanile Basso for the first time with his sixteen-year-old sister — earning the admiration of the mountaineer Tita Piaz, the “Diavolo delle Dolomiti” (Devil of the Dolomites) — across one of the most difficult ways of the time: the Preuss.
One of his most famous climbs took place in 1934, when he scaled the Spallone of Campanile Basso alternating between boots and bare feet — climbing shoes did not exist at the time — along an impossible path, which is now classified as grade V and VI.
Plenty of other famous names have also conquered the Brenta peaks: we recommend thumbing through some of the many books you’ll find in the lodges to learn the moving and inspiring stories told by these great climbers. Every normal way you climb has its own story and anecdotes, which will often be useful to you when finding the determination you need to overcome their challenges.