Passo di Costalunga / Karerpass - Cima Latemar / Latemarspitze

Access to the starting point:
Access from Gorenjska: Drive through the Karavanke Tunnel into Austria, then continue to Spittal and on to Lienz (the motorway ends a little after Spittal). We continue along a relatively nice and wide road through the Drava Valley, which leads us into Itali. The road continues past Dobbiaco/Toblach and Brunico/Bruneck. Just after the last-mentioned town, which is passed by a bypass road, we turn left into the Val Badia valley. Continue along the valley past La Vila and Corvara. Then climb over the Passo Campolongo and Passo Pordoi. From Passo Pordoi, descend to the west side of the valley of Val di Fassa. Just after Pozza di Fassa, turn right towards the Passo di Costalunga / Karerpass. Park in the parking lot at the pass. The parking lot is on the left hand side of the road.

From the coastal side: From Nova Gorica, exit into Itali and follow the motorway to Venice / Venezia. At Portogruaro, leave the motorway towards Venice and turn right on the motorway towards Pordenone. At the next motorway junction near Conegliano, turn right towards Belluno. Follow the motorway until you reach the exit for Belluno. When you leave the motorway, you come to a large roundabout, which you leave at the exit for Belluno and Feltre. At the small roundabout in Belluno, turn right towards Agordo. Follow this road until Moena in the Val di Fassa. At Moena, turn right towards Canazei, but only as far as Vigo di Fassa, where you turn left towards the Passo di Costalunga / Karerpass. Park in the parking lot at the pass. The parking lot is on the left side of the road.

Path description:
From the parking lot on the pass, follow the dirt road past the signs "Cima Latemar, Latemarspitz". The path initially takes you past the bottom station of the cable car and leads you to the ski slope, where you will soon reach a marked crossroads.

To the left, the path leads towards mountain pasture Malga Secina and the south-eastern path towards the Forcella Latemar Piccola notch. At the crossroads we continue right along the dirt road (route 17) following the signs "Cima Latemar, Latemarspitz". From the crossroads the road starts to climb slightly and continues along the ski slope. The road then leads along the woods for a while and then, after crossing a fence, leads to a crossroads at a left-hand bend.

At the crossroads, leave the road and turn right onto a footpath that runs through meadows. The path is slightly less visible on the grassy terrain, but orientation is not too difficult. The path leads through pastures to a bench and a cross at which there is also a marked crossroads.

A path branches off to the right downhill towards the Karer See hut, and we continue slightly to the left along route 18A. From the crossroads, the path first descends slightly and then crosses the slope to the west. Here the path passes through a larch forest and soon leads to another crossroads where another path from the Karer See hut and the Labirinto path join from the right.

At the crossroads, we continue to the left towards the Forcella Latemar notch. At the crossroads there is also a warning that this path is difficult. From the crossroads, the path briefly crosses the slope to the west, then turns left and starts to climb a little steeper along a deep ravine. The trees and bushes become scarcer and scarcer and the views, especially to the north and towards the Catinaccio mountain group, become more and more beautiful. The trail continues to climb mostly in switchbacks up a rather steep slope. As the path is not protected and not well trodden, a little more caution is needed in a few places. Higher up, when the deep ravine along which we climb most of the time ends, the path turns to the right and leads us to slightly less steep slopes. The grassy slopes are soon replaced by scree and then a climb up a gully leading to the Forcella Latemar Piccola notch. The path in the lower part of the gully gives way to the left to an indistinct ridge along which you climb for some time. Higher up, the path leads into a gully which is then climbed up to the Forcella Latemar Piccola notch. The path runs along the right side of the ravine and is quite steep in places, so some caution is also needed.

At the notch where there is a marked crossroads, continue to the right, and an easier path joins from the left, passing under the south-eastern slopes of Cima Pope.

From the crossroads, climb quite steeply for some time towards the slopes of Col Cornon. The path then becomes less steep and crosses the slopes to the left of the mountain. Once on the south side of the summit of Col Cornon, the path turns slightly to the right and crosses quite steep slopes to the west. The path then becomes more difficult and crosses a few short ravines over which some caution is needed as the path is not protected. There are a few short steep climbs and traverses, and then the path leads to the west side of the summit of Col Cornon where the path becomes easier and the slope less steep. The ascent to the summit is followed by a crossroads.

To the left, the path leads to the Rigatti bivouac and the Forcella Grande (Große Latemarscharte), while we continue to the right and soon reach the summit, which we can already see in front of us, along a ridge with a view.

We descend to the Forcella Latemar Piccola notch by following the ascent route. From there we can return to the starting point by an easier route (route 517), which passes under the south-eastern slopes of the summit of Cima Pope.

On the way: Forcella Latemar Piccola (2526m)

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