Passo di Sant'Antonio - Monte Aiarnola (via normale)

Access to the starting point:
From the Trbiz/Tarvisio-Vieden/Udine motorway, take the Tolmezzo exit and follow the road past the town in the direction of Villa Santina. From there, continue in the direction of Ovaro, descending via Sappada into the Cadore valley, where you turn right at San Stefano. Go up again to Padola, where you take a slight left at a crossroads (straight ahead to the Kreuzbergpass / Passo di Monte Croce di Comelico and on to Sexten/Sesto). Continue through the town, finally climbing up to the Passo di Sant'Antonio road pass, where you park in one of the nearby car parks.

Path description:
On the north side of the pass, signposts direct you to the initially sloping cart track, which soon rises to a vast wooded plateau with numerous mountains. Follow the signs for our destination, turning left at the first crossroads (right leads to mountain pasture and Lake Aiarnola, a return option), and also at the second (bench), where our cart track ends. We briefly enter a shady forest path, which soon begins to rise again gently, the forest becoming more and more a mixed lane of dwarf pines and spruce. As the path rejoins the ground, the next crossroads soon awaits below the summit of the Col di Val Pucera (1939 m).

The straight trail leads to the Forcella Valdarin notch (another possibility of return), while ours turns back to the south-east and climbs steeply between the dwarf pines to the grassy slope below the base of the mountain, before crossing a rubbly ravine. The easier path continues by crossing slightly upwards towards the southern villages, and after crossing the next gully, the path from the Cadore valley, starting in Auronzo, joins shortly. Shortly afterwards, we reach the central ravine, along which the path climbs steeply again until it reaches its source at the top of the notch, where there is a cross with a register.

The trail switchbacks to the north side and bypasses the first peaks of the mountain on a rugged, slightly exposed ridge. The path soon turns into a gully, from which a steep, crumbly chute (the hardest part, unprotected) leads out onto one of the many peaks. The difficulties are over, and the scenic route along the ridge leads us shortly, via two more peaks, to the main summit.

In addition to the approach route, the descent is also possible via the Forcella Valdarin (1428 m), a route suitable only for trained mountaineers. The terrain below the notch is very difficult and steep, and the rubble path is also partially destroyed and fallen down (as of July 2019).

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