Marmolada: Punta Penia, 3,343 m, and its glacier

The Marmolada is the highest mountain in the Dolomites, 3,343¹ meters at Punta Penia, and it carries the largest glacier in the range, the glacier where a serac collapse killed eleven people on July 3, 2022.

3,343 meters at Punta Penia

Punta Penia reaches 3,343¹ meters, which makes the Marmolada the highest group in the Dolomites.

The mountain sits on the line between the provinces of Trento and Belluno, drawn along the watershed in a 2018 definition. That's why Trentino and Veneto both count it as theirs, and why you'll find it on the tourist maps of two regions.

One of nine systems in the UNESCO Dolomites

The Marmolada is one of the 9 systems that make up the Dolomites World Heritage property, inscribed in 2009.

In Trentino it's one of four, with Pale di San Martino and the Vette Feltrine, Catinaccio and Latemar, and the Brenta Dolomites. Veneto counts it among its five, all in the province of Belluno, and neither list is wrong: a mountain on a border belongs to both. See the Dolomites.

A glacier in retreat, measured by others

The Marmolada glacier is the largest in the Dolomites, and it's in marked retreat.

Its current surface isn't given here, because it changes every season. The numbers belong to the Italian Glaciological Committee and to ARPAV, the Veneto environment agency, and those are the surveys to read before a trip that touches the ice.

July 3, 2022

On July 3, 2022 a serac broke away from the glacier and killed eleven people.

That date is the reason the Marmolada can't be written about as scenery alone, and the reason any glacier plan starts from the day's official bulletins. The full account is in the Marmolada collapse.

Getting up there: a cable car and a ski run

The lift to the top station is the Malga Ciapela to Punta Rocca cable car, and the ski run on the Belluno side is 12 kilometers long.

Its timetable, season and prices are not among the facts verified here. Check them with the operator before you build a day around the lift, and assume nothing from last year's calendar.

Cold even in July

At 2,004 meters, the Passo Rolle weather station in the Dolomites averages 53°F (11.9°C⁴) in July and 24°F (-4.4°C) in February, on the 1991 to 2020 normals.

No month there averages above 54°F (12°C), and Punta Penia is far higher than the station. Pack for winter on any day you plan to be near the glacier, and read weather in the Alps.

A rescue on the ice isn't something the European health card will pay for: the EHIC excludes mountain rescue altogether, along with repatriation. Details in health cover and Trentino.

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