Rifugio Re Alberto 1°

Overview

The Re Alberto Hut (Rifugio Re Alberto 1° or Gartlhütte) is located in the heart of the Catinaccio (Rosengarten) Group, at the border between the Fassa Valley (Val di Fassa) and the Sudtirol Land. The hollow is called “Gartl” and it is surrounded by huge bastions of mountains such as Croda di re Laurino (Laurins Wand), the north side of the Catinaccio (Rosengarten Spitze) and the well known Vajolet Towers (Vajolettürme), fantastic and elegant peaks. From the hut it seems you can almost reach out and touch the Delago, Stabeler and Winkler Towers, named after the first climber to reach their summit!

It has small and large bedrooms; blankets and pillows are provided but you must supply your own sleeping bag or sheet! The bathroom is equipped with coin operated hot shower. The welcoming staff provides friendly advice for your climbs & excursions as well as warm smiles and hot meals any time of the day.

The Re Alberto Hut is opened only in the summer season from the middle of June to the middle of September!

History

The alpinist story of the Rosengarten and its huts begins in 1874 with the first ascent of the prestigious peak of the namesake mountain accomplished by the English from the Fassa Valley; in 1878 the Sudtiroler Johann Santner found out a new entrance called “Gartl” along the narrow gorge where today you find the via ferrata with the same name.
In the summer of 1900 the department called “Rheinland of the Deutscher und Österreichischer Alpenverein” built on the west side, just below the rocks, the Kölnerhütte and on the east side the Vajolethütte.
In 1910 they began to equip the gorge of the Santner Pass with iron ropes and rungs to facilitate the access at the Vajolet Basin, where Marino Pederiva, from the Fassa Valley, built in 1929 a wood hut. The well known mountain guide from Pera di Fassa, Tita Piaz, bought this first shelter and built the Gartlhütte or Rifugio Re Alberto paying a tribute to the king of Belgium who used to climb in the Dolomites with him, the “Devil of the Dolomites”.
The hut was then extended a couple of times to form the present shape.

The “Devil of the Dolomites”

Tita Piaz was born in Pera di Fassa, 13th October 1879 in a little house situated right at the entrance of the Vajolet Valley. Throughout his youth, Piaz saw all the major intrepid personalities of the dolomitic alpinism, make giant steps. Between them it should be mentioned Georg Winkler whom, in 1887, climbed the “smallest” of the Vajolet Towers.

The Fassa alpinism reached its higher levels with alpine guides such as Luigi Bernard, Luigi Rizzi and again with Tita Piaz. He also climbed the Winkler Tower that until that moment was reserved to the most famous guides. All his mountain climbing life was around this tower and another enterprise that he did when he was only twenty years old: he climbed alone the North-East crack of the Emma peak. Preuss, about this, said that “it was a unique enterprise in its genre related to the present times” and together with Dulfer, they were so enthusiastic that they wanted to repeat it twice each!
Piaz opened almost fifty new climbing ways. At the beginning of his mountain climbing life, in 1899, he climbed 8 peaks in seven hours including two new ones; he started the east side of the Rosengarten and finished with the Delago tower; his tattered shoes were then exposed in a room of the Vajolet Hut, wishing, perhaps, to see a future alpine museum.
The course of events that really anticipated the modern concepts of alpinism happened when he climbed the Campanil Basso in the morning and the Winkler tower in the afternoon with a quick transfer by motorbike.

By Tita Piaz are also “the most difficult climbing of the Alps” at the Campanil Toro in 1906, “the most celebrated climbing” at the West tower of the Totenkirchl in 1908, “the most dangerous climbing” on the North-West edge of the Schenon in 1926. From all these comes his nickname “the devil of the Dolomites”!
In 1932, together with Virginio Dezulian, opened the “Via Maria” on the South pillar of the Sass Pordoi, a fourth degree climbing way still attended by lots of mountaineers from all over the world today.
Tita Piaz enterprises are an example of a modern and aware alpinism which stems from the owner of the mountains, in his own land, where he finds all his loves and passions.
After a whole life spent climbing the most difficult and dangerous mountains, also with “moonlight” ascents, Tita Piaz died in 1948 in a bike accident few meters away from his own house.

The King Laurin Legend

One of the most fascinating legends of the Dolomites explains why these mountains become colored in pink and orange during the sunset.
According to this legend, on the Rosengarten, where today you can see until late spring a stain of snow in a sort of basin, you could find Laurin’s garden of roses.
This is why the mountain is called Rosengarten in German, which means “garden of roses”.

Laurin was the king of a population of dwarves who used to dig in the center of the mountain searching for crystals, gold and silver and he owned two magical weapons: a belt that could give him the strength of twelve men and a mantle that could turn him invisible.
One day the king of Adige decided to marry off his beautiful daughter Similde and for this reason invited the nobility of the neighborhood to a spring excursion. King Laurin decided to participate anyway, but as an invisible guest.
When he first saw Similde on the field of the knight’s tournament, he immediately fell in love with her; he took her on the back of his horse and fled at full speed. The knights immediately threw themselves into the chase to bring Similde back. When King Laurin and Similde were driven into a corner by knights in front of the Garden of Roses he put on his magic belt and began to fight.
When he realized that he was going to succumb anyway, he wore his mantle and started to jump everywhere in the garden, convinced that nobody could see him. But the knights could see him by looking at his steps on the roses. They got him; they cut his magic belt and imprisoned him.
Laurin then, really angry, turned himself towards the Rosengarten, and convinced that it had betrayed him, uttered a curse: neither during the day nor the night, any human eye could admire it anymore. But Laurin forgot to say the sunset and sunrise. From that day it happens that either at the sunrise or the sunset the garden becomes bathed with beautiful colors.

Getting There

You can reach the hut from E direction with trails N°546 and N°542 (90 minutes) which start from Gardeccia (1960 m) that you can reach from:

• Pera di Fassa - with chairlifts (2 x 15 minutes) called Vajolet and Cigolade, than following the trail N°540 in the bush (30 minutes).
• Vigo di Fassa - with a funicular (15 minutes) called Catinaccio, than following the trail N°540 (60 minutes).

You can also reach the hut from SW direction with trail N°542 which starts from Rifugio Aleardo Fronza (2339 m) that you can reach from:

• Nova Levante (Welschnofen) – with chairlifts (2 x 20 minutes) called Laurin, than following the trail N°550 exactly behind the hut. Reaching a crossroads (20 minutes) turn left to the trail N°542 and along Via Ferrata Santner you can reach the Santner Pass (2760 m – 90 minutes). Finally with a good trail, passing the Santnerpasshütte (2734 m) you get to the hut in 15 minutes.

To have more details and time schedules of chairlifts, call the tourist board in Pozza di Fassa +39 0462 764136 or click here:

Mountains and Tours around the Hut

The hut is situated in a strategic position for many excursions:

• tour of the Rosengarten
• tour of the Croda di Re Laurino
• Via Ferrata Santnerpass
• Via Ferrata Catinaccio d’ Antermoia

It’s the starting point of some of the most beautiful climbing ways in the Dolomites:

• Southern Vajolet Towers
• Northern Vajolet Towers
• Croda di Re Laurino
• Emma Peak

To receive more detailed information we suggest calling the staff of the hut while, for more professional advices about climbing and via ferrata, you can visit the web site of the School of alpinism Val di Fassa.

Services

Hot and cold water
Electricity (220V)
Heating
Toilettes
Shower
Restaurant
Alpine Club discounts

Prices

Bed	Bed with breakfast	Half board
€ 20,00	€ 26,00	€ 42,00

The overnight for kids up to 6 years old is free.
From 7 to 12 years old the overnight price is 15,00 euro.
For the Mountain Club Members (min. 10 persons) half board costs 37,00 euro, overnight with breakfast is at 22,00 euro.

Contact

Phone Hut: +39 0462 763428
Manager: Valeria Pallotta - Strada Parvela 25 – 39036 Badia – BZ, Italy
Mobile: +39 349 7546125
E-mail: valeria.pallotta@rolmail.net
Web site: Rifugio Re Alberto

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