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In 1862...
Cortina’s mountaineering history dates back to 1862 with the arrival of the young Viennese, Paul Grohman. A great mountain lover, he travelled to Cortina to climb in the Dolomites, which he had first set eyes upon from the summit of Glossglockner. Since he was a newcomer to the area he immediately set out to find companions to explore the surrounding mountains, and struck lucky with the local hunters who climbed the hills to track deer and chamois.
From Grohmann’s diary, 23 August 1863 one reads “…these men were foresters, deer hunters or farmers, but non were guides. They all guided me to summits that they too climbed for the first time, and all, without exception, exceeded all expectations.”
A year later Grohmann returned to Cortina and, together with a small group, climbed many of the nearby peaks. Grohman is best remembered for his first ascent of the Tofana di Mezzo, but the group travelled out of the Ampezzo valley on the so-called “journeys” to climb Pelmo, Antelao, Tofana di Rozes, Sorapiss, Marmolada di Penia, Cristallo… Slowly but surely they reached the top of all the major peaks and in due turn the inhabitants of the valley began to look at the mountains from a different perspective: not just as terrain for chamois hunting, but as a series of paths and ledges that lead to the mountain summits.
If Grohman threw down the gauntlet, then the locals took up the challenge. None were professional mountain guides and this always remained a part-time job. But the enthusiasm with which they carried out their ascents rendered those early beginnings mythical, and the Cortina Mountain Guides enjoy this reputation even today.
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