Kaiserjäger equipped trail

Description

During the Great War, the Kaiserjäger path was the communication route between the valley floor and the Austrian positions at high altitude on Lagazuoi, transporting food, ammunition and material. Today the path has been restored and can be walked in its entirety, some sections are exposed but are well equipped with fixed ropes.

From the Lagazuoi cable car parking lot, follow a short stretch of path 402, climbing alongside the ski slope. Turning left onto a new path, cross the scree below Lagazuoi and arrive at the first remains of emplacements from the Great War.

The trail climbs steeply in a zigzag to the start of the cable. Following a system of ledges, you’ll reach the famous suspension bridge, about 10 m long and 25 m high. After crossing this bridge, you’ll reach a steep, exposed but well-secured ledge. Continue through well-preserved posts, then on the path. From here you can see the crater of the Austrian mine and, in the background, the Anticima with the entrances to the Galleria Italiana. A steep path leads first to the ridge, then to the summit of Piccolo Lagazuoi and finally to the Rifugio Lagazuoi.

The route can be done both uphill (recommended) and downhill, using the cable car, on foot on the Sentiero del Fronte or along the path that passes through the Anticima tunnel.

It is worth making a detour to the famous Cengia Martini, an Italian village clinging to the rock: the ledge crosses the southern face and took its name from Major Martini who in 1915 led two platoons of Alpini to conquer it by going up the Val Costeana.

The peculiarity of the position is its strategic position between two Austro-Hungarian emplacements: that of Cima del Lagazuoi above and the Vonbank trenches of Sass de Stria. The Austrians in fact did everything they could to chase away the Italians who entrenched themselves even more, equipping the ledge with walkways, kitchens, a canteen, a warehouse, a telephone, a cableway station, dressing stations, a forge, a carpenter’s shop, a quartermaster’s shop and shelter-huts for 140 men.