Hikes with 1,000 metres of ascent or more

Eighteen hikes with 1,000 metres of ascent or more, from the Zugspitze by the Höllental to Rifugio Gianetti in Val Masino and the Pasubio tunnels.

A thousand metres of ascent is a threshold almost every hiker knows, because it is where an outing stops being a demanding walk and becomes a full day in the mountains. At the average rates used to estimate walking times, the climb alone takes more than three hours, to which you add the descent, the breaks and a margin for the unexpected. On this page we have gathered all our hikes that reach or exceed that figure, and among them are some of the most severe and spectacular settings we have described.

Right on the threshold are the Alpe di Siusi to Rifugio Bolzano on the Sciliar and the Sentiero del Tracciolino, both with 1,000 metres, and just above them Rifugio Bertone, the Valasco and Questa huts, the Capanna del Forno, Rifugio Puez, Piz Lunghin and the Rutor valley. Between 1,100 and 1,200 metres are Monte Cornizzolo, Monte Grona with Bregagno, the Strada delle 52 Gallerie on the Pasubio, Monte Fortin in the Val Veny and Lago del Truzzo with Alpe Lendine. Above that you move up a category: Rifugio Gianetti in the Val Masino with 1,480 metres, the ten-lakes loop of Monte Avic with 1,710 over two days, the Wettersteinwand balcony trail with 1,940, the Zugspitze by the Höllental via ferrata with 2,180 and the Cima Brenta circuit from Molveno, which adds up to 2,390 metres over two days.

Good to know

Preparing for a thousand metres does not call for an athlete's programme, just a little method. The German Alpine Club's rule of thumb puts an average hiker at 300 metres of ascent and 500 of descent per hour, and that alone shows why it pays to build up to it: if you have done a few outings of 500 or 700 metres in the preceding weeks, you know how your legs respond, above all on the way down, which is often where tiredness makes itself felt. The Sicuri in Montagna campaign, run by Italian mountain rescue with the Italian Alpine Club, also points out that fitness, the difficulty of the route, changes in the weather and crowding can all stretch the expected times.

For the same reason, these hikes are best started early. In summer thunderstorms form more often in the afternoon, and a thousand-metre climb begun in mid-morning risks reaching the ridge at exactly the worst hours; setting off early, with the forecast read the evening before, is the simplest advice there is, and also the cheapest.