Croda del Becco - Sas dla Porta - Seekofel
Peak · 2810 m · Dolomites
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The wall standing over Lago di Braies in every photograph of the lake is this mountain, its north face rising sheer from the water.
Croda del Becco, the Italian name, comes from the ibex that still graze its slopes, while the German Seekofel calls it simply 'the peak on the lake,' for Braies below. Ladin knows it as Sas dla Porta, the rock of the door, after a natural opening in the summit rock that local legend ties to the lost kingdom of Fanes. An older Ladin name, Cu de ra Badesa, also survives, from a 15th century dispute when the abbess of the Sonnenburg convent tried to annex the Ampezzo valley. The trail up from the lake climbs past Rifugio Biella and over the Forcella Sora Forno, with a stretch of fixed cable protecting the steepest ground below the summit.
What you see
The mountain's sheer north face rises straight above Lago di Braies, and its reflection in the still water is one of the most photographed views in the Dolomites.
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