Helm - Monte Elmo
Peak · 2433 m · Dolomites
Checked
A border drawn after the First World War ran straight through the summit, and the roofless stone walls beside the cross are what it left behind. Italy took the building over in 1925 under the Venice state treaty, the military kept it for decades, and then it was let go. The Alpine clubs of both countries and the municipality of Sexten are putting it back together now, and their cross-border Heimatsteig already joins the two sides.
The Sillian section of the Austrian and German Alpine Club built the original hut on the summit between 1889 and 1891, with the ground donated by the municipality of Sexten and an observation platform built into its roof. After the First World War the Treaty of Saint-Germain redrew the Austrian-Italian border straight through the site, and in 1925 Italy took the hut over under the Venice state treaty; it was used for military purposes for decades and eventually left to fall apart. An international group of European boy scouts put up the summit cross in 1953 as a call for peace. Today the hut's ruins are the subject of a joint restoration by the South Tyrolean and Austrian Alpine Clubs and the municipality of Sexten, who have already opened a cross-border trail, the Heimatsteig, linking the two sides.
What you see
The roofless stone walls of the old Helmhaus stand right beside the summit cross, the only structure left where the mountain hut once stood.
Practical
The Helmjet cable car and the bike trails run roughly May to October.
mountain panoramaworld war oneborder historydownhill mtb