Weißhorn - Corno Bianco
Peak · 2316 m · Dolomites
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The Bletterbach Gorge opens below the ridge as a deep, layered slash in the plateau, dark volcanic rock at its base under bands of reddish sandstone. Turn around and the view runs from the Ortler and Otztal Alps to the Schlern, Rosengarten, Latemar and Brenta, with Radein and Truden small in the valley underneath.
Geologists classify the Weißhorn as a Zeugenberg, a witness mountain left standing once the softer rock around it wore away. A fault called the Trudner Line runs beneath the Jochgrimm saddle: the Schwarzhorn side was thrust up more than 1,000 metres relative to the Weißhorn, and millions of years of erosion have since worn the two summits back down to within roughly 120 metres of each other. The gorge on the mountain's flank is far younger than the rock it exposes: meltwater has cut it only since the end of the last Ice Age, some 15,000 to 18,000 years ago. From the summit, the view runs from the Ortler and Otztal Alps to the Schlern, Rosengarten, Latemar and Brenta groups, with the villages of Radein and Truden visible in the valley below.
What you see
From the ridge, the Bletterbach Gorge opens as a deep, layered slash in the plateau below, dark volcanic rock at its base giving way to reddish sandstone bands higher up.
Practical
The Jochgrimm saddle between the Weißhorn and Schwarzhorn becomes a small ski area in winter; in summer the standard route climbs from Jochgrimm across meadows and dwarf-pine fields, an easy, non-technical hike to the summit.
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