Col Rodella cable car

Col Rodella is a place mountain photographers know well, and one every lover of the Dolomites should see at least once. Its natural terrace at 2,484 m is probably the closest and most spectacular viewpoint over the Sassolungo group (Langkofel in German, Sas Lonch in Ladin), whose sheer towers of solid rock rise almost 700 m above the pastures below.

The Col Rodella cable car, run by Leitner and in service since 1962, with a major renovation in 2011, leaves Campitello di Fassa at 1,674 m and reaches the top in about eight minutes. On the way up, one of the most dramatic and moving views in the Dolomites gradually unfolds.

Campitello and Ladin culture

Campitello di Fassa is one of the liveliest villages in the Val di Fassa, the Trentino valley where Ladin is an official language alongside Italian and German. The Ladin community here is proud of its language and culture: a small mountain people who have kept a Romance language descended directly from Latin alive for hundreds of years, holding out against both Germanisation and Italianisation.

Taking the cable car here means stepping into this remarkable culture, where road signs are in three languages and folk traditions are passed down from generation to generation.

Mountain huts, climbing and hiking

At the top of Col Rodella there are several historic mountain huts, including the Rifugio Sassolungo, where the trails to the famous Sassolungo Pass (Passo del Sassolungo) begin: the saddle that separates the Sassolungo from the Sassopiatto. Experienced climbers set off from here for the rock routes on the Sassolungo pillars, rated among the finest in the Dolomites for the quality of the rock and the technical variety of the climbs.

You don’t need to climb to enjoy it. The hiking trails around Col Rodella are superb, and the loop around the Sassolungo group, via the Sella Pass and back towards Campitello, is one of the most iconic day hikes in Trentino.

Winter: the way into the Sella Ronda

In winter Col Rodella is the key access point to the Sella Ronda from the Val di Fassa. This famous ski loop around the Sella massif, which you can ski clockwise or anticlockwise, covers about 26 km of slopes and crosses four valleys (Val Gardena, Alta Badia, Val di Fassa and Val Badia), linked by an unbroken chain of lifts.

From Col Rodella you ski down to the Sella Pass and join the circuit there, with the scenery changing constantly over a few hours of skiing. The runs on the Campitello side are technically interesting, with steep pitches that call for good technique and wide scenic traverses that anyone can manage.

Dolomiti Superski and summer biking

The Val di Fassa is part of the Dolomiti Superski, the largest ski area in the Alps with more than 1,200 km of connected slopes, and Col Rodella is one of its main hubs.

In summer the cable car keeps running for hikers and cyclists, and carries mountain bikes up to the top station. The area is part of the ‘Bike Dolomiti Fassa’ project, a network of cycle routes across the whole valley that has turned the Val di Fassa into one of the most sought-after summer mountain biking destinations in the Alps.