Vallelunga Glacier World

In the Vallelunga, a side valley of the Val Venosta in the west of South Tyrol, glaciers seem to be within reach. The gorgeous alpine world includes important gigantic glaciers like Mt. Vedretta di Vallelunga. Located on the north side of Mt. Palla Bianca (3,738 m a.s.l.), the glacier is the highest one of the Oetztal Alps on South Tyrolean territory. Unfortunately, also this glacier already has forfeited a big part of its surface. In 1997 still 4.24 sq km were measured, almost 10 years later the glacier had a surface of only 3.93 sq km.

Until into the 21st century, ice from the neighbouring Austrian Gepatsch Glacier flowed to Mt. Vedretta di Vallelunga, but nowadays this connection does not exist anymore. On the way from the Melago Mountain Hut to the Pio XI Mountain Hut (2,544 m a.s.l.), an interesting theme path was arranged some years ago: The Vallelunga Glacier Education Path - "Gletscherlehrpfad Langtaufers" in German, "Sentiero dei Ghiacciai della Vallelunga" in Italian - tells about the development of landforms by glaciers and meltwater. Also the decrease of the glaciers of course is topic.

Information boards show you the differences of the size of the glacier. Really impressing! The entire circular path is 12 km long and takes about 4.5 hours.