MARMOLATA, FROM VERY HIGH ABOVE CANAZEI
Seeing it from the other side later he adds:
From this side the Marmolata presents the most striking contrast to the smooth glacier and rock-slopes and bosses which are seen on its northern aspect. Not a particle of slope except the profile of the flattish snowy dome is visible; all else is sheer precipice, presented cornerwise to the eye, while its jagged edges retreat foreshortened to the north-west and east till lost to view.
Another of the most famous peaks, the Rosengarten, thus struck him:
Imagine a gigantic amphitheatre of jagged cleft precipices, shooting 3000 feet above the spectator, out of a depth far below him, and reaching, in the Rothewand Spitze, to the height of 10,200 feet above the sea. Let the arms of this amphitheatre stretch forward so as to embrace nearly one-half of his horizon, shutting him up to the one view of a stern desolate barren face, that presents itself on all sides. Let successive masses of débris descend from the base of this long line of precipices through the whole sweep of its circuit, and threaten to occupy the entire basin below, while still leaving a small patch of bright green pasture on which a dark spot is identified as a châlet.
The Rosengarten is a much more typical Dolomite, with its jagged needle points, than Marmolata with its flatter masses. “The most prominent impression left on the mind by these Seisser Alp Dolomites was that of complete separateness and isolation, not only in relation to each other but to the green slopes on the summits of which they are placed.”
Among the very early travellers to this part was Miss Amelia B. Edwards, the authoress, who, in 1872, with a woman friend actually had the temerity to leave behind Switzerland with its luxurious hotels and “travel made easy” and penetrate into the wild and unknown regions of the Dolomites, greatly to the disgust of their comfortable well-fed courier. Writing in the following year she says:
Even now the general public is so slightly informed upon the subject that it is by no means uncommon to find educated persons who have never heard of the Dolomites at all, or who take them for a religious sect, like the Mormons or the Druses.
Such a reproach could hardly be levelled at any one now. The difficulties encountered by Miss Edwards and her friend may be concisely summed up in the remark that there were only two side-saddles at that time in the whole country, and of these only one was for hire. It was necessary, therefore, for the ladies to bring their own. Sometimes for days together the friends travelled without meeting a single stranger to the country either at the inns or on the roads, and they met only three parties of English during the whole time between entering the country on the Conegliano side and leaving it by Botzen. And, even now, over forty years after, the solitary places of the Tyrol are unspoiled by a crowd of tourists, though fully appreciated by many a nature-lover.
One of the most remarkable rocks that Miss Edwards saw was the Sasso di Ronch, which attracts annually hundreds of visitors. This extraordinary isolated peak stands