L Dënt / Zahnkofel / Il Dente

In Memory of Stefan "kletterwebbi" Weber

A note from the SP staff
Stefan Weber, the member we all used to know from his climbing pseudonym kletterwebbi, died on May 28th 2004 in southern France at the age of 37.

Stefan joined SP early on in 2002 and contributed a number of excellent pages and routes to this site. He was an accomplished climber excelling in difficult alpine and technical routes. The Dolomites, especially the area around Gröden / Val Gardena were special to him, as it was his old ancestral home.

kletterwebbi was always willing to share his knowledge and experience with other climbers, mainly here on SP, but also on other sites. He contributed his IT expertise as webmaster of his local section of the German Alpine Club, where he also engaged in leading trips for fellow members. Besides his climbing and mountaineering activities he was a musician, a composer of contemporary music. Stefan will be greatly missed by us all.

This page will be kept in honor of kletterwebbi, one of SP's most talented, knowledgeable members, and without a doubt, one of our greatest fellow mountaineers.

The picture was taken on the summit ridge of Lyskamm.

Overview

The Zahnkofel is one of the four big mountains of the Fassa side of the Langkofelgruppe, situated west of the Innerkofler Turm/Torre Innerkofler and east of the Plattkofel/Sasso Piatto. It's an impressive, steep pinnacle, looking like the tooth of a beast of prey, and this is where the name of the mountain comes from: Zahn = dente = tooth.

Between Zahnkofel and the Plattkofel/Sasso Piatto there is the "östliche Plattkofelscharte", between Zahnkofel and Innerkofler Turm/Torre Innerkofler there is the "Zahnscharte". North of the Zahnkofel the western part of the Langkofelkar goes down, south of the mountain, the meadows of the Pian de Sass above the Val di Fassa are forming a nice contrast to the steep rock formations of the Zahnkofel and it's neighbours.

The north side of the Zahnkofel is rising above the Langkofelkar. There some very seldom but good routes can be found. Over all this side of the mountain is a place for real adventures. The south and east face is the most common view of the Zahnkofel (e.g. from the Val di Fassa/Campitello). This faces are offering some good mid-grade routes.

The regular route is going up from the "östliche Plattkofelscharte", witch can be reached from two sides: from the "Friedrich August Weg" (trail numbered 4-557) from the south or from the Langkofelkar from the north. Both approches are going up an ice gully and need sometimes an ice axe. From the "östliche Plattkofelscharte" the route is close to the W-ridge of the Zahnkofel and needs climbing of the UIAA grade 3 - it's the easiest possibility to climb one of the the big Fassa-side mountains of the Langkofel group.

For additional informations take a look at the related pages at Summitpost:
- Dolomites page
- Langkofel group page

Getting There

As for all mountains of the Langkofelgroup the Sella Joch/Passo Sella is the best trailhead for the Zahnkofel. From there most of the routes of the Zahnkofel can be reached as day-trips. See the Langkofel group page for details about reaching the Sella Joch/Passo Sella.

For the approach from S start at the Sella Joch/Passo Sella and take the trail numbered 4-557 "Friedrich August Weg" until one is below the Zahnkofel. From there hike up to the start of the different climbs.

For the approach from N start at the Langkofelkarhütte and follow the begin of the "Oskar-Schuster-Steig" to the PLattkofel/Sasso Piatto. From this trail one will reach the base of the N-side climbs.

Red Tape

None

When To Climb

Summer

Camping

There are different campsites at Canazei, Campitello, St. Ulrich (Ortisei) and at the Fassa-valley. From Cortina d'Ampezzo (3 campsites) it is a lonmg way to go to the Zahnkofel.

An overview of the huts at the Langkofel area can be found at the Langkofel group page. A good choice for the S-face and the regular route of the Zahnkofel are Rifugo Sandro Pertini or Friedrich-August Hütte close to "Friedrich August Weg" (trail numbered 4-557). For the N-side one may use the Langkofelkarhütte.

Mountain Conditions

Good place with lot of informations are this Homepage of the Fassa-valley.

And there is another Homepage with lots of informations to the Fassa-valley.

The weather forecast for the region can be seen here: Weatherforcast Trentino.

Routes

There are several good routes at the Zahnkofel. None of them is done often though it would be worthwhile.

Regular route/W-ridge: from the "östliche Plattkofelscharte", 3, 180m heigth, 2h, firtst climbed by L. and G. Bernard with M. Schlesinger in 1890.
S-Face (Bauer/Endres): 4, 200m heigth, the route is floowing some chimneys, a little bit bleak, first climbed by H. Bauer and F. X. Endres in 1906
S-Flank: 4+, 200m heigth, 4h, a classical line, first ascent by S. Innerkofler and Jeanne Immink in 1893
Via Alfredino Rampi: 6+/A2, 450 heigth, 1 day, hard moves and hard aiding at the S-face, first climbed by P. Leone, M. Frizzera, G Maffei with companions in 1981
SO-ridge: 5+ and 4, 450m heigth, 3h, good climbing on good rock, first climbed by H. Comploi and M. Bernardi in 1984
Messner: 4, 450m heigth, 5h, seldom done route at the E-face, first climbed by R. Messner in 1976
Delago: 4+, 300m heigth, 3h, a recommended, good route at the E-face. There is a good variant at the lower part (rated 3), first climbed by H. Delago and K. Berger in 1897
Via dei Catores/NE-rib: 6+/A2, 230m heigth, 20h, never repeated, an REAL epic, first climbed by L. Moroder and V. Malsiner in 1960
Soldà/NE-face: 6 and 5, 400m heigth, 10h, a very seldom climbed, clasical line, for the hard ones ... first climbed by G. Soldà and F. Bertoldi in 1934
Winterschlaf: 6-, 400m heigth, good climbing on good rock mostly on slabs at the N-face, first climbed by K. and G. Walde in 1984
NW-face: 3, 400m heigth, 3h, rock, ice, a real classic line, very seldom done, something for romantics

Guidebook & Map

Anette Köhler, Norber Memmel; Dolomiten, Genussklettereien III-VI, Rother Selection, Bergverlag Rudolf Rother, München, ISBN 3-7633-3001-1
Richard Goedeke, Sella & Langkofel extrem, Bergverlag Rudolf Rother, München, ISBN 3-7633-1315-X

Map: Tabacco, Map 05 "Val Gardena & Alpe di Siusi"

First ascent

The first ascent of the Zahnkofel was made by Luigi Bernard (solo !!!) in 1889.

What's new

2004-05-10: added this "What's new" section ...
2004-05-04: added Latitude/Longitude (Thanks to Gangolf Haub for this information)

Images

View L Dënt / Zahnkofel / Il Dente Image Gallery - 11 Images