When we got off the chairlift at Rifugio Scoiattoli in the Dolomites, we weren’t aware that its name translates to “Squirrels Refuge.”
We were there to hike the Cinque Torri. The strange rock formations of the five towers, the breathtaking 360° views, the Lagazuoi/Cinque Torri Open-Air Museum of WWI battles between Austro-Hungarian and Italian troops, and a couple of rifugios make this hike one of the best-known and best-loved in the Dolomites.
Hmm, I wondered, when writing this story and checking what Scoiattoli meant. It wasn’t a family surname as I’d thought. It was “Squirrels” yet I couldn’t recall having seen any squirrels in the area.
It was in reviewing our guidebook, Shorter Walks in the Dolomites, that its author Gillian Price reminded me of what we’d forgotten—the rifugio was named after a famous rock-climbing team active in this area—Gruppo Scoiattoli.
Gruppo Scoiattoli, the oldest mountaineering club in Italy, was founded by seven young men from Cortina in 1939. The Squirrels are noted for their numerous mountaineering feats, opening hundreds of new climbing routes on walls previously thought to be inaccessible, particularly in the Dolomites, but also in mountains all over the world, from Greenland to Africa, the Andes to the Himalayas. They became renowned in climbing circles in 1954 when Squirrel Lino Lacedelli was the first person to conquer the peak of K2. Today the group has about ninety members.
In a film made for the group’s 70th anniversary, Squirrel Bortolo Pompanin tells the story of how they got their name.
A small group of them walking by a sports shop noticed skis with a metal plaque engraved with a squirrel. “We stole the idea,” says Bortolo. Apparently, a lot of young men were drawn to the organization by its red sweaters—the left shoulder embossed with the squirrel logo.
The film Rosso 70 is worth watching for its photography of climbing in the Dolomites in past decades and the feeling of camaraderie it imparts.
When we tell people we hiked in the Dolomites, most of them think of the Via Ferrata, climbing trails with iron cables and ladders on narrow clifftop ledges, twelve-hour treks from one rifugio to another, crazy elevation gains (2400 metres—in a day)… And since September this year, many are aware of the 56-year-old Canadian woman who died in the Dolomites after getting caught in a sudden snowstorm. Not our Dolomite experience. We stuck to day hikes, like this one, which Gillian pegged at eight kilometres with a 400-metre ascent.
In the unseasonably warm weather while enjoying a delicious lunch at the family-run Rifugio Scoiattoli, Magellan read us our hiking stats for the day. Only 2.6 kilometres and a 173-metre elevation gain. We’d spent a lot of time enjoying the wartime history and watching climbers scramble up the jagged towers.
“I think it’s too hot to climb to Rifugio Averau,” he said. “Let’s give it a pass.”
Not a decision a Squirrel would have made, but the correct one for us. But I did I enjoy the nuts in my salad at the Squirrels Refuge.
Navigation
Lewis , Stephen. “Death of Canadian hiker, 56, one of many in Italy’s Dolomite mountains over last 10 years.” National Post. September 19, 2024.
Price Gillian. Shorter Hikes in the Dolomites. Singapore, Cicerone KHL Printing, 2015.
“Rosso 70, online the mountaineering, memories and life of the Scoiattoli di Cortina.” Planet Mountain. On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the group’s foundation, the Scoiattoli wanted to document their history with a magnificent film. The work, created by Francesco Mansutti and Vinicio Stefanello, was released in 2009 under the title “Rosso 70”.
“Scoiattoli—Cortina Squirrels.” Guide Dolomiti.
