Idea Montagna 'Ski mountaineering in Val Visdende' is a ski mountaineering guide to Val Visdende, an extreme strip of mountains in the Veneto region nestled between the Creste di Confine, the Dolomites themselves and the Carnic Alps. The valley, famous more for its meadows and forests at the bottom of the valley, is indeed unknown in its highest recesses, where the uninterrupted sequence of peaks merges with the sky that is now close to Austria and Europe. A vague flavour of the Orient can be breathed in as one observes the profiles of the Julian Alps glittering to the east, then fading towards the icy giants of the Tauern to the north and the more famous Dolomites lined up to the south. Such a vast and astonishing spectacle that not many have been fortunate enough to appreciate. All just a few kilometres from the heart of Cadore, from the busy road linking Santo Stefano to the lively and busy Sappada; just a handful of minutes from Comelico and the route to the nearby Val Pusteria, a step away from the green Carnia. A whole world of mountains, surprisingly condensed in their characteristic environments, peeks out just beside the Piave River, which originates right here and begins its tormented race towards the Adriatic Sea. Amidst dolomite rocks, towers and spurs, giants of pale, compact limestone and volcanic granite plateaus, one can read the geological evolution of the territory, simply by turning one's gaze around the horizon; a precious opportunity for observation and discovery. Where forests stop and grasslands begin, or screes wedge between peaks, everything seems perfectly balanced, despite the obvious differences. An equilibrium of shapes and colours, which dissolves, dissolves and mingles in the waters of the river itself, to the peace of the plains and the sea.The Val Visdende is also the valley of silences, abandoned as it is by the stable presence of man, it is a place where the silent conversation between nature and hiker can still be cultivated. As if by a mysterious enchantment, in fact, it seems as if everyone had forgotten about these places when elsewhere the door was opened to tumultuous and often ill-considered development, so much so that at high altitudes there are no tourist facilities, you cannot drive up through the woods, there are no cable cars or ski slopes. The valley is still natural! Not only that: describing the possible ski-mountaineering routes covers considerable distances (about twenty kilometres from east to west and ten from north to south). A sort of true mountain range, a vast territory and sufficiently extensive for those who love to range and change perspectives, environments and scenery.Here, then, is the aim of this ski mountaineering guide: to tell, to describe, to document what can be found inside the marvellous treasure chest of Val Visdende when the snow makes everything even more fascinating and brilliant. A monographic guide, complete and exhaustive of the ski mountaineering possibilities in the area, with the ulterior motive, or good purpose, of re-proposing the theme of the valorisation and protection of places with a truly concrete gesture. It is a beginning, a first step, but spent in the conviction that these itineraries, with the beauty they offer, are worth more than a thousand words. Idea Montagna Scialpinismo in Val Visdende ski mountaineering guidebook