I had born in Cortina d'Ampezzo, a little town below the amazing Tofana di Rozes. It is a mountain I know well, the "Rozes". I have been climbing this mountain since I was a child, and I have been taking countless hikes around it. It cannot fail to impress any passer-by: you see it as soon as you enter the valley of Cortina, towering as the leftmost of the most famous massif in the valley (the 3 Tofane).
You see it on your right when you drive towards the Falzarego pass, and its huge mass is almost hanging over you. But then you can see it from anywhere if you rise high enough in the Dolomites: it is simply one of the biggest in that very remarkable group of mountains.
It is so fascinating because it is so big and at the same time it is so well defined, detached from the others. It stands on its own.

Here I'm going to describe the ascent that I did in 2009 with my friends Alberto and Paolo along the via the Dimai-Eötvös. It was the 7th time that I was climbing the Dimai-Eötvös. The route takes its name from two Hungarian baronesses: Ilona and Rolanda Eötvös. In 1901 they were guided by Antonio Dimai, from Cortina, together with Giovanni Siorpaes and Angelo Verzi. The climb is a route about 1000 meters long and requires 21 pitches of rope. Ahead of me were 1000 meters of walking and climbing, perhaps close to 3000 steps. Each one of these steps had to be thought about carefully. First because a wrong choice of rocks can make me fall, but also because the nature of Dolomites is that all ascents are full of loose rocks, large and small, so that a climber has to care not only about his own safety, but also about not letting loose too many rocks, for the safety of climbing companions and anybody else approaching the route.

We left the car at the Rifugio Angelo Dibona at 2083 meters, and hiked to the start of our climb for another 300 meters or so. This means that when we started we were looking up a rock that rised about 900 meters above us, to the peak at 3225 meters. As we ascended, some mist enveloped the mountain, giving it a more mysterious air, and taking away some of the stunning views that can be enjoyed during the climb. The face of the mountain is huge, ad sometimes mist makes it a little spooky. However, this feeling tended to go away as we reached higher. Perhaps the most famous part of this climb is a long traverse (about 50 meters) over a straight wall falling 600 meters below. The traverse was not very difficult but the exposure made it thrilling, though clouds partly hid the ground below.

After 6 hours of climbing we arrived on the summit of Tofana.
Even though there aren't technical difficulties on this route, the Dimai-Eötvös is a serious climb: finding route isn't easy, the ascent takes long time, unstable weather may be a big problem.
From mid-July to end-August there are sometimes thunderstorms in the afternoon, in the Dolomites. A warm sunny day can transform in a kind of hell in less than an hour. Considering the wind-chill factor, temperature can fall up to 15 degrees. For this reason, anyone planning to set off climbing or trekking is well advised to first check the local weather report or to visit the local Alpine Guide Office.
I recommend to start really early morning and do the ascent only if the weather is good, better in September or, sometime, also in October.