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Scientists in Italy’s Dolomite mountains have unveiled what they believe to be the world’s oldest snowshoe. Carbon-dating has shown that the rudimentary snow shoe, made of birch wood and twine, was made in the late Neolithic age, between 3,800 and 3,700 BC. “It is the oldest snowshoe in the world so far discovered, dating to around 5,800 years ago,” scientists said in a statement. It was discovered by chance at an altitude of 3,134 metres (10,280ft) on the Gurgler Eisjoch glacier, close to Italy’s border with Austria. The ice and freezing temperatures of the glacier had provided “ideal conditions for...

A three-star hotel in northern Italy near the Dolomites has rejected a reservation made by a handful of young Israelis, simply because they are Israelis. The booking was made via the Booking.com online reservation service, which promotes the hotel as an establishment “ideally placed for hiking and cycling excursions as well as skiing.” But apparently the hotel is not as welcoming to Israelis. Those who booked the reservation online received the following response:“Good morning. We inform you that the Israeli people as those responsible for genocide are not welcome customers in our structure. Therefore, if you would like to cancel...

A woman plummeted 1,000 feet to her death after slipping off the edge of a cliff while hiking on a mountain in Italy. “The news that arrived this evening of the tragic death of the young Maria Cristina Masocco, which took place in the afternoon in the mountains, strikes us in a truly profound way,” lamented Viviana Fusaro, the mayor of Feltre, Belluno, located in the region of Veneto, where the accident took place. The disaster occurred around 4 p.m. on Sunday while Masocco, who lived in Feltre, was hiking with three friends in the Dolomites, the highest peak in...

Sorry I've been lost for a couple of weeks. I'm going to try and post a couple bonuses this week. I have some pictures collected but it takes time to format and post them. For this one, if you click it, you'll get a big version suitable for wallpaper.

Found this in the Flickr collections. Black and white always is reminiscent of Ansel Adams. The building is a hiker/trekker "refugio" -- nice place to stay below the towers. There are lots and lots and lots of pictures of these features! (Click for full-size.)

A true panoramic view of one part of the Italian Dolomites. Posted 1/3 size; click for full effect! If you go to the heading link, you can see the same image with labels of the names of the peaks, and a different panorama.

Neat peaks in the Italian Dolomites.