Fradusta glacier, Mountain glacier in Pale di San Martino, Italy

Fradusta Glacier is a glacier sitting on a high plateau in the Pale di San Martino, a group of mountains in the Italian Dolomites. It lies at around 2,650 meters and is surrounded by bare rock and moraines, with a small meltwater lake forming at its front edge.

In the 20th century, Fradusta Glacier was one of the largest glaciers in the Dolomites, covering a much wider area than it does today. Since then, it has lost around 90 percent of its ice mass, making it one of the most visible examples of glacier retreat in the region.

Since 1997 the glacier has been surveyed with precision topographic measurements by the Comitato Glaciologico Trentino, working with the Paneveggio–Pale di San Martino Nature Park. The surveys record the shrinking surface and thinning ice; the summer of 2003 split the glacier in two, and since 2018 its lower part has disappeared entirely.

You can reach the glacier from San Martino di Castrozza by taking a cable car to Rosetta station, then following a marked trail across the high plateau. Weather on the plateau can change quickly, so bring warm layers and sturdy footwear regardless of the season.

The rock beneath the glacier is karst limestone, which shifts unevenly and causes the ice front to crack and break apart in irregular shapes rather than forming a smooth wall. In some places, the ice rises to about 10 meters (33 feet) above the meltwater lake before it fractures.