The Julius Payer Glaciological Centre is located in the suggestive moraine amphitheatre that embraces the fronts of the Lobbia and Mandron glaciers, at an altitude of 2,434 metres, near the Mandrón "City of Trento" Refuge. To reach the Centre, just follow the sat 212 path starting from the upper Val di Genova just behind the Bédole "Adamello Collini" refuge.
Julius Payer was an Austrian officer and cartographer, explorer and mountaineer who contributed to the knowledge of the Trentino mountains. He was the author of the first geographical description and topographic map of the Adamello-Presanella Group glaciers. He was also the first climber to climb Adamello, on 15 September 1864 and two days later he reached the summit of Presanella, while in the following years he achieved over twenty "absolute firsts" on more than 50 peaks of the Ortles-Cevedale group.
The exhibition apparatus, set up in 1994, recounts the formation and evolution of glaciers, their natural and ecological function, their relationships with geology and with human communities. Inside, there are panels dedicated to the figure of Julius Payer, the Val Genova, the formation of the Adamello-Presanella granite mountain group, its glaciers and their activity in shaping the landscape and the changes they have undergone during the four glaciations that occurred in the last 780,000 years. The small centre also exhibits recent data on the slow retreat of the ice, which began in 1850, information on the scientific activity of the sat and the Trentino Glaciological Committee. Finally, there are also references to the Great War, during which the Adamello-Presanella glaciers were the scene of tragic clashes between opposing armies. Finally, a detailed geomorphological map, placed on a central table, presents the geological configuration of the upper Val di Genova.
STRENGTH: Its position at high altitude at almost 2500 m.
