The Sundial of Sesto: a natural spectacle

The gigantic mountains surrounding Sesto offer a very special natural spectacle: the five Dolomite peaks Neuner, Zehner (Rotwand Sesto), Elfer, Zwölfer and Einser make up the so-called Sundial. The Zwölfer Mountain with its 3,094 m of height lies above the 3,000 m sound barrier, and is located near the Three Peaks, the hiking and climbing paradise.

Neuner                          Zehner                  Elfer                                           Zwölfer                               Einser

This is how the mountain sundial in the Dolomites works:

At noon true local time, the sun is exactly in the south and has reached its highest point; the observer exactly to the north sees the sun over the peak. If you additionally consider the angle of entry, you have the times when the sun is visible exactly at the peak. The same thing can be done for the other hour mountains, whereby slightly curved lines result from the projection.  It is evident, that the lines get closer in the area of Bad Moos – only from there does the course of the sun correspond to the names of the mountains. The winter point of the One line (Einser) lies directly in the midday meridian, during winter solstice the sun is exactly above the Twelve peak (Zwölfer) at noon, and at around 1 p.m. the sun points to the peak of the One peak (Einser). Due to the translocated back of the mountain, 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. are not visible.

A natural phenomenon: the Sexten Sundial

To the north of the winter point of the One line (Einser) we have a height of 1,412 m. It is called "Heidegg"; Innerebner assumes that this was an ancient cult and settlement point. The Romans followed a different time calculation. They began counting at sunrise. Hence, noon was the "sexta hora" (sixth hour). According to Innerebner this proves that Sexten got its name from the Zwölferkofel (Twelve peak), which was once called "sexta hora".