[2] West of the main face, and separated from the mountain by a steep and rocky gully, is the Castelletto, a narrow, long rock 700 feet high.

Two of their climbers, Ugo Vallepiana and Giuseppe Gaspard, climbed up the Tofana to a ledge a few hundred feet above the Castelletto, but their guns were not very successful.

[2] On July 11, at 3:30 AM, the gelignite was exploded, with King Victor Emmanuel III and the army's chief of staff, General Luigi Cadorna, looking on.

When the explosions happened, some two dozen Austrian soldiers were killed instantly, but Schneeberger and a few survivors had rifles and grenades, and were able to repel the Italians from the edge of the crater.

Finally, the explosion damaged the rock face on the east, sending huge boulders down the gully and killing incoming Italian soldiers.

A few hours later the Italians attacked the relief platoon, and the Austrians withdrew to the Castelletto's northern end, and pulled their troops away altogether after a few days.