We wanted to go to Chamonix for some longer routes but the weather forecast was'nt that good. We decided to go to the Bergell. Last monday first I went to Basel and then to the Eastern part of Zwitserland, picking up Nando and then heading to Bondo.
Next morning we walked up to the Sciora hut (900 metres up), had a short break and a coffee and continued for another 400 metres to the start of the Via Merendi (V-) on the westridge of Torre Innominata. The climbing was very easy and there were much more bolts than I expected... we had a full rack of cams with us ("if it's getting difficult we could throw away the rack so we were lighter, was the idea I guess...), but we never used more than 3 or 4 cams...
big bro's in da neighbourhood...
I don't know these guys...
From the top of the route we had a good view on the descent of our next goal - the Fuorikante... a long route (24 pitches or so, UIAA VI+) including a very interesting descent.
Our masterplan was to wake up at 4 AM so we could be at the start of the route by daylight. Weather forecast was very good without the typical Bergell thunderstorms in the afternoon... Unfortunately we got some serious rain at 1 AM, maybe 30 minutes, but very heavy...
At 4 AM, everything outside was very wet, it was clearing up but still very wet.... after a short discussion Nando and Stefan started at 5 AM to check the conditions and give it a try. Bernd and I expected it to be too wet.... we woke up at 7 AM, had breakfast and climbed a shorter route on the Fort (this is a nice rock close to the hut), 6 pitches up to 6b with a cool crack in pitch 3... Weather was beautiful but the west faced routes on the Sciora group finally started drying around 11 AM. Far too late for climbing.
Bernd and I in the morning, top of the Fuori in the sun... stil wet...
big bro's in da neighbourhood...
We went down and spent two days on the beautiful campground in Vicosoprano. On the first day we went up to the Spaccacaldeira and climbed Lasciami-Li (6a+/6b). 7 pitches, bolted and with some additional friends the pitches are good to protect...
the Spacacaldeira...
Because that day we were a bit late we did'nt manage to finish our second route "Via Felici". We only climbed the first four pitches (up to 6a). Different style of climbing than Laciami-Li, more cracks, diedres and flakes... really nice as well.
Lasciami-Li
crux pitch of Lasciam-Li, 6a+/6b
Pitch 1 Via Felici
Pitch 2
Pitch 3
We catched the last cable car down just to finish the day with a cold beer on the campground - almost holiday ;-)
The next day was bit of shitty story. The weather should have been good until the afternoon - but early in the morning the rain came in... At 10.00h we went up to try climbing on the Spaccacaldeira again. In the second pitch of "Steinfresser" it started raining - a bit than more and than some hail and in the end a small but heavy thunderstorm.... after minutes we were completely soaked... we abseiled the two pitches and made it to the top of the cable car station. The service should start at 13.15h again, so we had to wait 20 minutes.... everything was wet... in the end we had to walk down because the thunderstorm hit the cable car station and they had a serious problem down there.... what a day!
We checked the forecast for the next days - rain, sunny spells and very unstable for the next 4-5 days... so no chance for climbing a bigger route together.
It was really really nice to be back in the Bergell and I am sure next time we can climb on the Sciora or the Cengalo...
info:
- good campground in Vicosoprano
- easy acces to the routes around the Albigna lake by cablecar
- excellent route information in "Kletterführer Graubünden" van Thomas Wälti and in German "topo guides", edition 1 and 2.
- also cool climbing on the Bergell south side in Val di Mello...
