UKH

Does anyone have any good route suggestions in the Cervinia area? We are planning to do the Matterhorn, but our preferred option (Rifugio Carrel) is closed and the suisse hut is £300/night, 

We are good up to about D+, pitches of alpine mixed up to 6b+ and IV ice. 

Ideally routes either with cablecar uplift or download, but nice ridges with good views would be good to hear about!

So far on my list are:

This interesting VF: https://www.via-ferrata.de/klettersteige/topo/la-traversata-cima-di-furggen

breithorn traverse: east to west. Hoping to do this in a oner from the Plateau Rosà cable car

In reply to Robert_H:

grand tournalin by the s ridge (a scramble)

and this (6a+ oblig)

https://www.gulliver.it/itinerari/singlin-paretone-di-karen-o-mai-piu/

The (very old) red AC pennine alps guide had some obscure routes round there.  I have done peaks on both sides of the valley on skis (chateau des dames, Becca di nana) and there are some lovely peaks round there.  Have a look where the bivi huts are and then look on Gulliver.  Solitude probably guaranteed 

In reply to Robert_H:

Castor and Pollux would both seem to be options.

In reply to McHeath:

I have my eye on these as a day trip, although they do seem inferior to the full breithorn traverse!

In reply to philipjardine:

Thank you for both of these suggestions - Gulliver is the real tip here though, so many great options! Thank you!

In reply to Robert_H:

You could always up the ante by using the traverse of C + P to arrive at the Rifugio Quintino Sella, which is a good starting point for the Lyskamm traverse with its infamous double cornices …

(Not that I‘ve ever been near it; to paraphrase Jon Krakauer talking about his young, ambitious and very capable partner Mark Twight while waiting at the Klein Scheidegg in uncertain weather: „He desperately wanted to climb the route, whereas I just desperately wanted to have climbed it!“)

In reply to Robert_H:

The Breithorn traverse is well worth it, you could walk in to Rossi e Volante bivi hut for an earlier start rather than doing it in a day which seems ambitious.

Another option on the Breithorn would be the N Spur/Triftjigrat at D. You could drop down from the Plateau Rosa Cable car to bivi somewhere near the Gandegg Hut, I think it would be too late in the day to start it from the first cable car and I'd try and get some up to date info on the conditions and state of the seracs which sometimes threaten the route.

Also from the Rossi e Volante HUt you can do the SW Ridge of Pollux. It's quite short but has some interesting climbing on it even if it is generously graded at AD. There's an easy walk off the back but you can also downclimb and rappel the route on fixed/in-situ gear which is probably quicker.

Perhaps stretching the Cervinia area a bit but the SSW ridge of Piramide Vincent is a good little route which can be done in a day from the Passo dei Salati lift. It's only PD but unusually technical for the grade, the climbing is more like AD but it's short and has easy access and descent so not too serious.

In reply to pec: Gosh, easy walk off the back of Pollux? That’s a new one on me and all the guidebooks I’ve seen! If you find it you can probably claim a first descent.