UKH

Hi, I’m possibly going to Northern Italy this summer and hoping to get some climbing done.

The Piz Badile north ridge looks amazing but I was wondering whether it is a bit ambitious/dangerous as I have no previous alpine climbing experience. I am comfortable leading VS. Would it be worth hiring a guide instead?

if that’s not possible, has anyone got any other route recommendations in north Italy that would be more suitable?

The Meuli route on Punta Albigna is awesome. I think there's a single pitch of very well bolted 5b slab on the upper section, and the rest is more like 3 or 4. I think its about 20 pitches altogether, although we moved together on a lot of it. Careful abseiling from the summit though, we got a rope stuck.

It was my first Alpine route and I was comfortable leading VS. But I did it with a partner. So if you are thinking of soloing it, I would say no. But a good choice as a roped party.

Technically it is not difficult, VS at most. But it is very very long, about 3000 ft I think and then you have to get down. Either by abseil descent (don't be tired while doing this).

If not it's a visit to italy and a long walk back with a bit of glacier crossing (though that might have melted since I was there in the early '90s).

The route is all on rock though.

As Pasbury says it is very long but not technically hard. The best way to do it is not to ab back down the route, largely because lots do including those who have done the Cassin. If you do the climb quickly you'll be abbing through later slower climbers. Go down to the hut in Italy, whose name eludes me, and enjoy the return via a great mountain day through the col to the west.

Cheers, that looks like another pretty incredible route, I’ll have a look into it.

Thanks, and yeah I’ll be with a partner who’s also comfortable at that grade.

It's a fantastic route, but three tips:

1. get used to granite before you do it, it's too long to learn on!

2. do some shorter alpine routes first, and learn how to climb fast and safe without trying to place protection every few feet like you would on an outcrop; speed is of the essence on long alpine routes. You should also be fit; you're still only half way there after you've summitted.

3. If you're going in July/August, keep a very close eye on the weather and don't be ashamed of retreating quickly if you hear thunder. We got hit by a terrific thunderstorm at 11 am on the Cassin; they had been predicted for the early evening.

That having been said: it's a brilliant climb, and well worth preparing for so that you can enjoy it.

Let us remember that the valley to approach the Piz Badile from the north, Val Bondasco, and the hut Sasc Furä, remain closed after the catastrophic rock fall in August 2017.  They might be re-opened in summer 2019 though. Link to the hut, further links from there: https://www.sascfura.ch/de/huette.html.

thanks for the info! I climb predominantly on granite anyway, so that should be ok, and I will practice moving quicker and simul climbing. Are there shorter alpine routes around that area to practice on?

Yes, there's loads of shorter stuff. On the south side of the range there's also the Val di Mello (also granite) which has enough for several lifetimes of bouldering, sport and trad including multi-pitch.

Just seen on the Sasc Furä website that the hut's closed indefinitely due to the Cengalo rockfall of 2017.

I wish we'd done that. The abseil at the end of a tiring day is a bit much.

As far as I know, currently, the approach from the Swiss side is closed, so "the great mountain day" you're referring too is what you have to do anyway to get to the start of the route from the Italian side. On the plus side there won't be any debate which way to descent.

The path is officially closed, however there seemed to be people heading up to do it while I was staying in Vicosoprano this summer despite this (whether or not you want to cross below the Cengalo is of course a different matter!).

The situation at present (last updated May 2018):

"Dear guests, dear friends of our hut and the Pizzo Badile,

We remember the terrible and tragic day – 23 August, 2017 – when at 9 o’clock in the morning some four million cubic metres of rock and earth fell into the valley after a massive landslide on Pizzo Cengalo. The resulting torrent of boulders, mud and debris reached the village of Bondo, which was completely evacuated. The eight hikers descending from the Sciora Hut at the time were tragically buried beneath the debris and died. As there is still danger of further rockslides, at the beginning of May 2018, the municipality of Bregaglia decided to keep all the hiking trails (white-red-white and white-blue-white) in the Bondasca Valley closed. That means: the hut access trails from the Bondasca Valley and also from the Trubinasca Pass are closed. Therefore, the Sasc Furä hut is inaccessible and so the hut is closed during the summer season 2018. We are sad that we cannot be on Sasc Furä this summer. But we totally understand that safety is top priority. We hope that nature will help, so we can welcome you again up on our Sasc Furä in summer 2019.

Sincere greetings from the Bergell Valley

Heidi Altweger, hut warden and the Sasc Furä team"

Optimism noted regarding a possible re-opening of the hut this year, but I assume that this depends totally on a decision by the commune to reopen the paths. There doesn't seem to be anything in the printed documents, other than a 'at your own risk' statement, stopping folk from still using the paths though.

Practically, unless things change this year, the hut/path closure means a much longer (and currently unauthorised approach), followed by a bivi at the start of the route.

Thanks for all the replies! So if the path and hut stays closed this summer would it still be do-able, just a longer approach from the south and a bivvy instead of the hut? Is there still a risk of more rockfall?

I'm planning to be on the Badile this summer too.  My Swiss climbing partner is digging into the access/accommodation options, so when we have it figured out I'll let you know if you like.

The approach would be longer I'm speculating, as you'd probably have to walk all the way if the valley was still "closed" this summer. There are good bivi spots near the start of the ridge as many climbers do this instead of staying in the  hut which can get crowded and noisy.

Who knows if there's going to be more rockfall; after all the Alps are falling down. I guess no decision will be made by the commune until late Spring/early summer. Even if it'll still be closed, and even if the closure's 'policed', with a bit of cunning you'd probably be able to sneak up, but do remember we're talking about Switzerland here!

You could always go to Andermatt and do the South ridge of the Salbit instead.

The W ridge of Torre Innominate to the left of the Sciora peaks looking from the Sciora hut is recommended in Collomb as a good warm up for the Badile N ridge. We did it but never got round to the Badile.