A complex glacial journey to a stunning summit with an exposed final ridge

Statistics

1,326

m

1,326

m

22

max°

Difficulty

FATMAP difficulty grade

Moderate

Description

From the hut walk up gently on the well made trail to the NE.

This crosses an obvious moraine at 2790m, heading E at this point.

It's relatively flat for a short distance, before steepening up at about 2810m, heading NE again, then more gently onto the glacier at about 3050m.

This may be dry initially, but you will need a rope on as soon as it becomes snow covered.

There is usually a good track up the glacier, meandering through the bands of crevasses.

It is often straightforward early season, becoming more tricky from midsummer onwards - it's recommended to ask the advice of the guardian, perhaps when you ring to reserve the hut booking. At 3740m you join the other commonly done route from the Vittorio Emmanuel Hut, and shortly after this there is a flattening in the glacier, at 3830m, below the Becca di Montcorve.

From here it is significantly steeper for a short distance, passing well to the R of some obvious seracs, before easy glacier leads you to the foot of the final summit ridge.

There has been an agreement since June 2019 that climbers make a clockwise ascent of the final summit block, details of which are in both the Chabod and Vittorio Emmanuel Huts, to avoid queueing in an exposed location.

There is the odd bolt and iron rung, but no fixed ropes, so although exposed the final section is not difficult.

The summit itself is on a spectacular rocky tower and, having returned on your clockwise rotation down to the glacier, the descent to the hut is the same in reverse.

Some choose to take the descent to the Vittorio Emmanuel Hut, thus doing a traverse of the peak.