Yearly Archives: 2015

October 14th

We woke up to find it had snowed during the night:  10 – 12 cm at the Stelvio col (and on the car), more higher up, and the whole countryside plastered with fresh snow down to about 1800 m.  I had planned the high level walk from the Stelvio col to Piz Chavalatsch, the easternmost point in Switzerland, then down to Müstair.  Although the weather forecasts more or less agreed on a calmer, even slightly sunny period until the late afternoon, the walk could not be tackled safely with 15 – 20 cm of fresh snow.  Thursday 15th and Friday 16th would bring even more bad weather.  So once again we drove home, over Pass Umbrail, Ofenpass and Flüelapass, hoping for a stable period of good weather later in the year, with the risk that winter will set in properly and the mountains will only be accessible on skis.  Fortunately, we had winter tyres on the car and snow chains with us (not needed today since the snow ploughs were most efficient in both Italy and Switzerland).

Photos:

Pass Umbrail, yesterday and today

October 13th

Itinerary:  Cancano (near the dam) – Bocchetta di Forcola (2768 m) – Pass Umbrail (2501 m) – Stilfserjoch/Giogo dello Stèlvio (2757 m)

Distance: 17,5 km
Walking time:  3 hours 50 minutes to the Umbrail pass, almost without stopping; 15-minute stop, 50 minutes to the Stelvio col.
Vertical distance:  1310 m uphill; 420 m downhill.

It had rained a little during the night; in the morning the sky was completely covered with shreds of clouds everywhere. Sally took me to the place where she had collected me yesterday, a small parking lot above the Cancano dam wall. The paths were quite pleasant and easy to follow (mountain bike tracks everywhere), visibility was very variable, with lots of thick fog from 2400 m (one could barely see 50 metres).

Sally was waiting for me at the Umbrail Pass for a quick picnic and I continued up to the Stilfserjoch (Stelvio col), the highest road pass in the Alps, where there was a lot of activity despite the fog.  We settled into a small hotel here (there was plenty of choice).

Night: Albergo Genziana, Stelvio col

October 12th

First part: 4.0 km kayak on the Lago di Livigno, from the Punt dal Gall dam, going east to where Roger dropped me near a path.  He returned alone in the kayak but had to do almost 6 km to find an easier place to get the boat out of the water. Later, he drove home to Grandvaux.

Second part: 18.2 km walk on good paths and forest roads on the Italian side of the border, usually between 1 and 3 km distant from the actual border, along the Lago di San Giacomo di Fraéle and Lago di Cancano, to the Cancano dam wall, below the Piz Schumbraida, where Sally collected me.  All this part could have been done by mountain bike.  We found the accommodation in Bormio.

Distance: 4 km plus 18.2 km
Time: 40 minutes kayak and 3 hours 40 minutes on foot (including 10 minutes for the breaks)
Vertical distance:  200 m uphill; 40 m downhill

The weather was fairly sunny all day.

Night: Hotel Villa Rina, Bormio

Photo:

Roger ready to go home.

October 11th

Itinerary:  Alpe Campaccio (1950 m, on the road Livigno – Forcola di Livigno) – Piz la Stretta (3104 m) – Monte Garone (3030 m) – Fuorcla Federia 2899 m) – Valle di Federia, pt 2010 m.

Distance: 24,3 km
Total time: 9 hours 20 minutes, of which 1 hour 20 minutes for the stops
Vertical distance:  1760 m uphill; 1700 m downhill

I decided to get my revenge on Piz la Stretta – where I couldn’t reach the summit because of fog and snow on October 4th.  This time it was quite sunny with only a few clouds.  The snow line had moved up to about 2800 m and the snow was hard and quite easy to walk on.  So this was an easy summit.

I also wanted to continue along the frontier to the north as far as possible.  But the way down to the north did not look good in the snow (see photo) and is not described in the guide book (is this ridge ever done?).  I tried descending the west ridge to the Fuorcla Chamuera so as to get back to the frontier further north.  It is graded “peu difficile” but after going down some very steep snow I was defeated by a rock band, only 3-4 metres high, that appeared to have no weak points.  So back again to the summit, having wasted a good hour of my time.  Then I found a cunning way round to the east but it involved going down 400 m and up again to Monte Garone, taking another 2 hours.  The next stretch of the frontier to the north went quite quickly; in fact the hard snow covering made everything much easier.

I had to stop at the Fuorcla Federia and walk down the very long valley to Livigno.  The next summits would have been more difficult and I was running out of time.  Sally and Roger had arrived that afternoon and Roger was able to drive up the Federia valley to pick me up, saving me the last 3 km.

Night: Hotel Bernina, Livigno

Photo:

Piz la Stretta from the north-east, north ridge on the right

October 10th

The weather looks promising, so I returned to Livigno and settled into a small hotel.  5 hours driving, via Zurich,  Landquart, Davos, Flüelapass, Zernez.

Night:  Hotel Bernina, Livigno

October 6th

Two visits to the urologist today.  My bladder is still not emptying properly, so the catheter must stay in another 3 weeks.

Meanwhile, I am waiting for a spell of better weather to allow some of the snow on the mountains to melt.  Early next week looks promising.

Also, I have updated the website:  there are now a few more photos and some more earlier blogs in German.  To access earlier blogs in English and German (there seems to be bug in the programme here) either go to the French version, then change the language, or use the “archive” feature for the required month.

Geo Tracking should be updated on Tuesday, October 13th.

October 4th

It had rained a lot during the night and the weather was still very dull in the morning.  After refuelling (0.92 ct/litre lead-free; duty-free zone!), I drove to “Baitel del Gras degli Agnelli” a small uninhabited house at 2099 m on the road to Forcola di Livigno.  I got ready to get some fresh air when it started to rain very hard, so I listened to music in the car for an hour. Suddenly the rain stopped and the sky seemed to be clearing a bit. So off we go!

Itinerary: round trip to La Stretta col (2465 m); distance 3.6 km, 375 m total vertical height both uphill and downhill, 50 minutes up and 30 minutes down again, with a light rucksack. Snow on the ground from 2200 m, covering the path entirely from about 2300 m.

I intended to perhaps go up to Piz la Stretta (3104 m) on a marked path, but everything was in the fog, I would have taken at least three hours round trip for the remaining 650 m height difference, with much deeper fresh snow further up, and the sky was closing in again (on the way up I had 2-3 minutes of sunshine and saw my own shadow for the first time in two days!)  The decision to turn back was quickly taken and mountain congratulated me by bringing me new gusts of wind and snow.

So off to Pontresina for a quick visit to Fritz and Ursulina Hagmann, then I returned to Vevey and Grandvaux in the afternoon.

October 3rd

Itinerary:  Rifugio Saoseo – Pass da Val Mera ( 2660 m) – Piz Ursera (3032 m) – Forcola di Livigno (2315 m) – La Rösa (to fetch the car).

Distance: 18,7 km
Total time; 8 hours 10 minutes (including 40 minutes for the stops)
Vertical distance; 1180 m uphill; 1290 m downhill

Well, the weather was in fact not too bad.  It had rained on and off all night. I left the hut at 7.55 a.m. with all my raingear on, but it didn’t rain/snow until about midday.  No problems up to the Val Mera col, but then the path (if there was one) was not marked and there was more and more snow, up to 30 cm at the summit of Piz Ursera.  Maybe I should not have tried it, but the alternative would have been a huge detour.  So progress was slow, visibility was down to about 100 m in the cloud, there was a cold wind and it was snowing.  Winter conditions!  Thanks to the GPS, I found my way to the top, wrote my name in the summit log book and started down.  Steep, and a lot of fresh snow, not consolidated, so one sank in up at every step.  Again, the GPS was invaluable and as I lost height there was less and less snow on the stones, visibility improved, and I picked up a path with cairns and reached the frontier again just before the Forcola di Livigno.  By now it was no longer snowing but raining on and off.

Once at La Rösa, the road over the Bernina pass was closed because of a Porsche rally, so I used the time to have a coffee and to strip off all my wet clothes (and boots – they held out well but could not cope with puddles and wet snow lower down).

That finished the Poschiavo valley.  I drove into the Livigno duty-free zone of Italy and found a cheap albergo.

Night: Albergo Forcola, Livigno

October 2nd

Itinerary:  Rifugio Saoseo (1986 m) – Pass da Sach (2731 m) – Laghi da Viola – Pass da Val Viola (2432 m) – Rifugio Saoseo.

Distance: 16,4 km
Total time:  7 hours 20 minutes (including 50 minutes for the stops)
Vertical distance: 1260 m both up and down.

Conditions were not brilliant.  From about 2400 m upwards, 5 – 15 cm covered the whole mountain side, including the path (which was well marked and not too difficult to follow).  But progress was slow because of slippery stones under the snow, which required care.

The cloud level stayed at 2900 m all day and it drizzled a little in the afternoon.  Under these conditions, no summits were possible.

I could have been back at the hut by lunch time, having left at 8.10, but decided to do another pass ss well.

Weather forecast for the next two days:  rain!

Photos:

Boundary stones nos. 12 (Pass da Sach) and 11 (Pass da Val Viola).  They are separated by some 5 km of rocky ridge.

October 1st

Drove to below the Bernina pass to La Rōsa.  6 ½ hours, over 4 passes:  Nufenen, San Bernardino, Julier and Bernina!

Walked up to Rifugio Saoseo (CAS, 1986 m), an easy walk.

Distance: 6 km;  time 90 minutes.
Vertical distance:  270 m uphill, 160 m downhill.

Weather not good; there is a lot of snow on the mountains.