Winter conditions on the summit 2

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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

2 thoughts on “Winter conditions on the summit”

  • Pierrot

    Un grand bravo pour votre courage et votre détermination. Vous faites “fort” ! Malgré les aléas du temps, rien ne vous retient ! Et surtout merci de me permettre de suivre votre Aventure extraordinaire. Amicalement. Pierre-Alain

  • walter roschnik

    Hallo Rupert!
    That sounds quite risky with these weather conditions.
    But I can imagine you have so much experience with these difficulties so you could handle it with wisdom and patience. I hope the weather is getting better and allows you to continue with great views in these wonderful mountains! I wonder if we could find a weekend on the Austrian border that is not too high alpinist level for me to walk a track together with you.
    All the best Walter

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