Fresh snow – and a short day 6

September 5th

Itinerary:  Alp Somdoss – Pass da Canfinal (2628 m) and back
Distance:  9,2 km
Time taken: 3 hours 30 minutes (plus 50 minutes for the stops)
Vertical distance:  730 m uphill and downhill

It had rained hard most of the night and in the morning the main peaks were either hidden in cloud or covered in fresh snow down to about 2400 metres.  I chose the Canfinal pass because it had a marked trail to it and because one could drive up to 2080 metres!  This in itself was quite an adventure and  many a local farmer or herdsman might have wondered where I would find some white water for the kayak!  The weather was satisfactory and there was even a bit of sun – until it started raining and snowing again by 3 p.m. but by then I was down again.  There was quite some snow on the col, hiding all paths and markings, so I decided not to do any summits.  Two hours later, most of the snow below about 2600 m was gone.

Again I met two hunters – I was going down then and they were going up, and Fritz confirmed it is the hunting season and they have to shoot a female chamois first before attempting anything else.  Shortly after I passed them a shot rang out and echoed round the valley.  The hunters have to be within 100 m of their target, so I must have passed quite close to it without seeing anything.  On the other hand, the whole area was teeming with marmots – I heard many of their warning signals and even glimpsed one or two scurrying into their holes.

After 4 nights in hotels in Pontresina and Poschiavo, I was again welcomed by Fritz and Ursulina.  And the good news:  the weather will be fine on Monday 7th, so the ascent and traverse of Piz Palü is confirmed!

Photo:

Canfinal Pass at midday, showing why conditions were not ideal for attempting a summit.