Piz Badile

Via Cassin, 6a, 900m

Piz Badile and its unmissable 900m north-east granite wall with the Via Cassin in the Bergell area of Switzerland is our destination. The route was climbed in 1937 by climbers R. Cassin, G. Esposito, V. Ratti in three days. They were joined by two other climbers in the wall. However, two of them died during the descent. The first solo was made by Hermann Buhl in 1952. Czechoslovak climbers have three first ascents in the wall.

We leave the car at the official parking lot of the Sasc Furä hut above the town of Bondo and we have a 3.5 to 4 hour hike to the new access to the hut. A rock avalanche from neighbouring Piz Cengalo in the summer of 2017 completely destroyed the valley road and the original access to the hut. Therefore, we now have to walk around a much longer approach to the hut. The trail goes through picturesque hillsides with small mountain hamlets and amazing views of Cengalo and Badile. Later, the hut keeper revealed to me that there is an illegal but much shorter access to the hut on the right slope above the avalanche site. Hopefully in a year’s time it will be legal and signposted.

We spent the night at the Sasc Furä hut with very friendly service. We woke up at 3:45, had breakfast and around 4:30 we left the hut in the dark and headed up the trail below the northeast face of Piz Badile. There is snow on the upper third of the wall and we just hope that the wall will not be wet and the chimney at the top will not be full of snow. The ascent leads to a saddle below the north edge of the wall where you have to abseil or climb down to the boarding shelves leading to the start of the Via Cassin. Early in the season, the shelves may be under snow, which can make it very difficult to get to the trailhead. Fortunately we have dry shelves with no snow and easy terrain to traverse below the entry.

At the end of the shelf, we tie into the rope and begin to escape the 900-foot granite splendor. The lower lengths are completely wet. However, it looks more like condensation from atmospheric moisture. Difficulty is about 6. We climb the easier lengths at the same time. The lower half of the route runs strongly diagonally left and therefore any return by abseiling would be very problematic. The climbing is great in compact gently laid granite. We find crampons and rivets of varying qualities. Sometimes it is difficult to navigate the wall and hit the right pitches. The sun is out but we will be in the shade most of the day. It’s mid-September and the sun is no longer high enough to warm the northeast face of Piz Badile.

Before lunch, we climb the shelf in the middle of the wall. The sun finally briefly leans into the wall and we take a little break, drink and replenish our energy. The second half of the route looks dry and should go without a hitch. The question remains the chimney at the end. We start with poisonous lengths around 6+ and continue to the legendary chimney. The chimney is free of snow but the inside is completely wet. Since the chimney is V-shaped, it has to be climbed from the outside for a contradiction and only climbed inside to establish a fred. The final lengths need to be hit correctly and not swerved in the wrong direction. Around 16:00 we are on the northern edge of Piz Badile.

The route along the northern edge of Piz Badile is monumental and sought after as a destination for mountain guides and their clients. However, it is a challenging and long climb where the client must have experience climbing big walls. At the edge we change into approach shoes and climb simultaneously for about 1 hour on a relatively easy but very exposed ridge to the summit. To the left of the ridge falls the northeast face and to the right falls the northwest face. Both are about 900 metres long. We reach the summit pyramid around 17:00. I run off to see what the summit bivouac looks like about 100m from the summit below the ridge. It is a small yellow hut with 4 beds. However, there is no water and since the Gianetti hut on the Italian side is 2,5 hours descent our next course of action is clear. At the top we sit and replenish our energy. The descent down the south ridge of Piz Badile awaits us. The descent is on easy climbing terrain with a few rappels on a single 60m rope (30m pitches). We arrive at the Gianetti hut before dark and enjoy the legendary Italian cuisine and replenish lost fluids.

In the morning we wake up to a beautiful day. The original plan was to trek across two saddles back to the Sasc Furä hut. However, at breakfast we meet four guys who have climbed the North Face and offer to share a taxi back to Bond. It’s a 2.5 hour descent to Italy by trail and then taxi. I would have preferred via the saddles, but Pete’s swollen ankle after yesterday decides to take the taxi. The taxi picks us up at the old baths in San Martino after a 2.5 hour descent on foot and brings us back to Bondo after an hour’s ride. The only problem is that I was counting on more climbing and left my stuff up at the hut. Therefore, I still briskly walk up to the Sasc Furä hut to get my stuff and back down. However, it’s only a trek for 6 hours up and down 🙂 After all those derivative Gerlachs it feels like a walk to me.

The beautiful road is climbed and we return home. I’m going straight to the High Tatras, where the rest of the guiding season awaits me.

Piz Badile, Via Cassin, 900m 6a

Material:

• 60m half ropes
• personal equipment, seat, seatposts, belayer, helmet
• 12 expresses
• 4 hms carabiners
• set of BD C3 and C4 fenders
• set of wedges
• 6 loops
• creepers, approach shoes, majos
• emergency two-seater gypsy
• first aid kit
• 1-1,5l of water per person + bars (8 litres was enough for me, but Peto drank almost 2 litres)
• Headlamp
• 30l backpack
• thin gorac jacket and gate
• a charged mobile phone with a downloaded map of the area

Prices:

• cottages with half board approx. 60€ per person per night
• in Switzerland you need a pillowcase and a sleeping bag liner in the chalets, otherwise they charge 8€ for renting it for the night
• taxi back to Bondo for 4 people 200€, for 6 people 300€
• taxi will be very happy to call you at the Gianetti hut (but you have to walk 2,5 hours down)