North Ridge of the Piz Badile — Women's Alpine Adventure Club

By Lucy Foster

Me and a good friend Rob headed out to the Alps in July 2019 with a list of routes and a weather forecast. We had a few goals but based on previous alps trips decided to just follow the weather. After a couple of amazing days at the Dalmazzi hut and a few days in Chamonix we spotted our weather window and headed for the Bregaglia in the hope we would get the chance to climb the North Ridge of Piz Badile.

Following a landslide in 2017 the Sasc Fura Hut had only just re-opened meaning we were one of the first groups to be able to access the route from the Swiss side for two years. Due to the landslide the approach to the hut is now 11.5 km with 1291 m of ascent. In the July heat this equated to quite a slog (approx 4 hrs) which we chose to do in the late afternoon arriving to the hut just in time for dinner.

We were sat with another team of Brits and some Germans for dinner and soon found that we were going to be in good company on the North Ridge with another 5 groups preparing for the route the following day.

We made an alpine start, the moon still hanging over the Badile as we set off on our objective - 24 pitches of 5.6 (UIAA III/IV) up the prominent North Ridge. The Ridge looked amazing in the light of the dawn and through sleepy eyes we approached up the glacier to the base of the route (approx 2 hrs).

Roped up and rock shoes on, we started second up the route with another group gearing up behind us. The rock was amazing. Grippy featured granite with handholds just where you need them lead us up the wonderful ridge line. Occasionally there were some tricky pitches which we pitched properly but most of the route was spent moving together on a 50 m rope stopping every few pitches to exchange gear. There was a little bit of traffic and overlap with other climbers but the groups we were climbing alongside were considerate and a fun group of people to hang out with between pitches.

Route finding is relatively straight forward as you stick to the ridge for most of the route with a few deviations between the middle and top. Where the climbing is easy the bolts are more sparse making you question if you have gone off route but just as you query, one tends to appear a short climb away. After 7 hrs on the route, we reached the summit! The longest rock route I have ever climbed so I was psyched!! We celebrated with a peanut butter sandwich and a toast with a Nalgene bottle of water.

In alpine climbing, reaching the summit is only half way to completing the route! For the decent there are two options. Abseil back down the north ridge to the Sasc Fura or a short abseil off the south side into Italy and descend the glacier and a hike to the Gianetti Hut. We had heard bad things about the abseil down the north ridge so opted for the shorter abseil to the Italian side. The decent has been recently re-bolted to include a series of 30 m abseils. The anchors are well placed out of reach of rock fall down the gully. This means they are slightly tricky to spot so just keep a look out as you descend. We made it promptly down to the glacier in about 1 hr. We then spent an hour trying to free our ropes which had got caught in a Bergschrund. After 10 hrs on the move this got a little frustrating and we eventually had to cut a couple of metres off the end of the rope to free it.

On tired legs we descended the glacier and down a vague path which led us to the Gianetti Hut. A cold coke and a mars bar tasted like a gourmet meal. We sat for an hour looking back up at our mountain and around a new glacier valley, The Val Masino.

As we were stingy Brits we decided against the comfort of the hut and instead opted for the approach back down to Bagni di Masino. We were told by some friendly Italians that there is plenty of accommodation in the nearby town….

The path and valley back down to town was beautiful. A glacial river flowing icy blue, beautiful alpine meadows and inviting rock faces. My tired body took on zombie mode so I slowly stepped one foot in front of another and made way towards town. At one point I thought I was hallucinating as we approached a field of cows all with cow bells gently chiming down the valley.

After a little bit of disorientation reaching Bagni di Masino we arrived in the town slightly disheveled and definitely stinky! After being turned away from two hotels (likely due to our stinkiness!) we sat in a climber’s bar and got chatting to some locals. We were soon pointed in the direction of a wonderful hostel for €10 per night including unlimited cold showers and as much dry packet toast as your dry mouth could handle….and a disco ball!

Feeling refreshed, the following day, we left the beautiful valley town and made our way back to Switzerland and our starting point of Bondo via a couple of buses and a train….stopping for a well deserved pizza on route…when in Italy!

As we got back to the campsite, we met the Brits we had been climbing alongside. They had planned to descend the North Ridge, bivi at the base and climb Cassin the following day. After 10 hrs of abseiling and a bit of a nightmare they decided to leave the Cassin for another trip and walked back down. I think our choice of descent was the right one!

Two countries, two beautiful valleys, one epic mountain and a few peanut butter sandwiches. What a flipping good adventure!