Corni di Canzo

Mountain/Rock

Corni di Canzo

Page Type: Mountain/Rock

Location: Como-Lecco, Italy, Europe

Lat/Lon: 45.86856°N / 9.28714°E

County: Lombardia

Activities: Hiking, Trad Climbing, Sport Climbing, Scrambling, Via Ferrata

Season: Spring, Fall, Winter

Elevation: 4505 ft / 1373 m

Page By: gabriele

Created/Edited: Nov 5, 2006 / Feb 11, 2007

Object ID: 241535

Hits: 1038

Page Score: 88.49% - 9 Votes

Vote: Log in to vote

Table of Contents

Overview

Getting There

what can a rock climber do here ...

Overview

In its southern part, the Como lake (Lario) is divided into two branches by a big triangle made of hills and mountains.
The most important summit here is the Monte San Primo where from two main ridges come down, toward south-east and south-west directly to the lake.
The SE branch ends with some remarkable mountains that, despite their low altitude, rise for about 1000m (3300-3400ft) above the plan and the lakes : these summits are well known to Lombardic climbers and hikers as they are good destinations for "out of season" climbing activities, walking, hiking, climbing, sport climbing and .. paragliding :)
They are : from south : the Cornizzolo, the Corno Rai, the Corni di Canzo and the Moregallo
Corni di Canzo are the 3 limestone "brothers" rising in the middle of this ridge and the highest summits.

some tens years ago they where well known and "used" for training during the bad days of winter when Grignetta was full of snow and/or ice and the Nibbio wall was too crowded ...

The Corno Occidentale (western) is the highest (1373m) point of the ridge between the Lambro river and the Lecco branch of Lario. It is the easiest one, hosting a good easy path for hikers, a ferrata and some not difficult rock routes

The Corno Centrale (central) is 1368m high and is the main for rock climbers due to its NE wall (parete Fasana) where many difficult routes (100-120m drop) have been opened

The Corno Orientale (eastern) is 1250m high and has an interesting East wall (100m drop) with some classic and some modern routes

Getting There

accesses are different depending on what you are going to do there ...

for the easy path or the ferrata to the main summit the best starting point is from
Gajum fonts 450m - how to get there
from Milano, Como or Lecco follow the roads leading to Erba and "Valassina"
Here you must follow for "Valassina" till Canzo where you must start on foot
Canzo is accessible also by railroad from Milano using the FNM (Ferrovie Nord Milano) starting from Milano-Cadorna

for the rocky routes on the walls of central and eastern summits the best starting point is from
Valmadrera
From Milano - SS 36 (Spluga)
You must leave the SS 36 before the first tunnel, having on your right side a small lake, when on the old road to Lecco, at the first traffic light you have to turn to the left, and go straight along till a square (newspaper kiosk), now on the left and suddenly to the right (via Leopardi), at the fork, to the right (Via S.Carlo Borromeo) then along the road that leads you to Belvedere (290m) when you can park (if you're lucky) your car and start walking toward the Rifugio SEV

what can a rock climber do here ...

for beginners
a good starting point could be the S wall of Western summit where you can find a not difficult (AD) route of about 150m drop or the SW wall where 2 more routes, slighly more difficult, can be a good training.
An amusing way to spend an afternoon (after a dinner at rifugio SEV) is to climb the "Pilastrini", 2 small pillars detached from the E edge of central summit

for classic rock climbers
some difficult, somewhere in aided climb, routes on the NE wall of the central summit and a fine difficult route on the E wall of eastern summit

for modern climbers
here a link to an interesting page

Camping

No need to camp here (forbidden), all hikes and climbs can be done in one day starting from Padana plan

Red Tape

these are very popular sites ... only good manners and politeness are required

post scriptum

I've never carried a camera with me the tens times I've been there ... but I hope that in the next weeks (before winter ends ...) I'm going to shot some pics there

Images



[ View Gallery - 7 More Images ]

"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." --Mark Twain