| Surely one of the most magnificent mountains in the Alps. The remote north east ridge is seldomly climbed, although the Balzola bivouac is really cozy. We had a whole day of clear weather ahead, before a storm front would come in the next day. It came early. When we were halfway up the ridge, to be exact. Ongoing thunder and lightning forced us to abseil down one of the ribs in the left face. Bivouacing on the ridge was just too dangerous. It became an epic adventure. We menaged to get down ourselves through nightmarish terrain, hail and snow, by leaving lots of gears and even having to cut the rope. When we arrived in the valley after midnight, we were really happy and postponed our plans to go to Dent d'Hérens and Cervino. :-) |
