A note from the SP staff
Stefan Weber, the member we all used to know from his climbing pseudonym kletterwebbi, died on May 28th 2004 in southern France at the age of 37.

Stefan joined SP early on in 2002 and contributed a number of excellent pages and routes to this site. He was an accomplished climber excelling in difficult alpine and technical routes. The Dolomites, especially the area around Gröden / Val Gardena were special to him, as it was his old ancestral home.

kletterwebbi was always willing to share his knowledge and experience with other climbers, mainly here on SP, but also on other sites. He contributed his IT expertise as webmaster of his local section of the German Alpine Club, where he also engaged in leading trips for fellow members. Besides his climbing and mountaineering activities he was a musician, a composer of contemporary music. Stefan will be greatly missed by us all.

This page will be kept in honor of kletterwebbi, one of SP's most talented, knowledgeable members, and without a doubt, one of our greatest fellow mountaineers.

The picture was taken on the summit ridge of Lyskamm.

Overview

The Piz Ciavaces is a big mountain at the W part of the
Sella group at the dolomites close to the Sella Joch/Passo Sella. The mountain is famous for it's great face climbs at the S-face and for the (difficult) Via Ferrata "Pössneckersteig" at the W-flank (this Via Ferrata is using the Piz Ciavazes W-flank but reaches the summit of the Piz Selva).

The western continuation of the Piz Ciavaces are the well known Sella-Türme (Sella towers) above the Sella Joch/Passo Sella. The west flank of the mountain is part of the huge rock wall above the Grödnertal/Val Gardena.

The S-face above the road to the Sellajoch/Passo Sella together with the huge NW-face of the Sass Pordoi builds one of the most characteristic landscapes of the western part of the Dolomites. This face consists of two parts (upper and lower) diveded by a big ledge, the so called "Gamsband" (chamois ledge). Below this ledge the famous face climbs of the S-face took place. This is an area of enjoyable, famous and therefore often crowded routes (see route overview for details). The upper part is visited seldom though most routes of the lower part have a continuation above the Gamsband. But this upper part is more alpinistic, the routes gets longer, the descent becomes more difficult, the rock quality isn't as good as at the lower part and therefore most parties only climb the lower part of the face.

Additional infos can be found at the following pages at SummitPost:
- Dolomite Mountains page
- Sella group page

Getting There

Trailhead for the S-face routes of the Piz Ciavaces is the road from Canazei to the Sella Joch/Passo Sella.

For the routes at the W-part of the S-face follow a trail from the Albergo Flora Maria at the Sellajoch to the base of the face. For the routes at the E-part of the S-face park at one of the parking areas directly below the face at the road to the Sella Joch/Passo Sella. From there different trails are going up to the base of the face. In all cases it may take about 20 minutes to reach the start of the climbs.

For the W-flank (Via Ferrata) trailhead is the Sella Joch/Passo Sella itself. From there follow the good trail below Sella Türme and the W-flank of the Piz Ciavazes (marked).

Red Tape

None

When To Climb

Spring, Summer and autumn. In winter and early spring danger of ice fall and even avalanches from the summit plateau.

Camping

There are only a few good camping places for climbers at the Dolomites. Three at Cortina d'Ampezzo, one at Corvara, two at Canazei and one at Wolkenstein. Those at Canazei should be the best choice for climbing at the Sass Pordoi. There are lots of hotels at the whole region.

Mountain Conditions

Good place with lot of informations are this Homepage of the Fassa-valley.

And there is another Homepage with lots of informations to the Fassa-valley.

The weather forecast for the region can be seen here: Weatherforcast Trentino.

Routes

There is no real easy possibility to climb the Piz Ciavazes. The easiest one is the Via Ferrata "Pößneckersteig". This Via Ferrata brings one to the saddle between Piz Ciavazes and Piz Selva. From there without any difficulties to the summit. This route provides also the common descent by foot from the summit. There is an alternativ for the descent by rapelling the "Via Stefan" (very exposed).

There are about 40 routes at the S-face of the Piz Ciavazes. At this place only a short overview to the most important routes can be done. Details can be found at the common guide books. Most of this routes are not bolted (as usual at the Dolomites), so a full rack is needed. Some of the most popular routes (Micheluzzi, Schubert etc.) have bolted stances.

As described, most parties will climb only the lower part of the S-face up to the Gamsband. For descending from the Gamsband follow the good trail at the Gamsband direction Sella Joch (some wires).

Via Ferrata "Pößneckersteig": Rated as a difficult Via Ferrata this routes provied a exposed, interesting approach to the Piz Ciavazes at the W-flank. It may take 3 hours from the Sella Joch. Originally this was a route rated UIAA 4, first climbed by G. Haupt and P. Mayr in 1907.
Gamsband route: Mostly just a hike with some short moves of UIAA 2. This is a funny approach to the summit traveling through the whole S-face of the Piz Ciavazes following the big Gamsband. This route is also used as the descent after doing on of the climbs at the lower part of the S-face.

All other routes are at the S-face:

SW Verschneidung: 6+ (5+/A0 if aided), 240m, 3h, a famous, often done climb, first ascent by J.B. Vinatzer and L. Riffeser in 1934.
Zeni Verscheidung: 7- (5+/A1 if aided, A2 if pitons are missing), 130m, 3h, first climbed by D. Zeni and L. Trottner in 1960
Via Italia: A2/5, 470m, 8-10h (4-6 up to the Gamsband), first ascent by De Franceschh, C. Franceschetti, Q. Romanin and E. Wuerich in 1961
Via Giampiero Tarenghi: 6, 250m, 4h, start of teh route is at the Gamsband, first ascent by D. Huber and S. Ventura in 1985
Soldà/S-Verschneidung: 7- and A1, 600m, 12h, a important, famous but seldom done route, one of the big epics of the Piz Ciavazes, first climbed by G. Soldà and G. Pagani in 1947
Rossi/Tomasi: 4+, 200m, 3h for the upper part (common), 5-/A1, 450m, 7h for the complete route. Only the lower part up to the Gamsband is done. First climbed by B. Rossi and A. Tomasi in 1945
Grosse Micheluzzi: 6- or 5+/A0, mostly 5, 250m, 5h up to the Gamsband (500m, 8h for the complete route to the summit), one of the most famous routes of the whole dolomites, very often climbed, alltimes crowded, but this route is worthwhile. Some bolts in place but not completely bolted. Superb climbing route, first done by L. Micheluzzi and E. Castiglioni in 1935
Buhl Variante: 6 or 6-/A1, an often done direct variant to the Grosse Micheluzzi, first climbed by Hermann Buhl and Walter Streng in 1949
Weg der Freundschaft: 6- and A0, 250m, 4 h up to the Gamsband (500m, 10h up to the summit), an other highlight at the S-face. Famous, very good route with a very demanding first pitch. Meanwhile bolted belays. First climbed by Pit Schubert, K. Matthies and K. Werner in 1967
Via dei Camini: 5+, 500m, 8h, climb mostly on chimneys, most time wet, first ascent by F. Glück, G. Demetz and H.T. Steel in 1928
Kleine Micheluzzi: 5-, 220m, 3h, a nice, often done, relative easy possibility to climb the S-face up to the Gamsband, first climbed by L. Micheluzzi, W. Rogers and P. Slocovich in 1928
Via Irma: 7- or V/A0, 260m, 3h, a good route, often done, first ascent by B. Pellegrino and E. Böhnel in 1964
Rampenführe: 4+, 300m, 2h up to the Gamsband. 500m, 4h up to the summit, a very often, very crowded but nice route, first climbed by S. del Torso and E. Lezuo in 1935
Abram Kante: 7- or 5+/A0, 300m, 5h up to the Gamsband. 500m, 7h up to the summit. An often done, good route. Most time all piton should be in place, but some times some of them will be gone ... First climbed by E. Abram and F.Gombocz in 1953

At the base of the Piz Ciavazes S-face some base climbs are installed. If climbing there one have to take care about rock fall from the huge face above. The usage of a helmet is very recommended ! Those routes are described at the guide book Val di Fassa - Guida alle arrampicate sportive.

More informations can be found at this page (thanks to gabriele.roth for this info).

Guidebook & map

Anette Köhler, Norber Memmel; Dolomiten, Genussklettereien III-VI, Rother Selection, Bergverlag Rudolf Rother, München, ISBN 3-7633-3001-1
Richard Goedeke, Sella & Langkofel extrem, Bergverlag Rudolf Rother, München, ISBN 3-7633-1315-X
Renato Bernard/Gabriele Bonnano; Val di Fassa - Guida alle arrampicate sportive, Dora' Publisher, Bolzano

Map: Tabacco, Map 05 "Val Gardena & Alpe di Siusi"

First ascent

The first ascent was done by H. Bertram, H. Binn, H. Lorenz, O. Nafe with Th. and M. von Smoluchowski.

What's new

2004-05-10: added Latitude/Longitude (Thanks to Gangolf Haub for this information)

Images



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