Does anyone have any information about it? Wasn't it the last one to be climbed? How hard is it?
It seems like quite an elegant ridge, just like Hörnli.

finer than Hörnli, but as difficult as the Italian route (SW ridge) without fixed ropes, rock not always fine
Till the shoulder it is an edge between the slanted East wall and the vertical South wall

<li>the "Piacenza" route has difficulties up to 4° UIAA : the lower part is not difficult but somewhere dangerous for rolling stones, the higher part, over the shoulder, is difficult, but with good rock (150 m drop)
<li>the "Carrel" variant is much more difficult, some pitches of 5° and 5°+ UIAA
escaping can be done crossing the East wall, under the "head" of Matterhorn, (Mummery ledges) to get the Hörnli ridge

Thanks for the info!

So, it's real UIAA grade 4 (or 5/5+), without the fixed ropes. In a way Hörnli is not a real III anymore with these.
Is it dangerous to traverse the East face via the Mummery ledges? Or the rockfalls start lower on the face?

not difficult and less dangerous than coming back along the Furggen with bad weather

The ropes on the Hörnli were put up not to make things easier but to keep people off the part of the north face you would have to climb on the original route, as rockfall danger is too great. I believe, if you were to climb that section of the ridge without the ropes, it would be classed as UIAA IV+.

OK, that makes sense. Are there enough anchors on Hörnli, for emergency retreat by abseiling?

We rapelled most of the Hörnli (in 1985) from placed anchors but there are plenty of places to rig some slings, if need be.