Piz Cambrena

Overview

Geographical classification: Alps - Eastern part > Bernina Group > Piz Cambrena

Piz Cambrena 3606 m

This page will be kept in honour of Stefan Weber, the SP member known as kletterwebbi,  the former owner of this page, died on May 28th 2004 in Southern France at the age of 37.   

Piz Cambrena 3603 m is a mountain belonging to the Bernina massif, located between Italy and Switzerland in the Western Rhaetian Alps. More precisely, the mountain is lying between the Piz Palü and the Bernina Pass not far from the border with Italy, anyhow entirely in Switzerland in the Canton of Graubünden. Piz Cambrena is one of the famous mountains of the "Festsaal der Alpen", as the mountain group around the Piz Bernina is called. Piz Cambrena is the last remarkable peak in the fantastic range surrounding the Morteratsch-basin which counts mountains like Piz Bernina, Piz Roseg and Piz Palü. Piz Cambrena is covered by snow with some disrupted glaciers with big seracs. There are three main ridges (SE, N, WSW), three main faces (E, NW and S) and a prominent NNW-buttress. The main W-summit is about 4 meters higher then the E-summit. There are different cols around the peak : the Fuorcla Pers Palü (3445 m) to the West connects the Piz Cambrena with the Piz Palü (3905 m), the Fuorcla dal Cambrena (3373 m) to the East separates the Piz cambrena from the Piz Caral (3421 m). Finally to the North the Piz Cambrena joins the Piz d'Arlas (3375 m) with a long rock crest.

There is no easy route to the summit, all of them need at least basic rock and/or ice climbing knowledges. Nevertheless Piz Cambrena is climbed very often. The Diavolezza Hut is a real optimal starting point for Piz Cambrena and allows quite short approach. The most famous route is the traverse going up the NNW-butress ("Eisnase" = ice nose) and going down via Piz d'Arlas.

Getting there

To get to the Piz Cambrena travel to the Engadin. Villages like St. Moritz or Pontresina are good places to start. The best trailhead is the Diavolezza hut (2973 m). This can be reached by a cable car from the route to the Bernina Pass. For more info about the cable car see:  Diavolezza.  It's also possible to hike up from the road to the hut (it takes about 2-3 hours).

Routes

N-ridge : ZS, 3, about 4 hours from Diavolezza, this is the regular route, moderate rock climbing, finally some snow/ice hiking.
N-flank : SS, 3, 4-6 hours from Diavolezza, serious danger of icefall, uncommon, sometimes very hard
NNW-butress (Eisnase, "ice nose") : ZS, 2, 4-6 hours from Diavolezza, the most famous route, some pitches ice climbing up to 45°, all the rest is moderate rock and ice climbing.
SW-ridge : ZS, 2, 5 hours from Diavolezza, mainly rock climbing
NW-buttress : ZS, 3-4, 5-6 hours from Diavolezza

The combination of the NNW-buttres (ice nose) and the N-ridge is a great, not too difficult, not too long route. Another great but demanding tour is the traverse Diavolezza - Piz Cambrena - Piz Palù - Diavolezza.

Red Tape

You do not need any permissions. 

Hut

To climb the Piz Cambrena most people will start from the Berghaus Diavolezza.  For Reservations:

Berghaus Diavolezza  Familie Lühr  CH-7504 Pontresina  Tel: +41 81 842 62 05 / Fax +41 81 842 61 58  (200 beds)

Camping

There are two campgrounds at Pontresina, one directly at the crossing Pontresina / St. Moritz about 3 km NW of Pontresina. The other one - Camping Plauns - can be found about 5 km SE of Pontresina below the Morteratsch glacier (direction Bernina Pass).

Mountain Conditions

The best place to get informations about the actual weather conditions is the Meteo Switzerland website. Informations about mountain conditions also can be found at the homepages of St. Moritz or Pontresina.

When to climb

The routes of the Piz Cambrena are climbable in Summer (from June to September). Also in winter some of the routes (ice nose!) are done quite often because it's easy to reach them (cable !)

Meteo

Meteo Switzerland

Guidebooks & Maps

"Bernina" - N. Canetta, G. Miotti - Collana Guide dei Monti d'Italia CAI-TCI
"Bernina & Bregaglia Selected Climbs" - Lindsay Griffin ISBN: 0900523603
"Berninagruppe" Gebietsführer für Wanderer, Bergsteiger und Hochalpinisten - Walther Flaig   ISBN: 3763324178 Bergverlag Rudolf Rother, München
"Clubführer SAC Bündner Alpen band 5" ISBN: 3859021311
"Bernina" sheet 1278 - CNS 1:25.000

In Memory of Stefan "kletterwebbi" Weber

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.