Punta Rasica

Overview

A serious summit between the Cima di Castello and Pizzi Torrone, in the eastern part of the Masino Group,
till the '60 it was one of the most known mountains of Masino, together with Pizzo Badile and Pizzo Cengalo,
then it has been almost forgotten ... but it's always an old fashion climb !
It is a big mountain with a very thin summit, a blade of 10-30 m drop, that is the main difficulty of the normal route (difficulty of 4+ UIAA) and that make this summit one of the most difficult to be climbed in this area.


Absolutely not to be underestimate: in 1937 some italian climbers guided by Vitale Bramani while trying to descend, during a long and bad storm, died for exhaustion : they were climbing with rock-shoes and couldn't get out the glacier because of ice on walls and fresh snow
(after that Bramani invented the Vibram, the famous sole for heavy boots we still use for high mountain climbs)
But, with fine weather it is a fantastic summit in a wonderful environment.
Just remember always to go there with a long rope (50 m suggested) and an ice-axe !

the Bramani route is one of the finest classic climbs of Masino range, can be considered like the Pizzo Badile N edge, a wonderful and impressive horizontal cross will be printed in your mind :)

From Val di Zocca (a Val Masino subvalley) the summit grows up from two base-boards becoming a unique ridge
From Forno valley (rifugio del Forno) a not specially fine wall allows to get the summit ridge
or Passo Lurani or Colle Rasica with few difficulties (if clean from snow)

Getting There

Northern side : val BREGAGLIA
by car from Milan (SS-36) - Milano - Lecco - Chiavenna .... Malojapass
by car from S.Moritz till Malojapass then to rif. dl Forno (val del Forno) 2574m

Southern side - VALTELLINA
by car from Milan (SS-36) Milano - Lecco - Colico .... Sondrio
- Ardenno - bagni del Masino then to rif Allievi (val di Zocca) 2385m

Routes overview

just remember that all routes have a common end : the final blade that has difficulty of 4+ UIAA,
so I will not give difficulties of the routes that are easier.

WNW wall - normal route from Rif. Allievi PD the wall - normally used for coming down - requires a 1 rope of 50m or 2 ropes of 40m

NNW ridge from Rif.Forno (PD) or from Rif.Allievi (AD) to Passo Lurani where ridge begins - long and very fine

East wall the easiest route from Rif.Forno, when not wet.

ESE ridge and East wall from Rif.Forno to Colle Rasica, the normal route from Forno when East wall is wet or full of snow

South wall huge wall !!! 400 m drop and difficult - rock not always fine - a typical mountain climb, requires experience to find the best way

SW ridge - via Bramani - some pitches of 4 and 4+ - 600 m drop and almost 900 develope

some other modern pure rock climbing routes have been open on the base-boards and many variants have been open on the walls

When To Climb

july, with clean walls and snow on the glaciers the approach can be not as difficult as in late summer when walls are very detached from ice.

Red Tape

no problems

Camping

difficult to camp here, the rifuges grant all necessary commodities

Images

View Punta Rasica Image Gallery - 7 Images