UKC

Anyone has got any information about the current conditions at Piz Badile, we are thinking of doing the North Ridge in the next few weeks.

cheers,
Murilo

In reply to murilolessa:

probably cold wet and frozen higher up. its usually ok from about early july onwards. theres an article on ukc somewhere about the route and best time to do it. its not somewhere you would want to get stuck in bad weather, best left till later in the season. also the descent is not easy whichever way you pick, we climbed the cassin and descended by the south face to the gianetti rather than abbing the ridge- it was pretty straight forward but the walk back shouldnt be underestimated (especially if the weather isnt settled as the passes would be evil to descend in the wet...)

In reply to murilolessa:

Today it is soaking, with light persistent rain in the Engadine. The weather for the next week is forecast to be similar.

While I've met someone who has done the ridge in winter, I suspect conditions over the next while will be horrible, neither summer nor winter, so lashings of rain, sleet and snow.

Sorry not to be able to provide more heartening information but I hope this helps.

Luke

In reply to LukeO: That was the kind of answer I was looking for. Thank you mate.

In reply to murilolessa:

im incredibly sorry my answer was so poor and want to apologize unreservedly for my lacking answer. rest assured i will never under any circumstances off such dreadfully cack advice in the future. in fact im probably going to shoot myself now.

In reply to mountassguard: What I meant is that I was trying to get a answer from someone who have just being at the place and could give me a bit more information on the real current conditions. Apologies for making you feel that way and thank you for taking the time to contribute in any way.

regards,

In reply to mountassguard: Hey, give Murilo a break!

His first language is not English and he was making an honest inquiry about conditions on a route - no need for sarcasm.

In reply to murilolessa:

I'll p.m. you

cheers

In reply to mountassguard:
For an evidently accomplished alpinist and mountaineer, your reply is childish at best. You gave general advice which is fantastic, but the following poster gave current conditions, which was more relevant to the OP's question.
Maybe time to put that dummy back in?
Then learn how to live without it?

In reply to crustypunkuk:

Past week the isotherme has been around 3000m with unsettled weather on most of Alps. I suppose anything south facing with altitude of 2500m will be ok on rock if the weather turns good. Snow or ice climbs higher up should be fine, too.

I've been reading the forecasts lately since we've got flights to Milan on May 15th but we haven't decided on the final destination.

In reply to crustypunkuk:

chill out, tongue in cheek etc- see your from glenrothes, thought youd need a sense of humour living there! (im from fife as well...)

In reply to murilolessa: doubt if you'll find many who've been up there at this time of year, if what you're looking for is precise information on the exact conditions on the route now. Can tell you something about the general conditions in the Alps at the moment, however. Had a quick look at the weather and snow conditions for the Engadine, and they do not appear much different from what we're experiencing here in the Western Alps: continuous snow cover down to around 1800-2000 on north-facing slopes and 2200-2600 on south-facing ones, sodden and unstable up to around 2600 on north-facing and 3000 on south-facing. Weather has been very unsettled with fresh snow down to 2500m and rain below that. There have been brief windows of fine weather though. If you do get clear weather, you may find the approach hard going owing to rotten snow and there is a high probability you will encounter snow/ice on the upper part of the route, which could make it more of a hard mixed route than a moderate rock one. Please excuse me if this is not the kind of information you were looking for, but I think it's the best picture you're likely to get of what you can expect to find up there over the next few weeks. Lovely time of year to be going to the Val di Mello however, if you're looking for some good multi-pitch trad climbing.

In reply to testagrigia:

Thanks! Very good information.

On the top of my mind the best options I can think of are Torre Venezia near Civetta, Valle del Orco and Val di Mello. Perhaps Mont Aiguille, Wetterstein and Rätikön, too, if it's bad weather closer by.

Final selection should depend on the conditions of three last days prior to the trip.

In reply to adnix: if you're flexible, you'll find masses to do. Main problem with lower down rock routes at the moment is seepage from all the rain and snow we've had, so a lot of routes are still running with water, but you will find some thing dry. I only mentioned Val di Mello because its near Badile and on granite, but you've got the whole Dolomites and loads of classic limestone round Lake Como...and if the weather's miserable in the Alps, you can go down and do some sport climbing at the seaside at Finale Ligure or Albenga....

In reply to testagrigia:

Our plan F is Calanques. It's only about 5 hour drive.

In reply to adnix: if the weather reduces you to that, on your way there check out the awesome 360m cliff of Bric Pianarella: loads of tough multipitch there and masses of other stuff nearby. Did a route called Grimonett there, quite spectacular.
http://m.camptocamp.org/summits/42466/fr/bric-pianarella-paretone
at Finale. Great place to stay/eat right opposite called A Ca De Alice, a real climbers' hang out.
Another hot tip for the Italian riviera is Muzzerone a spectacular 300m marble sea cliff near La Spezia
http://www.planetmountain.com/english/rock/italy/muzzerone/01.html
Have fun!

In reply to testagrigia:

Thanks for the Muzzerone tip. Before I knew there was some multipitch there but now I found a topo for it. Plenty of pictures on Google, too, if you search Muzzerone Pareti Striale.
http://www.scuoladiarrampicatamuzzerone.it/immagini/PiantaPareteStriata.jpg

In addition to Brig Pianarella there's a wall called Rocca dell Ulivo near Finale. There are three overhanging routes there with the easiest being 6c if I remember right. It's on the guidebook for surronding area and I was there a couple of years ago.
http://www.patagonia.fi/finale

Do you know anything about the climbing in between Orco and Finale? There seems to be one guidebook by Versante Sud but other than that not much info. Any walls of 200m or more there?

In reply to testagrigia: I second the recommendation for Bric Pianarella. We ended up in Finale because Arco was rained off, and this was one of the best multipitch rock climbs that I've done (this route: http://m.camptocamp.org/routes/56289/it/bric-pianarella-paretone-i-n-p-s ). Very featured, very steep, climbing wall-like climbing

In reply to murilolessa:

Is there anything between Valle dell'Orco and Finale! Where to start!

Forgetting about the low-level stuff, here are some of the best spots:

Classic and multi-pitch sport routes on Monviso round Rifugio Giacoletti: http://www.giacoletti.it/

Great classic and sport routes in Val Maira: Rocca Provenzale/Rocca Castello/Rocca la Meija
http://www.campobaseacceglio.it/

The glorious Corno Stella! (spur of the Argentera massif) http://www.rifugiobozano.it/

Fantastic limestone multipitch (mostly pretty difficult) round the Mongoie refuge: http://www.rifugio-mongioie.com/arrampicata.html

loads of topos for most of the abover here: http://www.cuneoclimbing.it/multipitch

Guidebooks here: http://www.versantesud.it/index.html

Have fun!