UKC Logbook - 'North Ridge'

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Top quality Alps under 4000m , The Big Easys , A mix of routes to the summits of great Peaks in the Alps via standard'ish routes , Big Ideas , Ryan's Multipitch Climbs (Europe) , Banford's Over Ambitious and ill Informed Val Di Mello Ticklist , Alps to do , Alps to do , Swiss Alps - Les Plus Belles Courses , Pav’s dream list

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User	Date		Notes
chrishunt55	17 Aug	Show βeta βeta: After reading a lot of mixed reports we decide to take a single 50m. The decent was fine but require some down scrambling. (Some people down scrambled the whole thing) I would say x1 50m is fine if you are confident you will go up and over, but does limit your ability to retreat.	βeta?
Show beta βeta: After reading a lot of mixed reports we decide to take a single 50m. The decent was fine but require some down scrambling. (Some people down scrambled the whole thing) I would say x1 50m is fine if you are confident you will go up and over, but does limit your ability to retreat.
jh1990	25 Jun	Show βeta βeta: Old approach has a small bridge now between Lera and Lumbardui on Swisstopo map. Path is has been strimmered and prepared for the new season but not officially open. We went this way - S side descent sucks. Rap rings repeatedly placed at the junction of two gullies with no indication of which one. Even having read all the comments we still weren't clear. In essence (all directions facing out/downhill from the summit) - Walk down as far as you can from the summit. There is a small/icy snow patch to navigate (early June, will be gone soon). - You reach a ledge, on the right hand side there's a rap ring. - Ab1) 25m into a chossy chimney then some down climbing. - At the bottom of this is another rap ring at the junction of a large chimney on the right and a slab on the left. - Ab2) Ab LEFT 50m or 2*25m ish (tat half way) then downclimb to a green ledge. Single cairn at start of ledge. - Follow cairn ledge 30m to gap in ridge, along to another Rap ring. - Ab3) 30m to tat - Ab4) 30m to large ledge with multiple cairns and some red paint - Follow this ledge up and over,.then descend on the path a long way to the iron cross the junction of two gullies - Ab5) Ab RIGHT gully not left to a ledge and a ring 45m - Ab6) Crampons on and ab onto the snowfield below - Glissade to the hut and eat pasta.
Show beta βeta: Old approach has a small bridge now between Lera and Lumbardui on Swisstopo map. Path is has been strimmered and prepared for the new season but not officially open. We went this way - S side descent sucks. Rap rings repeatedly placed at the junction of two gullies with no indication of which one. Even having read all the comments we still weren't clear. In essence (all directions facing out/downhill from the summit) - Walk down as far as you can from the summit. There is a small/icy snow patch to navigate (early June, will be gone soon). - You reach a ledge, on the right hand side there's a rap ring. - Ab1) 25m into a chossy chimney then some down climbing. - At the bottom of this is another rap ring at the junction of a large chimney on the right and a slab on the left. - Ab2) Ab LEFT 50m or 2*25m ish (tat half way) then downclimb to a green ledge. Single cairn at start of ledge. - Follow cairn ledge 30m to gap in ridge, along to another Rap ring. - Ab3) 30m to tat - Ab4) 30m to large ledge with multiple cairns and some red paint - Follow this ledge up and over,.then descend on the path a long way to the iron cross the junction of two gullies - Ab5) Ab RIGHT gully not left to a ledge and a ring 45m - Ab6) Crampons on and ab onto the snowfield below - Glissade to the hut and eat pasta.
Freddy Dorling	2 Sep, 2024	Show βeta βeta: USE THE OLD APPROACH. Having done both, the new one took nearly 6 hours and the old one around 1.5 hours!!! Follow the track all the way up the valley until a small section where it got washed out, dip down to the river bed for a short section before rejoining the track. When the track ends go back down to river bank and follow the river up until you pass an obvious boulder on the opposing bank. Around here look for an appropriate place to cross (will depend on rainfall) - I had to get my feet wet, but it didn't feel dangerous, if there had been heavy rain I may have struggled more. Once across, walk up the valley past a series of huts, when you pass the final hut you should be able to follow the path/cairns until you join with the original approach. The rest is steep and short, but 10x easier than the new route.
Show beta βeta: USE THE OLD APPROACH. Having done both, the new one took nearly 6 hours and the old one around 1.5 hours!!! Follow the track all the way up the valley until a small section where it got washed out, dip down to the river bed for a short section before rejoining the track. When the track ends go back down to river bank and follow the river up until you pass an obvious boulder on the opposing bank. Around here look for an appropriate place to cross (will depend on rainfall) - I had to get my feet wet, but it didn't feel dangerous, if there had been heavy rain I may have struggled more. Once across, walk up the valley past a series of huts, when you pass the final hut you should be able to follow the path/cairns until you join with the original approach. The rest is steep and short, but 10x easier than the new route.
Allen Newby	22 Aug, 2024	Show βeta βeta: Johnny Dawes and jmoony's descriptions of the descent are useful. Also check out summit post's description of the normal route and follow it in reverse. Follow two big zig zags on easy ground, first left facing out, then right and follow a series of abseils close to the ridge on the right. Much of this is on old tat which after the big belay rings on the Swiss side makes you question whether you are on route. A couple of more long abseils bring you to a broad broken ledge, move right facing out. Climb down to the top of wide gully, climb down or abseil 50m to the long slightly descending traverse to the right. After about 200m look out for a rising line with small cairn and faded arrow. Don't continue on what appears like main path, but follow the rising traverse. Follow this for another 200m or so, with the path levelling off and then dropping down to the cross. Two abseils with 50 or 60m ropes will reach the snowfield.
Show beta βeta: Johnny Dawes and jmoony's descriptions of the descent are useful. Also check out summit post's description of the normal route and follow it in reverse. Follow two big zig zags on easy ground, first left facing out, then right and follow a series of abseils close to the ridge on the right. Much of this is on old tat which after the big belay rings on the Swiss side makes you question whether you are on route. A couple of more long abseils bring you to a broad broken ledge, move right facing out. Climb down to the top of wide gully, climb down or abseil 50m to the long slightly descending traverse to the right. After about 200m look out for a rising line with small cairn and faded arrow. Don't continue on what appears like main path, but follow the rising traverse. Follow this for another 200m or so, with the path levelling off and then dropping down to the cross. Two abseils with 50 or 60m ropes will reach the snowfield.
jmoony11	18 Aug, 2024	Show βeta βeta: Descent info - Dohnny_Jawes log and beta was useful. We scrambled down the initial slabby section to where it gets steeper and the 1st abseil ring is on the right hand side of the gully/couloir We descended down a couple of these abseil rings which mostly point in the direction of abseil before reaching a ring which the team in front had used to abseil down to the right. They were in the process of coming back up as this abseil takes you down via another ring back into the gully to the left (looking down) and toward a square block with tat and a maillon near the centre of the gully. Abseil from this tat into a short corridor where you can scramble down to the ledges that lead off right toward the iron cross. There is faint red paint on some of the rocks here as well as cairns which provide confidence. Follow these ledges for a good way (longer than you might think), which involves some down scrambling until you end up on top of the iron cross which is only visible once you're right above it. From the iron cross, we made 1 abseil to a ledge and a ring (estimate 25m abseil, but we were using twin 50s borrowed from the team in front), and another abseil down to the ground (again roughly 25m but can't be certain). Not much snow left on that side when we did it but if doing it earlier in the season then it might be tricky to navigate without boots or crampons. Decent cairned trail then leads to the Gianetti hut which is visible throughout. Couple things to note - we made all these abseils up to the ones from the cross on a single 50m rope halved. Common sense but don't spend long messing around if there are teams above you. It's quite chossy with plenty of loose rock. We were extremely lucky to escape with a smashed up knee when the party above us dislodged a football sized boulder which whizzed straight through where my partner was standing in the narrow corridor before she dived out of the way.
Show beta βeta: Descent info - Dohnny_Jawes log and beta was useful. We scrambled down the initial slabby section to where it gets steeper and the 1st abseil ring is on the right hand side of the gully/couloir We descended down a couple of these abseil rings which mostly point in the direction of abseil before reaching a ring which the team in front had used to abseil down to the right. They were in the process of coming back up as this abseil takes you down via another ring back into the gully to the left (looking down) and toward a square block with tat and a maillon near the centre of the gully. Abseil from this tat into a short corridor where you can scramble down to the ledges that lead off right toward the iron cross. There is faint red paint on some of the rocks here as well as cairns which provide confidence. Follow these ledges for a good way (longer than you might think), which involves some down scrambling until you end up on top of the iron cross which is only visible once you're right above it. From the iron cross, we made 1 abseil to a ledge and a ring (estimate 25m abseil, but we were using twin 50s borrowed from the team in front), and another abseil down to the ground (again roughly 25m but can't be certain). Not much snow left on that side when we did it but if doing it earlier in the season then it might be tricky to navigate without boots or crampons. Decent cairned trail then leads to the Gianetti hut which is visible throughout. Couple things to note - we made all these abseils up to the ones from the cross on a single 50m rope halved. Common sense but don't spend long messing around if there are teams above you. It's quite chossy with plenty of loose rock. We were extremely lucky to escape with a smashed up knee when the party above us dislodged a football sized boulder which whizzed straight through where my partner was standing in the narrow corridor before she dived out of the way.
Ali Cooper	19 Jul, 2024	Show βeta βeta: Awesome route. Straight forward climbing - we moved together throughout the whole thing minus the crux pitch. Getting down is a little complicated finding the rings but otherwise a great route. Trudge up to the sas fura hut is long and tricky. Definitely give yourself plenty time to do it.	βeta?
Show beta βeta: Awesome route. Straight forward climbing - we moved together throughout the whole thing minus the crux pitch. Getting down is a little complicated finding the rings but otherwise a great route. Trudge up to the sas fura hut is long and tricky. Definitely give yourself plenty time to do it.
Dohnny_Jawes	8 Sep, 2023	Show βeta βeta: SOUTH SIDE DESCENT INFO: to balance out all the ego comments, here is some helpful information on the descent so that you can be safe. We did our research on the descent, read a lot about it, found multiple topos and we still found it confusing. The way is not obvious and there is down climbing involved, which at one point for us was worth roping. It took us 1hr 50mins from summit to base of last abseil but reading comments this was quick, I think solely because we had researched it, not because we're double hard men like some UKCers like to make out. I fully understand how people have taken many more hours, it's disconcerting, it would not be easy to see the line in mist and if any of it was wet it would be much more dangerous. Basically you keep abseiling / climbing down the gully on various fixed tat until you hit a decent sized ledge and the ground below falls away as steep clean slabs. There are cairns on this ledge which give you confidence, these were the only cairns we saw on the descent so worth noting so you know you're in the right place. From the ledge as you look down head right a long way, longer than you think and with some down climbing to reach the iron cross. Once at the iron cross the difficulty is over. You make 2 abseils of about 25m but the second ab requires a short down climb so watch for the ends if only on a 50m single rope. Recommend the topo in Plaisir Sud as the best of a bad bunch of pictures. Do your research and be safe.
Show beta βeta: SOUTH SIDE DESCENT INFO: to balance out all the ego comments, here is some helpful information on the descent so that you can be safe. We did our research on the descent, read a lot about it, found multiple topos and we still found it confusing. The way is not obvious and there is down climbing involved, which at one point for us was worth roping. It took us 1hr 50mins from summit to base of last abseil but reading comments this was quick, I think solely because we had researched it, not because we're double hard men like some UKCers like to make out. I fully understand how people have taken many more hours, it's disconcerting, it would not be easy to see the line in mist and if any of it was wet it would be much more dangerous. Basically you keep abseiling / climbing down the gully on various fixed tat until you hit a decent sized ledge and the ground below falls away as steep clean slabs. There are cairns on this ledge which give you confidence, these were the only cairns we saw on the descent so worth noting so you know you're in the right place. From the ledge as you look down head right a long way, longer than you think and with some down climbing to reach the iron cross. Once at the iron cross the difficulty is over. You make 2 abseils of about 25m but the second ab requires a short down climb so watch for the ends if only on a 50m single rope. Recommend the topo in Plaisir Sud as the best of a bad bunch of pictures. Do your research and be safe.
Gwinn512	16 Jul, 2020	Show βeta βeta: Awesome route, easy-ish climbing on super solid rock. All the crux pitches are well protected with bolts. Took us about 7h for the climbing, but got lost on the descent and abseiled the wrong way, which ended up taking about 4h from summit to hut.
Show beta βeta: Awesome route, easy-ish climbing on super solid rock. All the crux pitches are well protected with bolts. Took us about 7h for the climbing, but got lost on the descent and abseiled the wrong way, which ended up taking about 4h from summit to hut.
raliadsa skcalbwah	13 Jul, 2020	Show βeta βeta: We left a car in Bagni di Masino on the South side of the range and then drove our second car round to Bondo (about an hour's drive). New path to Sasc Fura hut is pegged at 5 hrs 45 mins to 6 hours so we were pleasantly surprised to do it in 3 hrs 30. Not much fun and annoying to climb significantly above hut to then have to descend to it. We opted to bivi and hiked up to the base of the ridge in about 1 hr 15 or so. Many good bivi spots and running water from snow patches saw us have a comfortable night and a relatively chilled start at 4.15am. Started simul climbing at 5.30am and took probably a wrong line on the initial scrambly section getting to the ridge proper, which involved climbing a wet corner and was a somewhat unwelcome start to the day. Once on the ridge we dropped our coils and made decent progress to top out in 5 hours exactly (split into 5 blocks of leading). The ridge has fixed belays and quite a lot of bolts/pegs but keep an eye on the topo as there are a couple of sections where it could go a number of ways and there's fixed kit on wrong lines etc. From the summit, we descended the South side to the Gianetti Hut in 2.5 hrs before walking down to Bagni di Masino in 2 hrs flat.	βeta?
Show beta βeta: We left a car in Bagni di Masino on the South side of the range and then drove our second car round to Bondo (about an hour's drive). New path to Sasc Fura hut is pegged at 5 hrs 45 mins to 6 hours so we were pleasantly surprised to do it in 3 hrs 30. Not much fun and annoying to climb significantly above hut to then have to descend to it. We opted to bivi and hiked up to the base of the ridge in about 1 hr 15 or so. Many good bivi spots and running water from snow patches saw us have a comfortable night and a relatively chilled start at 4.15am. Started simul climbing at 5.30am and took probably a wrong line on the initial scrambly section getting to the ridge proper, which involved climbing a wet corner and was a somewhat unwelcome start to the day. Once on the ridge we dropped our coils and made decent progress to top out in 5 hours exactly (split into 5 blocks of leading). The ridge has fixed belays and quite a lot of bolts/pegs but keep an eye on the topo as there are a couple of sections where it could go a number of ways and there's fixed kit on wrong lines etc. From the summit, we descended the South side to the Gianetti Hut in 2.5 hrs before walking down to Bagni di Masino in 2 hrs flat.
Simon Caldwell	10 Sep, 2019	Show βeta βeta: As a balance to the comments from those who did the walk to the hut in half an hour, the route in another half, and arrived in Italy in time for breakfast: The walk in to the hut took us a little under 5 hours. Approach to the route the next morning, just under 2 hours. North ridge to the summit was 10 hours. Descent to Ginetti, 4 hours. The hut custodian wasn\'t aware of the details of the new ab descent (she thought it was an unofficial one for rescue purposes) so we took the old one - the guidebook description is pretty poor but the route is fairly well marked. We probably abbed some ground we could have down climbed but better safe than sorry. A total of 4 abseils. The rising ascent towards the old cross was longer than expected. From the cross the description is useless, we abseiled 30m straight down (next to the right hand chimney looking out), followed by a 45m ab to the ground. Path from there to the hut is easy enough, but occasionally tricky to follow in the dark!	βeta?
Show beta βeta: As a balance to the comments from those who did the walk to the hut in half an hour, the route in another half, and arrived in Italy in time for breakfast: The walk in to the hut took us a little under 5 hours. Approach to the route the next morning, just under 2 hours. North ridge to the summit was 10 hours. Descent to Ginetti, 4 hours. The hut custodian wasn't aware of the details of the new ab descent (she thought it was an unofficial one for rescue purposes) so we took the old one - the guidebook description is pretty poor but the route is fairly well marked. We probably abbed some ground we could have down climbed but better safe than sorry. A total of 4 abseils. The rising ascent towards the old cross was longer than expected. From the cross the description is useless, we abseiled 30m straight down (next to the right hand chimney looking out), followed by a 45m ab to the ground. Path from there to the hut is easy enough, but occasionally tricky to follow in the dark!
GGD	18 Aug, 2019	Show βeta βeta: In descent. Really not as much faff as everyone makes out... 4/5 hours. 80m single nice as bolted rap anchors are supposedly 45m apart, although even with 80m a little down scrambling was sometimes required - never too hairy though.
Show beta βeta: In descent. Really not as much faff as everyone makes out... 4/5 hours. 80m single nice as bolted rap anchors are supposedly 45m apart, although even with 80m a little down scrambling was sometimes required - never too hairy though.
Rob84	22 Jul, 2019	Show βeta βeta: Great route - easy but fantastic quality rock. Easy to move together and string multiple pitches together for good chunks of the route. The new approach since the rockfall from the Cengalo is not to be underestimated. It’s now a solid 5hrs from a car park a few hundred metres above Bondo, involving a fairly grim, ant infested and circuitous mission all over the mountain to get to the Sasc Fura hut. This takes you above the hut towards the Passo di Trubanesca and then back down to the hut before heading back up once again to the base of the N Ridge. Because you’re now starting basically from valley level in Switzerland with a long approach, it makes sense than before to descend to the Italian side (rather than descend the N Ridge) and catch public transport (easy enough and around 18euro) back round to Bondo. There is a new and excellent bolted abseil line on the Italian side which is a bit different to the Plaisir Swiss topo. Scramble down chossy ledges from the summit as per the topo to a single ring bolt and from here there are 5x50m abseils on double bolt abseil stations to get you onto the snow below. From there it’s an easy 40mins-1hr to the Ginetti Hut. We continued walking down to the valley the same day and found a decent auberge for 25euro pppn in St Martino just up the street from Bar Monica that was open until late to new arrivals. All in all a great mountain journey.
Show beta βeta: Great route - easy but fantastic quality rock. Easy to move together and string multiple pitches together for good chunks of the route. The new approach since the rockfall from the Cengalo is not to be underestimated. It’s now a solid 5hrs from a car park a few hundred metres above Bondo, involving a fairly grim, ant infested and circuitous mission all over the mountain to get to the Sasc Fura hut. This takes you above the hut towards the Passo di Trubanesca and then back down to the hut before heading back up once again to the base of the N Ridge. Because you’re now starting basically from valley level in Switzerland with a long approach, it makes sense than before to descend to the Italian side (rather than descend the N Ridge) and catch public transport (easy enough and around 18euro) back round to Bondo. There is a new and excellent bolted abseil line on the Italian side which is a bit different to the Plaisir Swiss topo. Scramble down chossy ledges from the summit as per the topo to a single ring bolt and from here there are 5x50m abseils on double bolt abseil stations to get you onto the snow below. From there it’s an easy 40mins-1hr to the Ginetti Hut. We continued walking down to the valley the same day and found a decent auberge for 25euro pppn in St Martino just up the street from Bar Monica that was open until late to new arrivals. All in all a great mountain journey.

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