This Article first appeared in
AAC(UK) Newsletter 178
published Summer 2008
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Plenty to go at in the Ortler
by Philip Dover
Last summer a group of us went to the Ortler Alps, I had asked several experienced mountaineers about the area but none of them had visited it. In fact at one hut I was told that only about one English party visited each year. The only English climbing guide covering the area, Seibert’s ‘Eastern Alps’, is rather out of date. There is only one campsite in the Trafoi valley, the very friendly ‘Camping Trafoi’ where English is spoken, which was very useful for booking huts.
Our first climb was the Tschenglser Hochwand 3375m. From the chairlift up to Kanzel we took the easy track to the Düsseldorf Hut and continued to the SE ridge of the mountain which is equipped with wire cables giving an excellent grade 1 climb to the summit. There is also a new via ferrata route up the face. The descent is down a rather unpleasant gully. Our next climb, after a fairly heavy snowfall, was the Hoher Angelus 3521 m. This time we walked up to the Düsseldorf Hut for the night. We had planned to climb the Vertainspitze but the guide book route is now said by the guardian to be unsafe owing to retreating glaciers and the risk of stone fall. The steepest, rocky part of the NW ridge has wire cable protection. We were thankful for this because of the amount of fresh snow still on the rocks. It is followed by a delightful easy snow ridge to the blocks of the pointed summit.
Our next summit was the Vertainspitze 3545m by the normal route. Again we took the chairlift to Kansel then followed the Rosim valley to the glacier which proved to be a rather nasty route up large boulders and loose scree, made somewhat worse by the wet snow. We spoke to a local climber, who said he had done it once and that was sufficient. Next came the magnificent easy snow peak of Monte Cevedale 3769m. We took the cable car out of Sulden and ascended the moraine. The guide book route up to the Eissee Pass looked horrible with the receding glacier so we and most other parties headed for the Suldenspitze by a pleasant climb. The descent down the easy South ridge led to the large and expensive Casati hut. In this area we saw barbed wire, trenches and other remains from the fighting in the First World War. It is an easy snow climb up the glacier and NE ridge of Monte Cevedale, where we had magnificent views not only of the Ortler group but also of the Ötztal Alps and Brenta Dolomites. We descended via the remains of three large cannon abandoned on rocks in the glacier.
The Ortler itself 3905m was our last climb. We took the chair to Langenstein from Sulden and the balcon path to the Tabaretta Hut and so to the Julius Payer Hut 3029m perched astride the rocky ridge. The route is graded PD in the guide but this seemed to be rather undergraded or perhaps we are getting old. A dawn start led us along a rocky ridge including a steep section protected by wire cable. Care was needed on the icy traverse leading to the Ortler glacier. There is an awkward rock step in the glacier now which is avoided by an abseil on descent. After the bivouac shelter the going gets easier though there are some large crevasses to avoid before the summit ridge. We saw several parties coming up the rather harder Hintergrat rock ridge, but unfortunately it was very hazy and the views were limited. It was hard to believe that in the First World War two large guns had been pulled almost to the summit to fire on Italians on the Stelvio pass.
Apart from the peaks we did several lovely walks on the Stelvio side of the valley. The whole area is well worth considering for a visit to the Alps.
Editor’s Note : Some English language websites with information on the Ortler can be found via the search engines. Also many German and Italian language websites have plenty of visual information, photos, maps, diagrams etc.
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Last updated: 18 June 2008