A 3 days trip in Monte Rosa with a long mountaineering traverse, 4 x 4000 m peaks and a lot of fun!
We started Thursday afternoon from Gressoney, reaching with 3 lifts Punta Indrend 3275 m and climbing up to the Gnifetti hut 3611 m.
Friday morning we started at 5:30 a.m. following the first part of the normal route to the Monte Rosa summit (Punta Gnifetti 4554 m); at around 4150 m we turned left and we started to climb the Est ridge of Lyskamm, reaching the Est summit 4527 m (Lyskamm Orientale) and then we continued along the ridge to the West Lyskamm 4481 m (Lyskamm Occidentale). With a long descent, a bit icy on the west face, we finally reached (at 13:00) the Sella hut 3585 m, happy for the nice climb (4 kilometers of exposed ridge!) and the perfect weather (cold but very clear).
The last day we started at 6:00 and we climb the easy, but very nice, and popular, Castore 4221 m in around 2 hours; it was a bit cluody, but a cold wind helped us pushing away all the clouds when we reache the final ridge. From the top we traversed downclimbing the west face and reaching the base of the south west ridge of Polluce 4091 m. With a nice rock climb along the ridge and a final part on snow we reached our fourth summit. Thanks to the perfect weather at 13:00 we were eating a pasta at the Guide d’Ayas hut 3425 m…
Then a long descent (neverending!) to Pian di Verra 2350 m, a taxi jeep and 2 lifts back to our car, tired, but ready for a long drive to the Dolomites…
