Refugio Gianetti was crowded with Dutch climbers te last week of Juli with ambitions for some of the Bergell classics. Our budget didn’t allow us to stay at the hut, with a half-board price of 40 euros a night. Instead we did the approach carrying our bivi and climbing gear. We sort of took food for four days with us, calculating that it would be just enough. During our climb of the classic Via Vinci, some local sheep were more than interested in our tents. Unfortunately..we left our bread for four days in the porch of the tent, which meant a welcome change of diet for the sheep and a much stricter diet for us.

We planned to climb the Via Vincy integral. A long route of 22 pitches with a grade of 6a, but with a lot more easier pitches. Instead of doing the long version with an extra bump to start with, it is also possible and advisable to do a bit shorter version. The were more people who wanted to do this climb, so we decided to get up early, in order to be first at the rock.

We walked up to the first turm of Punta Angela at 5.40h. We started simul climbing the first turm 90 minutes later.
The choice to climb the integral Via Vinci didn’t prove to be the best one. The solid Bergell granite turned out to be truly rotten on the first part. A sound looking chicken head turned out to be less strong than anticipated, causing some strong language when it fell apart under my hands. After two hours we reached the true ridge, this time with the kind of granite the Bergel is famous for. The first easy part of the ridge was longer than we expected after reading the topo. After what seemed like endless easy climbing we finally reached the part where the climbing became more interesting. One pitch of 6a and two 5c+ pitches finally made us enjoying the route. The motivation and speed had been a bit low all day, although we did the route in quite a good time of 8 hours (guidebook 8 – 12 hours). We reached the summit of Punta Angela just when it started raining, so there was little time to waste. Seven abseils later we were on solid ground again. The same day Sarah climbed at the Dente della Vechia where she did a 6b multi pitch route. The Vechia is a stunning looking rock spire easily accessible from the refugio but offers very good climbing.
The next day of our forced diet we wanted to do a shorter route. It felt like we did an everyday route the previous day, until we started walking to our route for the day. A small couscous dinner and an even smaller breakfast provided too little calories after the previous day’s workout. We barely managed to walk up the boulder fields for an hour to get to the route. We did a miserable attempt on the route and bailed out. It wasn’t a punishment to be lying next to our tents the rest of the day, enjoying the sun and the stunning views.
That afternoon we decided to shorten our stay from four to three days, so we could have a proper feast with a bit more food and a glass of red wine from the hut. Being fed, fit and rested we had another go at our route. This time we managed to get up, with Sarah climbing the crux in a mind over body style again. Brave attempt. After a fast ascent of these four pitches, we packed our stuff and went back down to Val di Mello. The 1500 meters which we struggled up a few days earlier in 3.5 hours now took us just over an hour to descent.

Facts:
The Gianetti hut is situated on the south side of the Bergell. It gives access to the normal route of the Piz Badile and is also used on the descent from the popular north face routes of the Badile. The easiest access to the hut is to drive to Morbegno and then up to Val di Bagni where it is possible to park your car. From the car park it takes around 3.5 hours to get to the hut. It is possible to camp next to the hut, there is water available, but staying at the hut saves a lot of weight on the approach.
A stay at the Gianetti hut can perfectly be combined with a stay at the lovely Val di Mello.

The Via Vinci is a nice route of which the last part is most interesting. The first part is quite easy at grade three and four. The last couple of pitches are around grade five and six with some in-situ gear. There are some escapes from the route. The integral we did offers some 600 meters of climbing, of which we did half simul climbing. As said, the first part of the integral can best be avoided. The approach is around 90 minutes. The descent was for us by seven rappels, but can also be done by ascending to the summit of piz Cengalo and taking the normal route down.

Guide books:
There are several German language and Italian guidebooks available. We preferred the CAF guidebook but the Plaisir Sud guidebook is good as well.

So what happend…

Lunedi 4 agosto 2008 at 4.30 am….. time to get up. We (Laurent and me) were planning to climb Kundalini 5c+ and Luna Nascente 6b in one day, 22 pitches, so we had to start early, it would get warrm during the day.
‘…….still dreaming and thinking: Val di Mello makes you soft; it is too scenic, nice sport routes, some bouldering, little bit of swimming, cheap and perfect ice cream, delicious pzza, for short too easy and relaxed after Chamonix’
Because of this we wanted to climb these beatifull lines at one day and try Oceano Irrazionale a few days later, so we would be done with Val di Mello and leave for the Swiss side of Bergell.
Last time Laurent and me had to rappel Kundalini because of a thunderstorm. A lot of parties in front of us made things slow. So this was the second time climbing the route. The fist pitches felt very solid, fast and fun. I was a bit amazed because the first time felt so much harder. The 5c+ pitch was wet, but with placing some magnesium on the foot holds even this pitch was nice.

In the following pitch I fell about 15 meters making a pedulum. Because of this fall I passed out for 10 min, I had a head wound, bruised some ribs, luxated my the AC joints, inversion trauma of the ankle, needing rescue of Laurent, who in turn needed a helicopter to get me of the mountain and I had to stay in hospital for 4 days.

The next pitch was the first of the ones we hadn’t done the year before. At this 4b slabyou have to rappel or down climb a few meters and then make a traverse. Laurent led the pitch, climbed a few meters down, traversed and placed a friend as the only protection. After running out the rope there was a solid belay at a tree.
Now it was my turn to follow. I didn’t down climb a few meters, but started traversing right away. After some steps to the right, I found myself on a delicate slab. While I wasa standing on the tiny footsteps, with noting more than the friction of my boots to hold me to the rocks, I had to make a desicion; climb back to the belay and rappel or climb down or continue to climb and risk a fall onto the Friend (piece of rock protection). For some reason I choose option two, resulting in a fall. I tried to run down, limiting the impact on the Friend. The rope got tight on the Friend and with some bad luck the Friend broke out. The anticipated fall of a couple of meters became much worse, resulting in a large fall of around 15 meters and a trip back to Holland to rehabilitate.

I am now back in Holland doing fine and feeling fine. I look back on this perticular event with earnestly but also just as an event not blowing up the whole experience.
I thank Laurent for being my companion, his rescue and support. It was great to get so mutch support from my friends in Holland, especially Roeland and Jasper. Also the staff of the helicopter and hospital in Sondrio – Italy have my deepest respect.

Written by Quirijn Wijtten

Thanks Quirijn for some of my best moments in the hills. Maybe next season again. Get fit and healthy again quickly and we will hopefully be climbing together again in no time. Laurent