Piz Badile (3,308 m) is a

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher ...

of the

Bregaglia range The Bregaglia Range (commonly the Bregaglia) is a small group of mostly granite mountains in Graubünden, Switzerland and the Province of Sondrio, northern Italy. It derives its name from the partly Swiss, partly Italian valley, the '' Val Bre ...

in the

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland *Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri *Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia *Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports * Swiss Internation ...

canton of Graubünden and the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

region of

Lombardy (man), (woman) lmo, lumbard, links=no (man), (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , ...

. The border between the two countries runs along the summit ridge. Its north-east face, overlooking the Swiss Val Bregaglia near Soglio, is considered one of the six great north faces of the Alps. The name ''Badile'' means ''spade'' or ''shovel'' (arising from the mountain's appearance when viewed from the Val Bregaglia).

Climbing history

The

first ascent In mountaineering, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in guide books) is the first successful, documented attainment of the top of a mountain or the first to follow a particular climbing route. First mountain ascents are notable because they ...

of Piz Badile was by

W. A. B. Coolidge William Augustus Brevoort Coolidge (August 28, 1850 – May 8, 1926) was an American historian, theologian and mountaineer. Life Coolidge was born in New York City as the son of Frederic William Skinner Coolidge, a Boston merchant, and E ...

with guides François Devouassoud and Henri Devouassoud on 27 July 1867 by the south ridge.Collomb, Robin, ''Bregaglia West'', Goring: West Col Productions, 1988 The mountain had first come to the notice of British alpinists from D. W. Freshfield's writings of the 1860s. He gave the name 'the Grey Twins' to Piz Badile and

Piz Cengalo Piz Cengalo ʃ´ɛŋɡalɔ(3,369 m) is a mountain in the Bregaglia range of the Alps on the border between the Swiss canton of Graubünden and Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a ...

, and made the first ascent of Piz Cengalo in 1866.Engel, Claire, ''Mountaineering in the Alps'', London: George Allen and Unwin, 1971 The two classic routes on Piz Badile are the north ridge and the ''Cassin Route'' on the north-east face. The north ridge – the ''Badilekante'' – was first prospected solo by the Swiss guide

Christian Klucker Christian Klucker (28 September 1853 – 21 December 1928) was a Swiss mountain guide who made many first ascents in the Alps, particularly in the Bernina Range, the Bregaglia and the Pennine Alps. Amongst his first ascents were: :*''Gurgel'' ...

in 1892 (Klucker later made the first ascent of the Badile's west-south-west ridge with Anton von Rydzewski and M. Barbaria on 14 June 1897). After several unsuccessful attempts by Italian parties in 1911, the ridge (IV, one pitch of V-) finally fell to Alfred Zürcher with the guide Walter Risch on 4 August 1923. F. l'Orsa and

André Roch André Roch (August 21, 1906 in Hermance, Switzerland – November 19, 2002 in Geneva) was a mountaineer, avalanche researcher and expert, skier, resort developer, engineer, and author. Roch is best known for having planned and surveyed the Aspe ...

found a more direct line on the ridge on the second ascent (18 July 1926). The most popular route on the north-east face is the ''Cassin Route'' (V+/A0 or VI+), so-called after the first ascentionist

Riccardo Cassin Riccardo Cassin (2 January 19096 August 2009) was an Italian mountaineer, developer of mountaineering equipment and author, and an important figure in the history of rock climbing. Life Born into a peasant family at San Vito al Tagliamento in ...

, who climbed it with V. Ratti and G. Esposito, together with the Como team of Mario Molteni and Giuseppe Valsecchi on 14–16 July 1937. Molteni and Valsecchi were already on the face when Cassin and his party started out, but the climbers subsequently joined forces. In this famous alpine epic, Molteni died of exhaustion and exposure on the summit, whilst Valsecchi died on the descent by the south ridge just before reaching the hut.

Gallery

Image:Bergell Soglio mg-k.jpg, View from above Soglio of the Sciora peaks (left), Piz Cengalo (left centre) and Piz Badile (centre) Image:Piz Badile.jpg, Piz Badile from the Val Bondasca Image:Pizzo Badile and Capanna Giannetti - Val Masino - Italy.jpg, Piz Badile and the Giannetti hut from the south

Huts

* Giannetti hut (2,534 m) * Sasc Furä hut (1,904 m) * Sciora hut (2,118 m)

References

External links

Piz Badile on SummitPost

Piz Badile on Hikr

An account of an ascent of the north-east face of Piz Badile in 1961
{{DEFAULTSORT:Badile Mountains of the Alps Alpine three-thousanders Great north faces of the Alps International mountains of Europe Italy–Switzerland border Mountains of Lombardy Mountains of Graubünden Mountains of Switzerland Val Bregaglia