Alpine Mountaineering in the Brenta Dolomites climbing the peak of the Presanella. This peak above 3,500 m is the highest in the Adamello range of mountains.
A short hike to the Segantini hut…wine with your meal!
The first part of the Presanella climb is a short hike to the Segantini hut. This involved a short drive to the car park Carisolo, which takes you past some wonderful scenery. Note that the road is narrow & windy and that the last mile is more of a rugged track than a road. Still, it is certainly driveable with an ordinary car in good conditions. The hike is only 1hr 15mins & we arrived about 6pm at the hut that can accommodate ~20 people in 5 rooms. We found it too be quiet as the weather in the previous weeds had been poor. The food was excellent as it always is in the Italian huts & we took the opportunity in the soft evening light to take some good photographs.
Monte Nero Pass….not a good experience.
The following morning, Tues, 21 Jul we awoke at 04:00 for a 05:00 start, just as it starts to cast the mountains in light and also when the ice is firmer. Our route was to follow the South-East ridge route through the Monte Nero pass. The weather forecast was perfect; dry and fair with a small amount of cloud which would keep the heat of the sun off us for most of the day. The path starts with a fairly easy hike up a moraine ridge known as the ‘Donkey’s back’. This leads up to the Monte Nero glacier which is a short hike up to the Monte Nero pass. The snow was soft enough and the hike not steep enough to require crampons.
The pass unfortunately was not what we expected, consisting of a crumbling mass of rock & scree which was considerably loose. For safety we went up one at a time, but it was fairly dangerous in parts as any slip would have been disastrous. The loosest rock is on the first 30m or so but after that the rock is firmer and the going easier. On the top of the pass a via ferrata leads down to the glacier on the other side. Here it is another short hike to the top of the glacier. At the top of the glacier the route follows over a small rock band to a broad snow laden ridge, but I noticed an excellent snow gully to the left about 100m in length with a slope of about 50 degrees which looked very enticing.
Once on top of the broad ridge the summit can be seen in the distance but don’t be deceived though as there is still a lot more climbing to do. A rocky ridge leads around to what appears to lead to the final snow ridge to the summit, however the route is abruptly halted as the ridge becomes knife edge with extreme exposure on each side.
It is necessary to descend down a small rocky gully (piton at the top) about 20m before traversing across an exposed rocky ledge about 40m before ascending on the other side and scrambling to the left to the emergency bivvy hut. This avoids the extreme knife edge rocks but this alternative is not without its exposure and dangers.
The rock is again extremely loose and there are only 2 pitons placed in the rock. A rope is a necessity along with a few slings and karabiners. This route took us quite a while as we only had a 25m rope which meant we had to set up a few more belay stations on rock that doesn’t permit steadfast anchors. Additionally, at the end of the traverse before the scramble there is a small gully that was full of ice and loose rock.
Descent turned into an epic….
Once above the bivvy hut it is then a traverse across a snow slope & then up a ridge. The large amount of snow over the winter meant it was still deep lying so it was hard going at times as the summer melt caused the snow surface to slip. We arrived at the summit at 3pm taking 10hrs, for a route that should normally take about 5 hrs.
We left the summit fairly quickly at 3:20pm as there was a 5hr descent via the Cantoni pass, forming a circular route back to the hut. The route takes a 50m descent retracing your steps and then veers off to the right down the steep snow slope; then through a small rock band and onto the glacier. Here I had some fun descending fast down the snow slope on my stomach using the ice axe arrest to stop. It is then an enjoyable walk along the snow beneath the cliffs to the left to a section of large boulders.
This leads to another similar ridge to the donkeys back on the way up. Care is required here not to descend too far down this ridge as the path veers off to the left towards the pass and is not well marked.
The Cantoni pass was itself sligthly easier than the Monte Nero pass and on the other side we trekked through boulders, across snow, down scree and eventually into sight of the hut. We made it in 5 hrs arriving at 8:50pm. We debated whether to stay but preferred to get down to the car even though we had been walking for 16 hrs! There was only about an hour of light left so after a very quick 15min stop we headed off. We knew the track was well marked from this point and we had a head torch so weren’t concerned and arrived safely at the car in the near darkness at 9:45pm. It was an extremely long day but we had enjoyed the climb immensely & had the whole of the mountain to ourselves for the whole time.