Gran Zebrù normal route

A long wait

I arrived to Bormio at the beginning of August with good weather. Sun shining and pleasant temperature.
To warm up after weeks sitting in the office I decided to climb Corno di San Colombano, a 3022m. high mountain of the group of Cima Piazzi, very popular in winter and spring for ski-mountaineering.

No-one in the San Colombano valley. I met only a family of donkeys and a baby marmot. And a lot of small trouts in a lake I found at 2600m.


While ascending I took a look to the Cima Piazzi glacier realizing that melting seems to accelerate. It is a pity. This glacier was awesome only few years ago.

Well, I said, I have ten days and a lot of mountains to climb. Let’s prepare a plan.
The first name on the list was Gran Zebrù. It is a lot of time I wanted to climb this beautiful mountain.
I contacted my friend Chicco to choose a day suitable for both of us.
But for many days the weather report was bad. Really bad. Every day rain, showers and thunderstorms. Good to go mushrooming not for mountaineering.
Nearly at the end of my holidays I didn’t want to go home without having seen the summit of Gran Zebrù so eventually I decided to go the day after not caring about the weather.
Chicco agreed without enthusiasm and proposed to call me at 4 a.m. after a look to the sky.
At 4 the sky over Bormio was clear and full of stars but dark clouds thickened over Valfurva and Val Zebrù.
Few minutes later my mobile phone ringed. It was Chicco with less enthusiasm than the evening before.
After a lot of discussions we agreed to go up to Refuge Pizzini and see the situation from there.

The climb

We met in Santa Caterina Valfurva at the big parking lot close to the ski area where I left my car and mounted on Chicco’s bike.
The sky was very dark but the temperature not so bad. And it wasn’t raining.
At quarter to six we arrived to Refuge Pizzini. Still not raining. Green light.
We started at a good pace to take advantage of the acceptable weather. In few minutes we arrived to the cableway that serves Refuge Casati and few minutes later we arrived to the glacier. Quickly we roped and wore crampons.
The glacier wasn’t covered by snow so it was easy to avoid the many narrow crevasses.
We soon arrived at the base of the South couloir. When covered by snow, even steep up to 45°, it is not difficult and dangerous. We found it with a small layer of snow and a lot of stones. Being cautious, we wore the helmet.


We saw some sunrays at the top of the couloir and we hoped for a quick weather improvement.
Ascending it was possible to see some clouds dancing around the summits of Mount Cevedale and Mount Pasquale.
Our optimism lasted the time to reach the top of the couloir at about 3500m. The shoulder welcomed us with strong wind and the first snowflakes.
We increased our pace further on. Not a problem for the well trained and athletic Chicco. A bit more complicate for me.
I was puffing and blowing. Fortunately the soft snow made the ascent technically easy. A walk up on a steep snow field.
After the first part, the mountain slope became softer and we pointed a bit to the right to reach the final couloir.
At the beginning of this steep couloir, up to 50°, there is a short rock passage, let’s say 3 or 4 m., not difficult but unpleasant if covered with ice. On the left of the passage there are a 2 meters long old rope and a chain. Better don’t rely on the rope because it is in very bad conditions. The chain, on its turn, is completely useless because, when you can grab it, you are already out of the passage.
At the top of this last couloir starts a short airy ridge. On the right there is the vertical wall of the North face. And, on the left, the also steep South flank. The ridge is simple, when not icy, it is only necessary to concentrate on the next step without caring of the fearful precipices on both sides. Very simple purpose in our case. Being in the middle of a snow storm we could barely see our boots so we had no opportunity to appreciate the sight.
In about three hours the we stood in front of the summit cross.



Only the time for shooting a couple foggy pictures and, as the blizzard wasn’t blowing over, we started the descent.
I was really disappointed. Being on the top of the Gran Zebrù without enjoying the summit sight is really too bad.
Anyway, we rushed down while the new snow layer increased of 20 cm. in only one hour.
In a couple of hours we reached again the Pizzini Hut where we could take refreshment. Not to say I was tired out while Chicco was as fresh as a daisy.

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