Cima del Masnee (from Brione Verzasca to Maggia)

Publiziert von Stijn

, 20. Mai 2016 um 19:51.

Region:	Welt » Schweiz » Tessin » Locarnese
Tour Datum:	15 Mai 2016
Wandern Schwierigkeit:	T4+ - Alpinwandern
Klettern Schwierigkeit:	I (UIAA-Skala)
Wegpunkte:	Brione Verzasca 756 m (88) Sparvé 1016 m (20) Scimarmòta 1839 m (21) Scimarmòta - Corte di Cima 2064 m (22) Capanna Alpe Masnee 2063 m (28) Cima del Masnee 2203 m (16) Böcc 1838 m (5) Alpe Deva 1556 m (7) Pioèe 1232 m (7) Diga Valle del Salto 746 m (19) Cassinella 777 m (12) Cappella di Santa Maria della Pioda 476 m (45) Maggia 332 m (70)
Geo-Tags:	CH-TI Gruppo Poncione Piancascia
Zeitbedarf:	2 Tage
Aufstieg:	1950 m
Abstieg:	2400 m

Day 1

Brione - Scimarmota - Alpe Masnee

T4+, 1700m ascent, 400m descent, 7h30

(In summer conditions over the marked path ca. T3+, 250m ascent fewer, 2h faster)

SBB chaos part one.

Extra trains and carriages going south for the bank holiday weekend? No sign of that. I intended to take an earlier train in Zürich, to give me some buffer for the changes in Bellinzona and Tenero. However, when I arrive at the platform in Zürich HB, the train is already over capacity with people filling up the aisles... I decide to wait for the next connection after all, where I manage to get myself a seat for the journey south. In this train as well, loads of people have to stand up from Zug onwards...

The situation is even worse with the Postauto going into the Verzasca valley. There's only one bus every three hours here. Somehow nobody had the brains to realise that this would be nowhere near enough on a bank holiday weekend with good weather in the south... I'm lucky enough to get on the bus in time, but at least 50 people are left standing at Tenero railway station, with the bus driver promising that an extra bus will come soon. As we drive up into the Verzasca valley, at most stops there are more people waiting who can't board the bus because it's already over capacity. Meanwhile, our bus driver is constantly shouting words like "disastro" into his radio, with his colleagues on the other end of the line seemingly failing understanding the urgent need for an extra bus (or two) to pick up all of the people left behind...

I squeeze out of the bus at Brione Paese and follow the hiking path in the direction of Alpe Masnee. I don't expect to encounter many people after I've left Brione, but I'm mistaken in that. I encounter two pairs of hikers going back down, after turning back at the crux below P. 2121, where snow makes the passage problematic. However, they tell me that with my ice axe, I should be able to get through. A little higher, at Scimarmota P. 2064, two youngsters from Winti are preparing a nice spot in the snow for their tent. Snow is continuously covering the path towards Masnee, which isn't a problem until the very exposed crux mentioned before. With my ice ace and MicroSpikes, I get a little further than my predecessors, but when the snow gets too hard to make solid steps, I have to turn back as well. You'd at least need proper crampons here, and even then it would be a tricky affair with no margin for error.

It's too early to give up completely, though. I've seen another possibility to reach the ridge a little higher up, closer to the Pizzo Costisc. It's another steep snow field, but a little less steep and less exposed than where the summer path goes through. Lo-and-behold, it goes! I find myself on the ridge, almost directly below the Pizzo Costisc. A cairn and some traces on the ground are evidence that I should be able to get down on the other side as well. The ridge itself doesn't go, though. I have to descend into the south face towards the Laghetto di Masnee, in a terrain of steep Schrofen interspersed with large boulder fields (T4+). From near the Laghetto di Pianca, the best route here would seem obvious later, but from my current point of view, it's a bit of a maze, which is complicated by the fact that the escarpment between Laghetto di Masnee and P. 2121 is not pictured particularly accurately on the map. I lose more than an hour trying different options, before I finally stumble upon a vague path that starts just east of the Laghetto di Masnee and traverses below the foot of the aforementioned escarpment in the direction of Alpe Masnee.

The Alpe Masnee is now reached in a matter of minutes. I expect the rifugio here to be closed and I'm prepared for a bivouac outside. However, a group of six from the German-speaking part of Switzerland has already "unofficially opened" the hut and has installed themselves for an overnight stay. In light of that, I decide to join them in the bunkhouse and spare myself a bivouac in freezing temperatures (of course paying for the use of the hut afterwards as well).

Day 2

Alpe Masnee - Cima del Masnee - Alpe Masnee

T4 / I, 150m ascent, 150m descent, 45min

My idea for day two had been the Madom da Sgiof, maybe even the Via Alta all the way to Cimetta, but since there is more snow than expected, this is out of the question. I have to limit myself to an early morning ascent of the Cima del Masnee. From the small saddle between Alpe Masnee and P. 2121, I ascend directly to a first (relatively flat) top on the ridge. A vague path (with some old white-red-white markings) traverses south of the next top and rejoins the ridge below the crux: a big step that involves scrambling over some boulders (grade I) followed by steep Schrofen, which leads directly to the Cima del Masnee summit crag.

Alpe Masnee - Valle del Salto - Maggia

T3, 100m ascent, 1850m descent, 4h30

Meanwhile, the other six have locked up the whole rifugio again. They descent into the Verzasca valley via Starlaresc, for me it's a very long descent to Maggia. Around the Laghetto di Pianca, my MicroSpikes come in useful as there is ice and hard snow on the path. At the alp at Böcc (P. 1838), I start chatting to the three inhabitants there, one of whom also regularly checks up on the Alpe Masnee when it's officially open in summer. She isn't particularly happy that the rifugio was used, but at least glad that everything was properly locked up again. They are very friendly to me and offer me a nice cup of coffee.

The rest of the descent takes another 3.5 hours. There are some waterfalls, canyons and an special staircase-bridge over the Valle di Ringio to make things interesting. In Maggia, there's time for a quick beer before the bus to Locarno arrives.

SBB chaos part 2:
No seats available in the train from Bellinzona to Arth-Goldau. Am standing / sitting on the floor for one and a half hour. Somehow (probably because our overloaded train didn't have the power to climb the Gotthard at normal speed) we pick up an 8 minute delay and the connecting train to Zürich doesn't wait for us... That connecting train is nota bene the IR from Locarno, on which I could have been sitting comfortably ever since Locarno if the bus from Maggia had arrived just 10 minutes earlier... Aaaghr...

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