Wish, wish... Gletscherhorn!!

What a wonderful peak! Gletscherhorn is located in Grisons, deep into the Bergalga valley, which is one of the main valleys of the Avers environment. Gletscherhorn was on the wish-list since 1999, when A.Gogna’s and A. Recalcati’s “Mesolcina e Spluga” CAI guide was first issued.  Decision was made Thursday evening: “Ok, we’ll go!” Getting to Avers is quite straight forward, but if you are one of those lazy drivers, the Postal bus service will do the job for you. You have to reach the tiny village of Juppa, anyway, where a free parking area is placed right at the beginning of the Bergalga valley. This place is a sort of marmot-sanctuary; everything talks marmot! Now a long walk (some 3 kilometers), practically flat, will help you heaten up; a most welcomed thing as temperature, as we got out of our car, was 2°C, and most of the morning route benefits of no sun at all. The route, after the Olta Stöfel farm, becomes a good track, starting to gain level, but still very comfortable. Shortly after having crossed the roaring Leidabach on a metal footbridge, you have to leave the path (which ultimately leads to the Bergalgapass) and, with the help of some small stone cairns, move up steep on the left, aiming to the well-identifiable saddle between Piz Predarossa (left) and Gletscherhorn (right). In other words, you don’t need to have a map with you, but, in case, the excellent CNS 1276 Val Bregaglia can be part of your gear. There’s no fixed route here, you can really go up freely, making through the annoying rubble. Some care has to be taken, but nothing to really worry about. Finally the sun peeked behind Piz Predarossa and we went up trending on the relatively steep slope until the mentioned saddle. Well, here you get a first superb view which, on a day blessed by perfect weather conditions as ours was, just leaves you without words. The final jump to the summit goes along a rubble-covered slope. A stone cairn marks the summit, under which the summit-book can be found.

A personal note: this is our first hike without our beloved Toto, who went over the rainbow bridge a couple of weeks ago. What a magnificent alpine-buddy he was! Oh, he would have loved Gletscherhorn! Emotions, memories, caught us and shook us. The all-round view, of astonishing beauty, was dotted with the peaks Toto had reached. Now he freely runs up and down the mountains in Heaven. God bless you Toto, thanks for all the love you gave us, for all the splendid days we spent roaming together.

The summit is graced with two seats someone very nicely obtained cleverly assembling some slabs. So you get to relax and enjoy. Needless to say, the number of peaks in sight is a countless craze. You may see as far as the Ortler group, to the east, and Monte Rosa to the west; Pizzo Badile, Pizzo Cengalo, Piz de la Margna, Piz Roseg, Piz Bernina, Piz Languard, Piz Julier, Piz Kesch, Piz Ela, Piz Platta, Piz d’Emet, Piz Tambò, Pizzo Stella, Piz Gallagiun, just to name some of them. The imposing Piz Duan right there in front of you. A well-deserved meal and a drink and down we went back to the saddle. The idea of having another tyring rubble-crossing was not exactly our favourite scenario, so we started considering an alternative solution; we shifted away from the normal route, gradually moving leftwise (west) in search of grassy slopes which we understood would, at some point, get us to fall upon the track leading to the Bergalgapass. No stone cairns, no marking, no path at all, but at the end this revealed itself to be a very enjoyable choice, really good fun. Well, soon after a tiny "marsh" (which is also well indicated on CNS 1276) the Bergalgapass track was met and the rest was nothing more but a long, long walk back to Juppa. Our descent route, ascending, would have made life quite easier.

A great day, an extraordinarily scenic peak with breathtaking views. Plus, we met no one at all, and that’s something we definitely do like: us and the mountain, nothing else in between. This hike can only be highly recommended. Make yourself a great gift: go to Gletscherhorn!