Piz Calderas (3397 m) - hike from Alp Flix

In this hike to Piz Calderas (3397 m), I ascended through Tellers Davains, and the L-couloir on the west side of the mountain. Later I descended on the southeast side, and then I headed down a couloir towards Plang Lung.

I started my hike in Alp Flix at elevation 1915 m. I followed the roads to Tgalucas, and then a trail in direction Tellers Davains. Initially there was a marked trail, but after the bridge at P.2073 it was an unmarked path or path traces up to elevation 2450 m. Above elevation 2500 m, I largely had to hike through the rubble and sometimes scree, which became increasingly harder work. In the L-couloir above elevation 2800 m, it starts getting pretty steep. But the steepest part comes after the bend to the left, where it is at least 40° steep. Luckily it is possible to ascend along and partially on the bedrock on the left side. I think it would be nearly impossible to ascend in the rubble. Further up I ascended on the bedrock following more or less the small cairns built by ivo66.

Next, I continued on the Piz Calderas west ridge, where it is less step than the middle of the L-couloir, but still quite steep. On average, the last 500 m elevation gain to the summit corresponds to a hiking distance of only 1000 m. It must have been the most strenuous 1 km of hiking I ever did.

Finally, after 4 hours of hiking I reached the summit of Piz Calderas. The view was amazing, despite the clouds that had meanwhile formed. No other hikers had the same idea to visit Piz Calderas on this day, so I had it all for myself. According to the summit book, it was the 10th visit this month. Amazingly, there was hardly any wind, so I did not even need to put on my jacket. I spent an entire hour at the summit.

For the descent, I chose to hike down in the SE flank (where skiers typically ascend in the winter). North of P.3093 and close to the edge of the glacier Vadret Calderas there is a couloir going down towards Plang Lung. I believe this couloir is used by skiers in the winter as well. Currently there is no snow in the couloir anymore. It was quite difficult to descend there in the very steep loose scree. A bit further down I was unable to continue on the right side (in direction downhill), and had to cross the creek. That was rather challenging. Overall I would not recommend the descent through this couloir. It may however be a viable option to ascend or descend (with crampons) earlier in the summer when the couloir is filled with snow.

Main difficulties:
- Ascent through the rubble in Tellers Davains from elevation 2400 - 2700 m: T3 - T4
- L-couloir: T5-
- Further ascent along the west ridge: T4+
- Descent in the SE flank down to elevation 3150 m: T4+
- Descent through the couloir north of P.3093: T5-
- Further descent through Plang Lung: T3

Equipment:
- Hiking sticks

Total tour distance: 13 km
Please attached GPS track for more details.