Pizzo di Claro – Winter like conditions in the middle of July

I wanted to climb Pizzo di Claro for a long time already, but so far never got to it. One reason is that a tour to Pizzo di Claro in one day (with public transportation from Zurich) starting in Claro will make almost 2500m of altitude difference, and this is kind of pushing the limits if one wants to get home again on the same day.

I was kind of worried about all the snow the Alps got in the past day, but when I looked at the Bellinzona webcam on Saturday afternoon, the bad weather in Ticino had already past. Pizzo di Claro had a "white hat", but I was convinced it wasn’t too bad and decided to catch the next train and bus to  Claro, Ponton and hike as far as I could on that day and then bivouac somewhere on the way up.

Once more I could not understand why people decide to drive a car through the Gotthard, when looking at the traffic jams on both sides of the Gotthard. I enjoyed my dinner and a beer, studied “Brenna” on the way there and arrived in  Claro, Ponton without any hassle or delay at 17:44h.

The weather was perfect and I was very happy about my decision to go south. I first walked to the monastery Santa Maria and then along the marked path to Marusio. The time was not too advanced yet and so I thought that I would probably make it to Alpe di Gagèrn before sundown and set up my bivouac tent there. At Alpe Domàs I met an interesting Austrian who permanently lives at Alpe di Cadino and talked to him for quite a while. He also told me that I can spend the night at Alpe di Motto, because there is a Rifugio there (like on most of the Alpe in this area). So I decided to check it out.

When I arrived at Alpe di Motto I was immediately convinced that I would spend the night here, it is such a beautiful location. Brenna describes it: “… eine Rippe, auf der die Hütten wie die Tasten eines Klaviers angeordnet sind und auf der das unverhofft magisch auftauchende Bild des Pizzo di Claro den Besucher in Entzücken zu versetzten mag”. I was delighted as well and glad that I unexpectedly found a very nice place to spend the night. I enjoyed the sundown, the view down to Bellinzona, the uncountable stars and the peace up here.

Even though I was the only one in the hut, I couldn’t really sleep much, probably because I was too excited. I got up shortly before sunrise and walked up to Alpe di Gagèrn and from there to Passo di Mem. The path after Alpe di Gagèrn is kind of hard to find and so I decided to take the diretissima through a few rocks (T4-).

My original plan was to go up the Via Lumino like Zaza described here, however when I saw all the snow at this altitude, I immediately changed my mind and took the marked path via Val Granda in the southeast flank instead (due to the snow only few path markings were visible). The shortcuts through one of the couloirs seemed like a very bad idea as well.

When I arrived on the summit I enjoyed the very impressive and clear view and the fact that I had Pizzo di Claro for myself - this probably doesn’t happen very often on a sunny Sunday in July. I stayed there for more than an hour, before I walked down to Lago di Canee, along the red/white marked path. To my surprise the northern side of Pizzo di Claro was almost completely snow free. For the rest of my way down back to  Claro, Ponton, I then followed the marked path via Alpe di Canee, Alpe Peurett, Bens and Moncrino


 Claro, Ponton – Monasterio di Sta Maria – Marusio – Alpe Domàs – Alpe di Motto – Alpe di Gagèrn – Passo di Mem – Val Granda – P. 2727 – Pizzo di Claro – Lago di Canee – Alpe di Canee – Alpe Peurett – Bens – Moncrino -  Claro, Ponton