Muottas Muragl (+ aborted attempt at Piz Clüx)

Last Saturday was the annual "snow day" with my colleagues from work. It started on Friday afternoon already, as we made our way to the Engadin village of Pontresina, where we put on the cross-country skis and made our way to our remote hotel in Val Roseg. On Saturday we went on the pistes, after which most people went back to Zürich. Six of us, however, stayed for another night, wanting to take advantage of the fabulous weather on Sunday as well. Two of us were going to the Corviglia ski area, three others planned a ski tour (though after some planning mishaps, they ditched their tour ended up on the piste as well). I had taken my snow shoes, and decided to go up Muotas Muragl and do a show shoe hike from here.

 

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The famous "Engadiner" langlauf marathon is taking place, and the participants are rushing past in front of the valley station of the Muottas Muragl funicular. I takes some good timing to run across the track without interfering with the skiers. The man at the ticket office looks doubtful as I ask for a single ticket (a heavy CHF 24). It turns out he is worried that I'm a fool wanting to hike down the sledging track. I quickly reassure him by showing him my route via Lej Muragl. There, I have the option to climb the pass of Fuorcla Muragl, before descending back down Val Muragl towards Pontresina.

 

The funicular brings me to the Muottas Muragl hotel-restaurant. Most people seem to come up here for the sledging descent, but there are also a number of prepared winter hiking trails and a short marked snow shoe trail. Muottas Muragl is also the name of the hill itself, whose relatively flat plateau constitutes an easy promenade with fabulous views all around. The skyline is dominated by mountains such as Piz Julier and Piz Bernina. The most magnificent sight however is probably the view towards St. Moritz and Maloja, across the frozen and snow-covered Oberengadiner Lakes. You could hardly find a better viewpoint into this valley, even if you had a helicopter at your disposal.

I follow the smooth, undulating ridge towards the south-east. Just before the highest point (P. 2821), I meet two other snowshoe hikers, who are having a break there. The pass of Fuorcla Muragl is straight ahead now, but it does not look very appealing. There is a lot of avalanche debris on the western slopes of Piz Vadret, and I don't really fancy traversing below the steep walls of P. 2982 either. I look around for better options, and my eye falls on Piz Clüx in the south. The ascent follows a slope covered with ski tracks, finally reaching a short ridge to the summit. From the distance and on the map, it seems like this could well be feasible on snow shoes. I decide to forget about Fuorcla Muragl and aim for Piz Clüx instead.

The ascent is easy at first, and reaches a small cirque at ca. 3000 m altitude, where according to the map there should be a small glacier under the snow. All of the ski touring tracks turn right here towards Piz Muragl. I turn away from the tracks, and aim for the col just west of the summit of Piz Clüx. The slope gradually gets steeper. Just a few meters below the col, things suddenly get problematic. Right where the slope is at its steepest (about 40°), the snow quality (which has been good so far) deteriorates dramatically. The snow here is only about 40 cm deep any more, and the bottom 10-15 cm is quite weak and has a horrible grainy consistency. (I'm not an expert on snow, but it seems to show all the characteristics of depth hoar.) All the snow underneath my snow shoes slides away, and basically I'm walking on the rock underneath now. This is not good. I'm already halfway the steepest bit, and tantalizingly it's just a matter of metres before I reach the smoother summit ridge. I consider 'digging' a channel through the snow through which I can ascend on the rock. But the signs are wrong and my gut feeling is bad. So I abort the ascent. Turning back it not easy either. The first couple of steps I awkwardly descend backwards, to make maximum use of the crampons on my snowshoes. It's a relief when I'm below the steepest section, and feel comfortable again running down the hill as usual.

At the col, I exchange a few words with a ski touring group. They obviously have been watching my little adventure with interest. Then it's a fast descend down Val Muragl. The landscape is fantastic, although the wildness of it is slightly ruined by a ridiculous amount of ski tracks. Don't forget to look back towards the north summit of Piz Muragl, which appears as a spectacular pyramid from Val Muragl. I finish the walk in Pontresina, where a riverside path gives some impressive views of the Grand Hotel Kronenhof.

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Muottas Muragl is a fabulous viewpoint, and the snow shoe hike towards Lej Muragl and down Val Muragl is rewarding WT2. The ascent towards the cirque between Piz Muragl and Piz Clüz would be WT3, and the ascent to the point where I aborted my ascent is WT4, and possibly even WT5 on that final steep section just below the col. From there, it looks easier again to the summit, but obviously I can't guarantee that. It's disappointing to have to turn back so close to the summit, but it was the right decision, and I still very much enjoyed the rest of my hike, in perfect sunny weather.