Total bluebird day this morning. With a scorcher predicted on the forecast, we were up and out early for an ascent of the huge cliff of Piz Ciavazes. We chose to climb a route called Rossi (Grade IV), hoping that we would stay in the cool of the shade for some of the morning - as it turned out, we were almost too cold as we were virtually up the route before the sun hit!
The route is about 220m high and although the position is spectacular, the climbing was never too hard. The route finding was our biggest problem though, as our route description and topo didn't quite match up all the time! It's a big face to be on and we certainly didn't want to end up lost on it!
We ended up breaking the climb into a few extra pitches more than the eight that were described, as sometimes we found an extra belay stance that would reduce the rope drag. I only really noticed how high up we were once I got to the top belay and turned abound to check out the view!
We'd not really stopped in over three and a half hours of climbing, so hungrily devoured our lunch in the sun at the top.
The adventure was far from over as the descent path follows a tiny trail right around the top of the cliffs! Clare is pointing to it here!
As we followed the path round, we got a good view of the face which was now bathed in sunshine and looked unpleasantly hot for climbing. You can just make out two other climbers on the grassy terrace.
From the top of the route it was a sweaty couple of hours to get back to the van. It was a real relief to get out of our harnesses, take the ropes from our shoulders and take a seat in the shade! We decided to drive straight back to the apartment for showers and a big lunch, before an ice cream session in the village square to celebrate.
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