Pizzo Bernina Biancograt Ridge

From Pontresina, in Switzerland, you travel up the long Val Roseg in a horse-drawn carriage, thus saving yourself a 7 km ‘walk’ to the Albergo Roseg (1,999 m), the starting point of the ascent. After a couple of hours’ walk, you reach the Tschierva hut (2,583 m), where you stop for the night.

Before dawn, you cross the scree slope, following the cairns dotted along the route, to the Prievlusa pass, where the real ascent of the Biancograt begins. The route runs mostly along the line of this spectacular snow-covered ridge. Once you reach the first peak, Pizzo Bianco (3,995 m), you find yourself facing a series of rocky ups and downs, with abseils and sections of climbing at grades II and III, to get past the two towers leading up to the summit. After an ascent of around 7 hours, you reach the coveted summit of Pizzo Bernina (4,050 m).

The descent follows the standard route down the Italian side, leading via a series of abseils to the Morterasch Glacier, along which you reach the station for the little train that takes you back to Pontresina.