When people talk about mixed climbing in the Tonale area, they are usually referring to the long, jagged ridge which rises from the Passo del Paradiso (at the top of the first section of the cable car) and separates the Val Presena from the Tonale basin. There are three peaks along the ridge line: Monticello, Monticello di Mezzo (2,539 m) and Monticello Superiore (2,609 m), with the Diavolo Couloir separating the lower peak from the upper one.
Here is an account by Francesco Salvaterra, a Mountime guide, of a day\u2019s climbing at Monticello Superiore.
But let\u2019s go into a bit more detail\u2026 here\u2019s some useful information about the Monticelli face and one of its most popular and frequently climbed routes.<\/p> \n
Access to Monticello Superiore
Rientro
Mafia Bianca, a route by chance.
Never mind; with one pleasant pitch after another, we reached the ridge line, cutting through the substantial snow cornice built up by the southerly wind. We had very little gear to leave behind to set up the abseils, but fortunately, as we scraped away at the snow, we found rocks and protrusions wedged here and there, which allowed us a quick descent back to the piste. I must say that initially we hadn\u2019t been too keen on the route; we\u2019d been looking for something more challenging that day, but it was precisely the \u2018good-natured\u2019 nature of the outing that made me think it would prove very popular\u2026 though I never imagined it would attract such a crowd! In the years that followed, I happened to return there several times, and it\u2019s probably the route I\u2019ve repeated the most times of all to date. To get an idea of just how popular the route is, you only need to take a look at the rock on the crux of the overhanging chimney. It\u2019s so scarred by crampons that it looks like a section of the Hornli Ridge on the Matterhorn. \u2018Mafia Bianca\u2019 is a route to get you started using ice axes and crampons on mixed terrain; a transitional route, with a crag-style approach but the atmosphere and length of a high-mountain route. Some have asked about the name\u2026 \u2018Mafia Bianca\u2019 is a fine film by Luigi Zampa, but it\u2019s also the mafia without any murders (quote: Raffaele Cantone). <\/p> \n
Here is the report on the classic route: Mafia Bianca.
Mountime guide Francesco Salvaterra tells us about a truly impressive climb on the Tonale: \u2018Mafia Bianca\u2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5162,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[111],"tags":[115,113,114,116,112,117],"class_list":["post-5163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mountaineering","tag-brenta","tag-climbing","tag-dolomiti","tag-experiences","tag-ice","tag-trentino"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n