Climbers in Switzerland have scaled one of the Alps’ last wild faces that had never been previously climbed.
The Punta Pioda mountain is a towering 10,620ft (3,237m) peak in the Bregaglia range of the Swiss Alps.
Although it doesn’t have the same notoriety as the Matterhorn or other peaks in the Alps, the Punta Pioda is a daunting prospect for climbers, thanks to its rocky terrain and prominent ridge sections.
Earlier this month, Roger Schaeli, Filippo Sala, and Silvan Schupbach completed the first ever successful ascent of the mountain’s steep north face in an expert four-day climb.
The group began their ascent on March 6, encountering loose rock and freezing temperatures before returning to an alpine hut for the night. They slept the next two nights in bivouacs suspended on the rock wall before they finally reached the summit on March 9.
The climb was part of Schupbach’s ‘forgotten north faces’ project, in which he aims to scale forgotten and previously untouched north faces in the Alps.
Schupbach, Schaeli, and Sala had never climbed together before the expedition.
Taking to Instagram, Sala said: “We never climbed together all three of us, the team works well despite this wild adventure with loose rock, freezing temperatures and highest difficulties.”
“We spent 4 days on the wall, and the feeling was that every pitch was a real conquer; long and complex pitches mixed up in between aid and free!”
Inspired? Check out our expert guide to alpine climbing to learn how you can start summitting snowy peaks.
