Piz Badile: North Ridge/Nordkante

Climbing Piz Badile's 'Nordkante', a classic ridge line in the Bergell valley in Switzerland. The North Ridge is roughly 1200 metres of easy climbing.

Our original plan was to do the Cassin route on the North East face, but loads and loads of rain thwarted our ambitions. On our last climbing day we went for the 'Nordkante' instead as a fine consolation prize.

We simulclimbed most of the route, occasionally stopping at belays to swap gear. It took us 5½ hours to reach the summit of Piz Badile, with a few detours along the way (including somehow circumventing the 5a crux pitch).

After reaching the summit, we descended into Italy to have a quick soup in the Gianetti hut, then crossed two passes to get back into Switzerland. We reached the Sacs Füra hut in the evening, then had a celebratory beer before, finally, trudging up to our tent underneath the Badile, just in time before the rains returned.