Pizzo d’Intermesoli, 2635 m: "Best left to walkers with climbing experience" according to the map. Gran Sasso, Italy, June 2005.
Pizzo
d’Intermesoli, 2635 m: "Best left to walkers with climbing
experience" according to the map. Gran Sasso, Italy, June 2005.
After climbing up the Pizzo d’Intermesoli on the West side (see picture above and below), the last 200 m consisting of a mix of very steep, slippery scree and grade 3 solid rock faces, we were wondering what to do. Going down would be only 45 minutes but seemed treacherous. We asked an Italian man coming up after us at a high pace if there was another way down and if he would go down again. No, he said, “pericolo”, while waiving his arms.
Detail
of the grade 3 route up, starts on the left ridge, straight to the
top, view at the West side.
He was going to continue North along the marked trail along the ridges all the way North, to Pradi di Tivo or Pietracamela. He seemed to know the way given his very quick pace and kept on going only stopping for a minute to look at the high peaks around us and pointing us to a herd of chamois. While disappearing, already at a 50 m distance, he gave us vague directions to follow the ridge first and go down on the sloping North-West side of the mountain, an unmarked route.
Looking at the vertical cliffs on the far side of our target valley we were suppose to go down into, I was wondering. Is there a route down but why is there no trail indicated on the map. This looked suspicious. A new route to explore, but there tends to be a surprise.
We were on top at 1 PM and it took us until 6 PM to find a route down, after going up and down a few times, see map below.
