Once had I set off uphill from Pozciavo yesterday evening, fortified by a pizza in the square, I walked for about two and a half hours before selecting for my bivvy a lovely little meadow at 900m, shared with the cows. I went to straight to sleep and rose early, setting off on a beautiful sunny morning at 4.35, with cloud below me in the valley. Two hours later, from the top of the pass, I spotted a nice hill to climb, dumped the rucksack and set off. Soon I realised the main peak was do-able by scrambling up a snow slope (part of a glacier but no crevasses) to the col and following the ridge to the top. Here then is my peak of the day.
It's over 3,000 m, but I can't tell you its name because the map was left in my rucksack. There's something quite special about an unplanned exploration of a route up an unknown mountain, especially without the rucksack! After retrieving it, I traversed a region not unlike the Rhinogs, with jewels of lakes set in a craggy landscape: lovely, but hard going and I was glad of cake at a refuge. Then a long descent - by just about the worst maintained alpine path ever: steep, grass hiding slippy stones, nettles, badly signed and seemingly endless. A frustrating anti-climax to my exploratory adventure!
Piz Cancian
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