09 Feb 1st solo winter ascent of Piz d’ Eghen-Grigne

Rossano Libera, a mountain guide from Novate Mezzola (Sondrio), is one of the most active Italian solo climbers of the 3rd millennium;  in his curriculum the first solo winter ascent of Ringo Star (2004) and of the Cassin route on the north side of the Pizzo Badile (2008), just to give two names of reference.
 
Being alone on the the most isolated slopes of the mountains in winter  season is for him a way to feel particularly alive. The obsession that drives him is to retrace the footsteps of the great alpinists of the past that, on those vertiginous walls, have invented the future of mountaineering.
 
The latest adventure of Rossano Libera is on the north face of Piz d’Eghen in Valsassina – Grigne group: after an attempt in mid-January cancelled for the increasing temperatures, on January 31st and February 1st he completed the first solo winter ascent of the Cassin route.
 
This is a challenging route even in the good season that solves on the most logical way possible the problem posed by this huge wall of limestone, and is a particularly tough challenge when the thin ice covers the rock,  making the progression very precarious in the typical environment of the northern slopes
 

Source: Up-climbing  Ph. Rossano Libéra