| Piz Badile | |
|---|---|
 The north-east face and north ridge of Piz Badile | |
| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 3,308 m (10,853 ft) |
| Prominence | 262 m (860 ft)[1] |
| Parent peak | Piz Cengalo |
| Isolation | 1.1 km (0.68 mi)[2] |
| Listing | Great north faces of the Alps |
| Coordinates | 46°17′41″N9°35′10″E / 46.29472°N 9.58611°E /46.29472; 9.58611 |
| Geography | |
  Piz Badile Location in the Alps | |
| Location | Lombardy,Italy Graubünden,Switzerland |
| Parent range | Bregaglia Range |
| Geology | |
| Mountain type | Granite |
| Climbing | |
| First ascent | W. A. B. Coolidge with guidesFrançois Devouassoud and Henri Devouassoud on 27 July 1867 |
| Easiest route | South Ridge (Couloir Route) PD |
Piz Badile (3,308 m) is amountain of theBregaglia range in theSwiss canton ofGraubünden and theItalian region ofLombardy. The border between the two countries runs along the summit ridge. Its north-east face, overlooking the SwissVal Bregaglia nearSoglio, is considered one of the sixgreat north faces of the Alps. The nameBadile meansspade orshovel (arising from the mountain's appearance when viewed from the Val Bregaglia).
Thefirst ascent of Piz Badile was byW. A. B. Coolidge with guidesFrançois Devouassoud and Henri Devouassoud on 27 July 1867 by the south ridge.[3] The mountain had first come to the notice of British alpinists fromD. W. Freshfield's writings of the 1860s. He gave the name 'the Grey Twins' to Piz Badile andPiz Cengalo, and made the first ascent of Piz Cengalo in 1866.[4]
The two classic routes on Piz Badile are the north ridge and theCassin Route on the north-east face. The north ridge – theBadilekante – was first prospected solo by the Swiss guideChristian Klucker in 1892 (Klucker later made the first ascent of the Badile's west-south-west ridge with Anton von Rydzewski and M. Barbaria on 14 June 1897). After several unsuccessful attempts by Italian parties in 1911, the ridge (IV, one pitch of V−) finally fell to Alfred Zürcher with the guide Walter Risch on 4 August 1923. F. l'Orsa andAndré Roch found a more direct line on the ridge on the second ascent (18 July 1926).[3]
The most popular route on the north-east face is theCassin Route (V+/A0 or VI+), so-called after the first ascentionistRiccardo Cassin, who climbed it with V. Ratti and G. Esposito, together with the Como team of Mario Molteni and Giuseppe Valsecchi on 14–16 July 1937. Molteni and Valsecchi were already on the face when Cassin and his party started out, but the climbers subsequently joined forces. In this famous alpine epic, Molteni died of exhaustion and exposure on the summit, whilst Valsecchi died on the descent by the south ridge just before reaching the hut.[3]
