Punta della Sfinge

Overview

this summit belongs to the val Masino alps and is a nice rock mountain between Pizzo Ligoncio and Pizzi dell'Oro





It has 3 walls and 3 ridges, all of very fine rock.
The NE wall, that can be climbed almost everywhere, looks like a big slab and, due to its nearness to Rif.Omio is the best training structure to understand and learn Masino climbing style, almost never athletic and hard

Getting There

approach to this mountain can be done from 2 valleys that can be reached by car from Milan (SS-36)
Milano - Lecco - Colico .... Sondrio

- starting (on foot) from Novate Mezzola you can enter the Val Codera and reach, after a long long long walk the biv. Valli, 1900m, uncomfortable starting point for NW big wall

- starting from Ardenno you can enter the Val Masino and, when in Bagni del Masino, with a fine 2 hours walk in Val dell'Oro, reach the rif Omio, 2100m, better starting point for all the routes (to get the beginning of the NW wall you must cross the Passo dell'Oro (or Passo Ligoncio) and descend about 300m)

Routes

NW wall - the wildest and most striking of the whole group
on this wall 2 extreme routes (can require more than one day)
- right side - via Oppio (Nino Oppio-Stefano Duca 1941) - 480m - ED+ - a landslide in the middle of the wall may have made it impossible to run
- variant - (Osio-Airoldi-Piazza-Gallieni 1958) - ED+
- left side - via del Peder (Alippi-Gilardoni-Lanfranconi-Snider 1976) - 350m till NE edge - ED+
- as for my actual info a straight way is still waiting to be made

E edge (Braman-Fasana-Bozzoli-Bardelli 1934) - 200m - AD

SE wall - hidden from the Rif.Omio - fine environment
- left side - normal route (Fiorelli-Casati 1908) - 200m - PD+ (passes III)
- central - Amosso route (Amosso-Elli 1952) - 250m - D-
- right side - via dei Morbegnesi (Dell'Oca & co. 1964) - 200m - TD

SSW ridge
- Strutt-Pollinger 1909 - PD - the best for coming down - very amusing, wonderful sceneries

some pics

taken while climbing the on the NE wall

Red Tape

no problems

When To Climb

starting from May - the NW wall is too steep to keep snow or ice :)

Images

View Punta della Sfinge Image Gallery - 15 Images