Bugeleisen 5th & 6th August

The Bugeleisen, or Flat Iron as it is known, is a classic route in the Bregaglia area so we had to go and climb it! It gets the name Flat Iron from its distinctive shape.

Laura and Robin decided to walk up to the Sciora Hut with us to spend the night before they walked over the high pass to the Sasc Fura Hut and back down to the valley. We spent the evening watching the views of the sunset over the peaks, chatting and just generally enjoying the whole atmosphere of the place and great views of the north face of Piz Badile and the Cassin Route.

We set off early and there were only a couple of parties ahead of us so all was good. The route is pitch after pitch of lovely slab climbing with nothing harder than 5a+. The bolts were all where they should be too so in some places perhaps they would have felt a bit spaced if the holds had not been so positive. I remember leading a lovely 5a pitch near the top which wasn't slabs but a little kind of overhang .

The climb was just so enjoyable and the many abseils needed to get down went well for us although we could see that there were many places where ropes could get stuck. We shared the climb and the descent with two guys from Germany who had been camped alongside us in Vicosporano and it made for a very chatty kind of route.