Dente par Dente, Spazzacaldeira 2nd August

Back up in the Albigna cable car and this time we were headed for Via Miki on the Bio Pillar which is about an hour's walk from the dam. We were sitting in the cable car only it wasn't going anywhere as somebody getting out at the top had left the door open so the cable car at the top wasn't going anywhere! Eventually, the electricity company officials who run the cable car decided that they would try to bring down the car despite it's open door. As it came down, we went up but oh, so slowly! We could only guess that because it was quite a breezy day, the open door was causing the other cable car to swing so every few minutes our cable car ground to a halt and we sat their swinging gently in the breeze.

After more than an hour, we reached the upper cable car stop at the dam but it was too late for us to head off for the Bio Pillar. That needed a full day.

So we thought about an alternative and set off to the Spazzacaldeira crag, which is only two minutes walk from the cable car and Dente par Dente. The route is eight pitches long but with an option to aseil off after the fourth pitch so this suited our rather shortened day quite well.

The photos show the first, second and third pitch and a view across to the route Via Felici which looked awesomely steep and one route would we have to go back for. The climbing was tricky up slabs and the steep walls and sometimes the bolts didn't follow the more obvious holds. Afterwards, we found that different guide books showed varying lines for some of the lower pitches.

(Route info - 6a, 5c+obl, 200m, abseil descent from top of pitch 4, abseil & down climb from top of route)

(Guide book - Schweiz Plaisir Sud, Swiss Rock:Granite Bregaglia)