Punta San Matteo
| Punta San Matteo | ||
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 Punta San Matteo from the north ( Rifugio Pizzini ) |
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| height | 3678 m slm | |
| location | Border between Trentino and the Province of Sondrio , Italy | |
| Mountains | Cevedale-Vioz ridge in the southern Ortler Alps | |
| Coordinates | 46 ° 22 '44 " N , 10 ° 34' 0" E | |
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| First ascent | June 28, 1865 by Francis Fox Tuckett , Douglas William Freshfield, James Backhouse, George Henry Fox, led by François Devouassoud and Peter Michel | |
| Normal way | from the Rifugio Berni di Gavia as a high tour over glaciers and the northwest ridge to the summit | |
The Punta San Matteo is a 3678 meter high mountain in the Cevedale-Vioz ridge , a mountain range of the southern Ortler Alps , a mountain range in the southern Eastern Alps , running south from the Suldenspitze over the Monte Vioz to the Passo di Gavia (German: Gaviapass ) . The current name of the Punta San Matteo, previously called Pizzo della Mare or Palle della Mare , was given by the alpine explorer and cartographer Julius Payer in 1867, because his ascent of the mountain fell on September 21, 1867 on the day of the evangelist Matthew . The mountain lies exactly on the border between the Italian provinces of Trentino and Sondrio in the Stilfserjoch National Park . When viewed from the north, the summit, covered with firn , looks like the dominant southern boundary of the great Ghiacciaio dei Forni glacier . To the northwest, east and southwest it sends pronounced ridges that form the course of the ridge. Due to its easy accessibility from the Rifugio Cesare Branca ( Branca Hut ), the Rifugio Forni or the Gavia Pass, the Punta is also a popular destination for ski tourers in spring . A classic alpine ascent was from the 1930s to the ice-covered north face . The mountain was first climbed on June 28, 1865 by the English alpinists Francis Fox Tuckett from Bristol, George Henry Fox from Falmouth, Douglas William Freshfield from Oxford and James H. Backhouse from Darlington. They were led by François Devouassoud from Chamonix and Peter Michel from Grindelwald.
Location and surroundings
The Punta San Matteo is completely surrounded by glaciers . In the north the largest glacier in the area, Ghiacciaio dei Forni (German: Forno Glacier ), extends to the summit, in the east the Vedretta degli Orsi extends up to a height of about 3594 meters up to the east ridge . In the south there is still a small snowfield, the Vedretta Val Piana, which has declined sharply due to global warming . Finally, to the west is the Ghiaccaiaio di Dosegù . Neighboring mountains are the 3560 meter high Cima Dosegù in the northwest , the Monte Giumella with 3594 meters in the east and the 3524 meter high Punta Cadini in the further course of the east ridge . The Monte Mantell (3517 m) joins the southwest ridge . To the west, the area around the Punta falls into the Valle di Gavia ( Gaviatal ). The nearest significant place is in the province of Sondrio, a good seven kilometers as the crow flies to the northwest, the winter sports resort of Santa Caterina Valfurva . The Trentino village of Peio in Val di Peio is about eight kilometers to the east, and the Gavia Pass is about seven kilometers to the southwest.
history
Due to its strategically favorable location above the road over the Gaviapass, the Punta San Matteo was the scene of the last victory of the Imperial and Royal Kaiserschützen during the First World War . At the beginning of 1918 the Austrians occupied the summit of the mountain, but on August 13th Italian alpinists were able to conquer the Punta and take half of the Austrians as prisoners. On September 3rd, however, the Austrians managed to recapture the summit. The battle on Punta San Matteo was the highest level of combat in a war.
Base and ascent
The English road in 1865 led over the south-west ridge, which is rarely used today. The starting point of their tour was Santa Caterina. It took them a total of eight hours to climb the Dosegù glacier. Today the mountain is climbed as an alpine tour with appropriate equipment and glacier experience over the northwest ridge. The normal route , i.e. the easiest ascent, first walked by Julius Payer and Johann Pinggera on September 21, 1867, leads from the Rifugio Berni di Gavia at an altitude of 2541 meters, directly on the Gaviapass road, in a north-easterly direction over the Dosegù glacier, up to a saddle between Monte Dosegù and Punta San Matteo and then over the northwest ridge to the summit. According to the literature, the walking time is around four to five hours. A six-hour ice tour leads through the north face of Punta San Matteo. With an ice incline of 60 ° and a difference in altitude of around 400 meters , this is a classic alpine tour that was mastered for the first time in 1937. However, critical conditions on the summit snow wall can make ascent impossible. The base for ascents from the north is the Rifugio Cesare Branca, located at an altitude of 2,487 meters.
Literature and map
- Peter Holl: Alpine Club Guide Ortleralpen , 9th edition, Bergverlag Rother , Munich 2003, ISBN 3-7633-1313-3
- Louis Friedmann in Eduard Richter (editor): The development of the Eastern Alps, Volume II , publishing house of the German and Austrian Alpine Association, Berlin, 1894
- Casa Editrice Tabacco , Tavagnacco: Carta topografica 1: 25,000, sheet 08, Ortles-Cevedale / Ortler area
Individual evidence
- ↑ Website Rifugio Forni (online)
- ↑ Video of a ski tour to Punta San Matteo (online)
- ^ The Alpine Journal , Volume III, London 1865, p. 145
- ↑ The Eastern Front: The Dead Eyes in the Mountain . Report in Spiegel Online from March 30, 2004