Punta Kurz 3496 m

"Advanced" Cycloalpine route with technical and exposed descents to be tackled only with proper awareness.

Kurz Peak 3496 m, a dream cultivated for years while waiting for the right safety and feasibility conditions became a reality in this crazy summer of 2022. Easily a first even in the Discomfort clan.

Start from La Ferrère 1700 m Valpelline if you are a short-armed brianzoli but if you have the bauscia Suv you can also pay the 3.6 euros from the Place Moulin dam parking lot. I actually started lower than I should have because I wanted to explore the valley floor trail as well but then didn't make it in time today. Whatever.

Very easy uphill trail. You high skirt the Place Moulin lake first on road then on fantastic balcony trail anti merenderos until you enter the very long valley d'Orein. Over 3 km to Plan du Gan 2468 m. Little slope, "decent" pedal and beauty already at the bottom. After the plateau a steep cliff with trivial equipped sections in noble Portage wakes us on the upper plateaus with Nacamuli hut in sight. More alternating pedalino-ino-ino, pushes, Portage and another crag to finally arrive over 3000 m near Lake Collon, which we avoid, however, by turning right at the only poorly marked fork. From here on there is no more discounting only fatigue, tears, blood and Habsburg Portage on endless light scree scree slopes. Lemmi lemmi we cut toward the ridge cairns until we overlook the Arolla glacier with Les Bouquetins 3800 m dominating the stage. Behind us is Eveque 3700 m and its tongue of ice. Thrill a thousand but the goal still seems far away and unreachable. The very steep Fin and the increasingly unstable bottom often impose 3 steps to make 1. The one in view overhead tries to delude us into thinking it is the summit but it is a joke. The real Peak is protected by an icy ridge that just the thought of traversing it with bike on your back and chasm on either side makes you want to go Curling. Actually crampons stay snug in the backpack because a providential exposed passage of a few meters allows the last push on the summit. Punta Kurz 3496 m !

Enthusiasm, kisses and hugs with the very faithful Phoebe. Triumph of peaks and ice everywhere. Photonic day and pleasant temperature. Marooo !

The list of visible peaks is endless: Dente Blanche, Tete de Valpelline, Dent d'Herens ... impossible to name and recognize them all at 360.

Descent ON: first meters from very exposed but very short diaper then we take back the antecedent with a few little steps on foot to overlook the Collon Col. More than a mtb descent it is a surf between alternating sands and more or less large scree. Grip not to be had. Unfortunately the rear tire model retardant for her stimulating for him does not allow me total ignorance for fear of cutting but wanting to could be far more arrogant as long as I limit the traverses as much as possible given the very poor grip of the bottom. Even toward the pass better a zö de lè straight for straight than the vague trail. We skirt the lake on falsiplanes and then steep again. Here trail well marked but extremely dry and with poor grip. A few nice Loffion circus passes but also a few survival passes without delay do not lower morale because soon after we have a nice, winding guided section before two or three refreshing fords. To avoid slight ascent we cut straight to the plain pedaling shawls in glacial streams. Relaxation. Followed by more varied and technical session on nice rocks trying to stay in the saddle as much as possible before the climbed and equipped area. 100-150 m of deportage is unavoidable. The whole very long gully remains with only a couple of irrelevant lurks for small landslides. Honorable mention to the hairpin bends at altitude 2400 m, nice technical but not difficult. We unsightly retrace all the outward track but with great pleasure and beautiful afternoon light. Little incline great alpine enjoyment. One could glide up to the Prarayer refuge but the nightmare of the merenderos' slippers along the lake makes me continue on the morning balcony. Only just after Arpeyssaou do we descend to the dam on nice little trail. It gets late, unfortunately or fortunately a family board mandates the exploratory cut of the low Buthier trail and we return in agony on asphalt to the car.

Bottom line: definitely unconventional itinerary but uniquely beautiful, exclusive and satisfying. Only for chronic and irreversible Cyclodisagiati.

Technical Difficulty: Very Difficult+

Physical Condition: Very Hard

www.ciclodisagio.com