Gruppo: Ortles

La Ferrata Tabaretta is one of the most severe routes in the Italian Alps: the imposing north wall of the Ortles, under Punta Tabaretta, dates back to a high mountain environment over 3000 meters. Technical difficulties up to the extreme are added to a remarkable physical and mental commitment; the rock is often poor of hooks and in many ways it advances by pulling on the cable. There are no escape routes.

From the upstream station of the seggiovia dell'Orso in Solda (2330 m); è the share to which to descend, without continuing beyond. Open road signs on Google Maps. Dalla stazione si segue il sentiero CAI 10 a mezza costa fino a un bivio, dove si tiene la sinistra sul CAI 4A; si procede verso ovest aggirando la parete nord dell'Ortles fino a innestarsi sul CAI 4 e, per alcuni tornanti, si raggiunge il Rifugio Tabaretta (2556 m, 45' from the upstream station). Behind the refuge starts the marked path «Ferrata – North-and-raque wall; which, halfway south-west, leads under the bastion all' attack (15' from the shelter, 1h from the station).

You start on rocks at a corner; climb it immediately you gain exposure and you enter the street figure, with few hooks that force you to pull on the cable. After a terrace you descend a couple of meters and you will reassemble a very exposed dihedron, then a diagonal plate leads to a small terrace. Since 2019 the original attack has been replaced by a more challenging variant: a wall of a hundred meters, vertical, exposed and flooded with supports, which stands on the same terrace. Continue to the right on small rocks and on a vertical plaque, a short traverse to the right and a dihedron taste; a rocky roof forces to cross to the left at a crack (first tiring tract). The cable starts vertically in a slightly overhanging and little stretched up to a panoramic terrace on the Tabaretta Refuge and Ortles. After some vertical meters bend diagonally to the right in ascending cross of Geelen Knott, the key passage: very few supports for the feet, to be overcome with rapidity and force of arms not to "burn" (use a referral or a fog). You pass the roof, you go up with a second rope on the right, you walk around a corner and you reach a large terrace with short hint. They follow a plaque of about twenty meters, easy rocks, a smooth plaque to be overcome by pulling on the cable, a very exposed right traverse and more climbing traits, up to a stretch of crest and to the book signatures. The last section climbs on aerial edge, a horizontal beam exposed, a vertical wall with a small protruding roof and an ascending traverse to the demanding but entangled right, then a difficult dihedron and plane (plug on the right side, not enough to climb without cable). You leave on the left, you pass plaque, small rocks and a short fireplace and finish the equipment. For a gravel path you can connect to the ridge that from the Rifugio Payer climbs to the Ortles, the highest point of the route (3076 m), and descend to the Rifugio Payer (3029 m, 2h from the attack, 3h 45' from the mountain station).

Continues and without respite: most of the stretches are difficult and very difficult, with extreme tips such as the Geelen Knott traverse. Maximum ratings on all fronts (technical, environment, exposure, physical commitment). The equipment is great but should not induce to underestimate the way.

Summer itinerary d' high altitude, to be faced with stable conditions and dry rock. The GPX and KMZ tracks are available. The Tabaretta and Payer refuges offer support along the route.

Dal Rifugio Payer si segue il sentiero di cresta CAI 4, con tratti esposti e parzialmente attrezzati, fino alla Forcella dell'Orso (2871 m); da qui si scende ripidamente, poi più dolcemente, nella vallata di Solda al Rifugio Tabaretta (1h 30' dal Payer, 5h 15' totali). Si rientra infine a ritroso per il sentiero di avvicinamento alla stazione a monte della funivia dell'Orso (30', 5h 45' totali).