In the 70’s, thanks to the continuous evolution of the “piolet-traction” technique, mountaineers climbed gullies in Scotland and in the Alps. In the early 80’s the attention of the mountaineering world turned to frozen waterfalls. In fact, the alpine valleys rich of waterfalls, thanks to the winter cold, became an inexhaustible field of action for those who liked to try ice. It is mainly for this reason that Giancarlo Grassi, accompanied by other strong colleagues, started out in a systematic exploration of the valleys in search of frozen waterfalls. The result is the book “Il Ghiaccio dell’Ovest. Guida alle cascate di ghiaccio, Piemonte”. If  you pay attention to the dates of the first realization of routes, you  will see that valleys, perhaps today forgotten, at that time were at the center of the mountaineering world, and more specifically of frozen waterfalls climbing.
While routes on mountain rock walls have undergone drastic alterations as a result of climate changes, the frozen waterfalls climbing, temperature permitting, cyclically propose itself every winter. The following text is the result of Giancarlo Grassi’s exploration and description of what the customer of our valley may still nowadays find in wintertime.

Balme
Pian Della Mussa
Settore A Destra Del Canale Delle Capre
Settore Bastionata Pian Dei Morti
Rifugio Gastaldi