Piz Palü
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Piz Palü | |
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The northern side of Piz Palü from Diavolezza |
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Elevation | 3,901 m (12,799 ft) |
Location | Italy / Switzerland |
Range | Bernina Range |
Prominence | 208 m (682 ft) |
Coordinates | |
First ascent | 1866 by K. E. Digby with guide Peter Jenny and a porter |
Easiest route | Snow climb from Diavolezza over the Pers Glacier |
Piz Palü (3,901 m) is a mountain in the Bernina Range in Switzerland and Italy. There are three summits on its main ridge, which runs from east to west. The name Palü derives from the Latin palus, meaning a swamp, and the mountain is said to be named after the Alpe Palü, a high alpine pasture some 4 km to its east.
It is uncertain when the mountain was first climbed, but the first ascent of the central and highest peak was, according to Collomb, probably by K. E. Digby with guide Peter Jenny and a porter in 1866. It was certainly ascended on 28 June 1868 by A. W. Moore, Horace Walker and Jakob Anderegg.
The east peak (3,882 m) was climbed by Oswald Heer, and P. and M. Flury, with guides Johann Madutz and Gian Marchet Colani (the 'King of the Bernina') on 12 August 1835. All three peaks were first traversed by Wachler, Wallner, George, Hans Gross and Christian Gross on 22 July 1868.
The mountain has gained some prominence from the film The White Hell of Pitz Palu (1929), co-directed by mountain-film pioneer Arnold Fanck and Georg Wilhelm Pabst, and starring a young Leni Riefenstahl.
[edit] References
- Collomb, Robin, Bernina Alps, Goring: West Col Productions, 1988