On the last day of 2024, Peter von Kanel and Roger Schaeli climbed a beautiful route on the north face of 3,169m Sciora Dafora in the Swiss Alps. The two climbers believed it was a new route and named it Methadone (800m, M5+).
Tired after 15 hours on the go, they reached the Sciora hut and fell asleep, not bothering to stay up to welcome in the New Year.
Further investigation revealed that their route is not new.
Schaeli and Von Kanel’s route on the north face of Sciora Dafora. Photo: Peter Von Kanel/Roger Schaeli
Sciora Dafora (3,169m) lies in the Bergell Range, in the canton of Graubunden. Also known as Sciora di Fuori, it is the northernmost of the Sciora group of peaks. Anton von Rydzewski Christian Klucker, and Mansueto Barbaria made its first ascent back in 1892.
The Sciora group. From left to right: Sciora Dafora, Punta Pioda, Ago di Sciora, and Sciora Dadent. Photo: Jean-Louis Pitteloud
A surprising discovery
Von Kanel admitted on social media that even before attempting the route, they thought theirs would be the first ascent. They were quite surprised to find an old spit two pitches before the final ridge.
“Impressive, what they achieved back in the day when the gear was not yet as good as today,” commented Von Kanel.
Von Kanel and Schaeli found this old spit on the route. Photo: Peter Von Kanel/Roger Schaeli
Below Von Kanel’s Instagram post, mountain guide Davide Terraneo commented, ”probably, the spit that you found is from an old route opened by Italian mountain guides Franco Giacomelli and Renata Rossi.”
Images from Von Kanel and Schaeli’s recent repetition. Photos: Peter Von Kanel/Roger Schaeli
Renata Rossi then saw Terraneo’s tagged comment and added her knowledge about this route on the north face of Sciora Dafora. ExplorersWeb followed up by contacting Rossi.
She told us that Von Kanel and Schaeli‘s route was first climbed on Aug. 3, 1974, by D. Erba, G. Maresi, and F. Pirola. They didn’t give it a name, so traditionally, it’s simply called the Erba/Maresi/Pirola route. According to Rossi, it’s a logical line in the center of the wall and lends itself to dry tooling.
Incidents like this help make mountaineering history so fascinating. Often, climbers innocently don’t know about their predecessors on a route. But then the mountaineering community steps in, and a little detective work usually solves the case.
Roger Schaeli, left, and Peter Von Kanel on the summit of Sciora Dafora. Photo: Peter Von Kanel/Roger Schaeli
The first repetition
Renata Rossi and Franco Giacomelli made the first repetition on July 24, 1977. On the first part of the line, they did a new variant. According to Rossi, there might be more repetitions too, although not many, because the northern wall of Sciora Dafora is so little known.
Renata Rossi was the first woman in Italy and among the first European women to become a professional mountain guide. In 1977, she took part in an Italian expedition to Annapurna III. She has also opened several new routes in the Alps and made winter ascents. She still works full-time as a mountain and canyoneering guide.
Renata Rossi. Photo: Renata Rossi
