Piz Medel 3211m

In Memory of Cyrill Rüegger

A note from the SP staff
Cyrill Rüegger, the member we all used to know as Cyrill and Digitalis, died on June 13th 2009 in an avalanche on the summit ridge of Piz Palü together with his wife Tanja and a common friend. They were swept down by the avalanche into a couloir underneath the east summit and died instantly. Their bodies were retrieved from the Palü Glacier by helicopter a day after the accident.

Cyrill joined SP in March 2006 and soon was one of the most prolific contributors on the site with almost 70 mountain and 5 range pages to his profile. He was an accomplished climber, bagging almost 1000 summits in not quite seven years. Among them are 35 4000ers and 272 3000ers, almost all of them in his home country Switzerland.

While contributing a lot on SP, Cyrill's real internet home was www.hikr.org where he contributed 585 mountain profiles and reports in his native language German. Cyrill also posted on www.bergsteigen.at and other climbing sites, often under his real name but also under the pseudonym Digitalis. He was a botanist by profession and also contributed his knowledge about medical plants to different websites. Cyrill will be greatly missed by all.

This page will be kept in honour of Cyrill, one of SP's most prolific members and most active mountaineers.

Rest in peace, brother!

The picture above was taken on the summit of Matterhorn on July 28th 2007.

Overview

The Piz Medel 3211m is a mountain in Switzerland, in the canton Ticino. He's on the boarder of the Swiss-cantons Gisons (Graubünden) and Ticino (Tessin). This mountain is close-by the village Disentis and the Lukmanier pass.

To the north of the summit you find the glacier "Glatscher da Medel" and to the south-west the glacier "Vadrecc di Camadra".

In the neighbourhood you find the mountains Piz Cristallina 3128m, Cima di Camadra 3172m and Piz Uffiern 3151m.

Piz Medel is a popular mountain in summer as well as in spring with ski. Medel is a very beautiful ski tour.

Route & Difficulty

Normal route:
From the Medel-hut 2524m to the glacier "Glatscher da Plattas". Traverse the "Fil Lung" and over the extensive glacier "Glatscher da Medel" to the north ridge. Over this north ridge to the summit of Piz Medel 3211m.
Difficulty: WS (PD)

Ski tour route:
From the Medel-hut 2524m to the glacier "Glatscher da Plattas". Traverse the "Fil Lung" and over the extensive glacier "Glatscher da Medel" to the ski depot. Over the north ridge to the summit of Piz Medel 3211m.
Difficulty: ZS (AD)
Route: 249a ¦ 860 metres in altitude

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Online maps for Switzerland:

www.mapplus.ch

Map Search - Online Maps

Accommodation

> Medel hut 2524m Link to Medel hut

Getting There

By public transport

From Chur (capital of Grisons) with train until Disentis 1130m. With post-bus to the village Curaglia 1316m and on a marked hiking trail to the Medel hut 2524m

Online train&bus schedule (public transport Switzerland): SBB schedule


By car:

From Chur on the highway to Disentis and Curaglia 1316m. Curaglia is the starting point for the Medel hut and Piz Medel.

Online Route scheduler: route scheduler in english and TCS.ch

Weather, climate and snow conditions in Switzerland

Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology

Weather SFDRS

Meteo News.ch

Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research Davos: www.slf.ch

Links

Photos and report of the Piz Medel tour: Link to Medel trip

Switzerland Tourism: www.myswitzerland.com

Gisons Tourism: www.graubünden.ch

Images

View Piz Medel 3211m Image Gallery - 15 Images