Piz Üertsch 3267m

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 Üertsch 3267m is a mountain in Switzerland, in the canton Grisons. Located in the Rhaetian Alps and in the Albula Group. He is standing direct in front of the Albula-pass 2312m. This mountain is close-by the village Bergün and la Punt. He didn't have a glacier en route. To the north-west of the Piz Üertsch you find "Vadret da Tisch", this is no more a glacier, he had liquefied. It's only a névé.

The mountains in this region are "wild and lonely". There are no popular peaks in this area, with one exception: Piz Kesch 3418m

Piz Üertsch is not doable with ski.

Route & Difficulty

The normal and simplest route is the east-ridge.
Difficulty L (F) - or hiking classification T5 (EB/BG).


highly lucrative is our route, the exceedance:

Ascent above the west-ridge and descent above the east-ridge.
Difficulty: WS (PD) - or hiking classification T6 (BG)

starting point: Albulapass.

Getting There

With public transport:

With the RHB-Train to the railway station Preda (close-by Bergün). This railway line is one of the most beautiful in Europe! Really a very nice train ride. From Preda you take the yellow post-bus up to the Albulapass.

Online train schedule (public transport Switzerland): SBB schedule

By car:

In Summer and autumn time, you can drive on the top of Albulapass 2312m. In the winter this pass is close. (mostly from November).

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

Accommodation

Hotels and Guesthouses in the village Bergün, Preda and la Punt.
Bergün Tourism: Bergün Tourism

Next hut in the area is the Es-Cha-Hut (Chamanna d'Es-Cha) 2494m
>Link: Es-Cha Hut

External Links

Link about the Piz Üertsch 3267m: Piz Üertsch 3267m

Switzerland Tourism: www.myswitzerland.com

Gisons Tourism: www.graubünden.ch

Books & Map

Clubführer Bündner Alpen 6 (from Septimer to Flüela)
author: Manfred Hunziker

Map:

Map Search - Online Maps

Online Map Swissmap

Weather conditions in Switzerland

Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology

Weather SFDRS

Meteo News.ch

Images

View Piz Üertsch 3267m Image Gallery - 16 Images