GHIACCIO delle OROBIE

Routes with ice axes and crampons in the Orobic Alps, Presolana, Grigne, Concarena and Resegone.

The Orobic Alps and Prealps of Lombardy have been overlooked for a long time, concealed by the fame of the Alpine massif, but they are now being rediscovered thanks to an increasing interest for winter mountaineering. In the Orobic Alps, cold winters are characterized by heavy precipitation and a marked temperature variation, so even the rock faces at a rather low altitude become a wild iced environment: the ideal playground for the increasing number of enthusiasts, with axes and crampons, who leave their traces along a number of ice routes of all levels of difficulty. Besides the classic couloirs, perfect for starting out, every year there are new ice and mixed routes on almost unexplored mountain sides, where the imagination of mountaineers is free to wander.

Valentino Cividini works in a factory, but he is a true mountain lover, dedicating the majority of his time to mountaineering and climbing. The Orobic Alps have become his second home and he has been promoting a sustainable way of living the mountains.

Marco Romelli works in the field of illustration, photography and writes mountaineering and hiking guidebooks. He started to go mountaineering in his childhood. The wild environment of the Orobic Alps during winter was his testing ground to face the imposing massif of the Western Alps, that are thrilling him at the moment.

Matteo Bertolotti works in the field of film distribution. In 2003 he created the website sassbaloss.com with some friends, with the aim of sharing the reports of the repeated routes. He has climbed 1200 rock and high mountain routes until now, from the Dolomites to the Mont Blanc, from the classic routes to the more unusual ones. He is passionate about old mountain books, mountaineering instructor at the Scuola Valle Seriana and a GISM (Gruppo Italiano Scrittori di Montagna) member. In 2016 sassbaloss.com received the Marcello Meroni Prize for the cultural nomination.