Piz Palü
Fly here
Three ice-clad points in the Grisons, on the Italian border, famous for their ski traverse.
From the basket
Above the Bernina, the Piz Palü is one of the most beautiful glacier peaks in the Alps. From the balloon its north face looks like a great sculpture: three summits joined by snow ridges, and between them four hanging glaciers, separated by three pillars of rock that rise straight up from the glacier.
Its three points all stand above three thousand eight hundred metres: to the east, the eastern peak; in the centre, the main peak, the highest, at 3,899 metres; to the west, the Piz Spinas. The Italian border follows the crest, but the main summit lies entirely in Switzerland. To the south the mountain descends towards a vast glacial plateau, on the Italian side.
To the north, its face of ice ends on the Pers Glacier, which merges lower down into the great Morteratsch Glacier. Facing it, the Diavolezza station, at almost three thousand metres, gives visitors a direct view of its three pillars.
Make a slow turn in front of the north face to admire the pillars, then glide towards the Morteratsch Glacier, which runs down to the valley.
Sources: Wikipedia, “Piz Palü” (in French and German).
All around
- Piz Bernina, 4049 m, 5 km to the west
- St. Moritz, 17 km to the north-west