by Caterina Franci
A new ‘piece’ in a place created to bring young people closer to climbing. In June 2024, together with the new Casa delle Guide, the via ferrata dedicated to Ezio Artusi, a mountaineer from Introbiese, Alpine Rescue volunteer and 118 Areu instructor, who tragically died in Grignetta in 2018 together with his friend and Cnsas colleague Giovanni Giarletta, was inaugurated.
The via ferrata, designed for educational purposes by the guides of the Casa delle Guide, unfolds on the Condor slab, so named thanks to the work of Don Agostino Butturini, who cleaned and bolted the wall to bring his ‘young climbers’ to test themselves with ropes and karabiners after founding the renowned Condor group (1974).
As the mountain guide Andrea Carì, who runs the Casa delle Guide together with his colleagues Eugenio Galbani, Tita Gianola, Stefano Pizzagalli and Adriano Selva, explains, it was decided to exploit a little-used corner of the slab, the one just outside the Casa delle Guide, by setting up a via ferrata with an educational purpose, without modifying the existing climbing routes. The route is short, and can be climbed in about 25 minutes, but in just a few metres it succeeds in condensing all the main difficulties that can be encountered in a via ferrata, with vertical passages, overhanging sections and two Tibetan bridges, one of which is 30 metres long.
For insurance reasons, access to the via ferrata is conditional on the opening of the Mountain Guide's Hut. This means that it cannot be attempted freely, but only in the presence of mountain guides.
“It is essential to check that the equipment is adequate and to comply with the required safety regulations,” Carì explained. In agreement with the Soccorso Alpino della Valsassina e Valvarrone it was decided to dedicate this
a short but scenic itinerary for Ezio Artusi, a friend and volunteer of the Alpine Rescue who passed away in 2018, remembered with a plaque affixed right at the base of the rock face.
For further information and to check the opening days of the Casa delle Guide, please visit www.mountaindreamguide.com.
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