Monte Miletto, the route The Thin Ice

I've often wondered about that line while taking the chairlift up the mountain; logical, obvious and by no means extreme. As is often the case though, in my part of the woods many "obvious" lines have never been climbed before or there is no record of a first ascent. Mount Miletto's climbing history is intrinsically linked to climbers who aren't locals, such as Giorgio Ferretti and Cristiano Iurisci who were the first to consider this mountain's potential. Seeing that there was no mention of a route in the Iurisci's guidebook "Ghiaccio d’appennino" I thought it might be a good idea to produce the following topo for those who wish to repeat the route we climbed. And I also came to the conclusion that bolting the belays doesn't take anything away from the climb's "adventure" (seeing that the rock quality is often very poor), but is a real safety advantage, at least for the second.

Making the most of the last bouts of this poor winter, Fabio Madonna and I decided to dig out our ice axes and check out the line for ourselves. We set off at dawn to take advantage of the cold, but the fog and winds didn't seem promising. But then the sun came out and we enjoyed a great day in the mountains, with the thrill of "protection" that only the Matese mountains can offer. Perhaps ours isn't a first ascent and that's not important. We've called it "The Thin Ice", after the Pink Floyd song that "welcomed" us as we returned to Campitello.

by Riccardo Quaranta


TOPO: The Thin Ice, Monte Miletto