Solda Pass (Janinger Scharte)-Solda Summit (Suldenspitze) from Solda

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Given the particular environment of this snowshoeing excursion, the following considerations apply only to this outing on February 9, 2023; any other day and different start time on the same day can lead to snowshoeing experiences that are not even similar.

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From the upper station of the Solda cable car, take the small road leading to the ski slope going downhill, and shortly you reach the base of the large valley that leads to the Solda glacier.

On a previous snowshoe ascent (not published on Outdooractive), I started the climb from the center of the valley where you proceed on a flat base.

Today, with more snow and a good ski track already made, I lost less altitude initially and traversed on the left side heading upwards: this is not always convenient with snowshoes.

However, the two possible initial lines rejoin and you ascend easily until spotting a first series of crevasses on the left which are kept at a "respectful" distance.

You continue, with various possible lines, on a "hump" with a good slope on the right of these first crevasses.

You reach the height of a small serac shifted further to the right and then to the first long transverse crevasse which cannot be avoided far away.

During my previous ascent I had bypassed it all on the right even though there were signs of passage on a sort of "joint-bridge" on the center-right.

Today it was more covered with snow and I passed on the "joint-bridge" (also today there were tracks on both variants).

You continue calmly and arrive below a long diagonal crevasse which aligns for a few meters uphill.

In my previous ascent, I had seen a track that bypassed it all to the right on an initially very STEEP hump, and another gentler track to the left that crossed a wide "bridge-depression" – then, however, this second option passed near the upper edge of the crevasse, with some exposure even if there was not much lateral slope.

Today only the passage on the left was evident, which with more well-settled snow gave no worries.

Having done this, you are in the final chute that leads to the Solda pass or Janinger Scharte.

This chute is climbed calmly and the "final tooth of 3-4 meters" that deposits at the pass, under today's conditions, was absolutely without problems.

From the pass the final ridge is all evident and you can already see the small cross.

Today the first part was quite wide because … there was a large cornice that was clearly visible even from below on the approach.

Anyway, it is intuitive where you can stand, and you reach a small summit that is bypassed on the left with a wide and not very laterally inclined passage: but you must not get distracted because beyond the width there is a drop.

After bypassing the small summit there is a plateau just below the final slope leading to the summit.

This slope is broad, quite steep and has about 35 meters of elevation.

If the snow is good it is compatible with snowshoes: today the snow was perfect and I did it with snowshoes on both ascent and descent without tracks already made which had evidently been erased by strong winds of the two previous days.

Pure spectacle at the summit.

For the descent, pay attention to find the passage-bypass points of the two main crevasses.

In the lower part different lines may be sought compared to the ascent.