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Kleine Micheluzzi/"Little Micheluzzi."

5.7, Trad, 1300 ft (394 m), 10 pitches,  Avg: 3 from 17 votes
FA: Luigi Micheluzzi & friends,1928
International > Europe > Italy > Dolomites > Sella Group > Passo Sella Area > Piz Ciavazes

Description

This is a very popular and heavily travelled route. The lower 4 pitches ascend gray rock diagonally right and then follow an obvious ramp system trending left atop a buttress. A lead and a half traverses up and right is then necessary to avoid roofs, while the final 4 leads leading up to the Gamsband are more difficult at UIAA Gr. IV+ (5.6-5.7).

Location

The route is accessed from the Ciavazes parking area located between the Sellajoch and Pian-Schiavaneis Hut. The South face of Piz Ciavazes is split in the center by a steep gully system. The start of the route is on lower angle rock (comparatively speaking) to the right of the base of this gully. The start (Einsteig) is "marked." Descend by traversing along the "Gamsband" path towards Sellajoch, as previously described for the Rossi-Tomasi route.

Protection

All belays have bolt anchors. Protection is adequate by fixed pitons. Bring runners and carabiners in addition to a normal Alpine rack.

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Route finding face on the LM
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Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

Rodger Raubach
Billings, MT
5.7
[Hide Comment] This route lies to the right of the Big Micheluzzi, Schubert, and the central gully system. The Rampenfuehre, the easiest of lower face routes , lies just to the right from this climb. Dec 3, 2013
Rodger Raubach
Billings, MT
5.7
[Hide Comment] I was screwed out of doing this route this past year by a combination of injured knee and early snow in September. My information was abstracted from the German language guidebook, personal contact with it's author Mauro Bernardi, and other local climbers. Dec 3, 2013
Rodger Raubach
Billings, MT
5.7
[Hide Comment] This climb is also listed in Classic Dolomite Climbs, Anette Koehler and Norbert Memmel, Baton-Wicks, 1999. It's their Route # 11. Dec 3, 2013
David Kozak
The Earth, Our Mother
 
[Hide Comment] An impressive route having been done nearly a century ago. Hats off to Micheluzzi and crew for establishing this route. I thought about how bold it must have been to climb this when it was done. Thoroughly enjoyed myself today. It's prolly a PG13 route at the grade. Aug 11, 2023
Chris Michalowski
Granby, CO
 
[Hide Comment] The crux pitch is so cool, pulling some massive jugs through a short steep section. Aug 9, 2024
Sorrell Redford
Mancos, CO
 
[Hide Comment] We just did little Micheluzzi and it was great! Super fun and the first five pitches are super chill, pitch six is the crux but very easy and fun climbing with good jugs. The last two pitches have quite a lot of exposure so beware! BUT the real reason I’m posting is because the descent is wrong in the guidebooks or at least very misleading. DO NOT GO DOWN THE OBVIOUS GULLY. We did and there are rap rings but it was sketch and we did 8 raps. Obviously we worked out we’d gone wrong but the real way down is further along past the gully. Go west (climbers left) along the chamois ledge and you do get to a massive gully, but keep going!!! Then you get to the easy, simpler descent described in the books. I hope everyone reads this because it took us hours to get down and we had the guidebook and looked up the description on multiple other sites and they all say the same thing, go down the obvious gully. Jul 4, 2026