Difficulty level: hard
Altitude meters: about 1,700 meters
Total time ascent: about 5.5 hours (without break, good walking pace)
In the midst of the Stelvio National Park, the ascent to the third highest mountain of the Ortler Alps – Monte Cevedale begins. This is a rather long route. The landscape offers a lot, the tour is quite varied in this respect. Expansive slopes allow for a top-class descent experience with almost endless white expanses.
The tour starts from the parking lot at the Gasthaus Enzian in the Martelltal valley and first leads through a forest trail to the Zufallhütte at an altitude of 2,265 meters. After the hut, the route continues through a narrow rocky hollow past the dam and into a flat valley floor. Along the stream hollow, you hike gently uphill until you reach the plain known as "In der Kachel". It is located at the starting point to the Butzental. A further ascent leads you into the next basin.
It gets steeper again. Keep to the left – soon you will see two mighty rocks, through which you reach the Langenferner glacier. The route continues upwards, past a weather station and towards the Casati hut. There, we continue the path with a moderate incline over the glacier. Be sure to watch out for treacherous crevasses!
After a saddle, it goes steeply uphill again and finally over an almost flat ridge with not too much effort to the summit cross at an altitude of 3,769 meters.
During the subsequent descent, you have a choice: either back via the ascent route or over the Zufallferner glacier to the Marteller Hütte and then back to the Zufallhütte. The best conditions are with spring snow – the months from January to April have proven to be most suitable for a tour.