I like to call it “the Great East Wall”, in order not to limit it to the Marinelli couloir only, dream destination of many extreme free riders around Europe. Why the Great East Wall? Simply because, driving along the Anzasca Valley, all of a sudden after a curve you can see a wall of Himalayan dimensions: altitude 4.634 m on top of the Dufour Peak, vertical drop of 2.700 m to the ice of the Belvedere Glacier (1900 m) and more than 3000 m above the nice little Walser village of Macugnaga. If you want to go higher you must go try the Himalayas.

The objective of the day is the Silbersattel (Silver Saddleback), departure 4,515 m, between the Dufour and the Nordend Peaks that is the more direct line/ride into the East Face.

• SUMMIT: 4.515 m (Silbersattel). Vertical drop: 2.600 m till the glacier, 3.200m till the parking
• SLOPE: 45/50° into the Silbersattel gully, 45° in the rocce grigie gully, then 35/40° constant
• TIMING: 1h for the wall
• EQUIPEMENT: Vibram, K2 Snowboarding, Vitali Spa.

I have wanted to make the ride from the Silbersattel for a long time; that seemed very rippable for my parameters. After convincing the organization Ettore “I-Free” Schranz for the heli to drop us off "on the boundary" with Switzerland, here we are on this 18th of April, 8:30 in the morning. We are ready to repeat the descent of the mythical Sylvain “silver” Saudan, " skier of the impossible" who in 1969 skied down the gully with many more curves from this couloir, inspiring the dreams of a generation of free riders.

Taking off into the couloir with some Macugnaga locals, I ended up resisting my first temptation to go left, but alone, on a steeper line, I finally decided to remain in the axis of the couloir (but will come back at some point). However the “historical line” is in top condition with 50 cm of fresh snow, just delivered by the Santa Klaus of the free riders, and it is not yet transformed by the sun… We are early risers on what seems to be the beginning of a “perfect day”.

Curves at 4.500 m altitude, dominating the omnipresent void, looking over the top of the three sections of the mythical couloir: Silbersattel, followed by the “rocce grigie” (grey rocks), i.e. the narrow and steep section above the lowest part of the Marinelli; to have aligned them is indeed fabulous! One of the many reasons why it is worth the pain to enjoy the mountain.

Pushed by the desire to test new limits, along with “Macumba” and Ettore, we shifted left on the slope parallel to “rocce grigie”, ridden for the first time 3 years ago. We weren't disappointed at all, all the ingredients of the “steep” snowboarding/skiing were there: slope, transformed snow, ice and rocks, therefore to handle and evaluate carefully. At the end of it we caught up with the other locals (Ale, Enzo, Lorenzo, Diego, Dario, George, Dante and a client) and we continued towards the left of the Crestone Marinelli, in 50 cm of fresh snow (rather than continuing in the couloir where the snow was heavier), down to the Belvedere, where we arrived with the feeling of having lived a very rare experience (2,600 m of descent in virgin powder).

Regarding my equipment, I used the boots for the first time, that I previously needed to accustom to my feet; a little bit like with my free-climbing shoes, i.e. walking for 2 days in my house. I don't know if it is advisable to all but in my case I prefer to feel the board well, therefore to have a tight boot.

These K2 boots - model T1, equipped with Vibram soles, offer an exceptional grip, with a good lateral stability, nearly like a mountain shoe. It is a most appreciable performance in particular during the climb, with the board in the back-pack, less obvious with normal boots.

An unforgettable day, which opened up the road to other dreams, in this mythical East Wall of the Monte Rosa.

Raimondo “Rai” Cogotti