Diavolezza - Munt Pers

The terrain is a little steep in parts and best for those who are reasonably fleet-footed. The fantastic view across the Pers and Morteratsch Glaciers, Piz Palü, Piz Bellavista and Piz Bernina (at 4,049m/13,284ft the highest mountain in the Eastern Alps) is simply awesome. The return hike leads along the same route. To put the icing on this panoramic cake, you should set out on the hike before sunrise (equipped with a headlamp) and experience the unforgettable spectacle of the brand new day dawning on the Bernina Massif. It is also possible to stay the night on the Diavolezza.

There is a legend associated with Munt Pers, which gave Diavolezza its name: «La Diavolezza» - the beautiful she-devil. Long, long ago, a beautiful mountain fairy lived on the mountain, in her rocky fortress high up between Chapütschöl and Munt Pers where, surrounded by towering crags and vast expanses of rocky scree, a deep-blue lake mirrors the sunlight amid a flower-strewn mountain pasture, where herds of sprightly chamois gambol around and graze on the lush green grass, where grouse and moorhens cluck and cackle, take flight and then elegantly glide to the ground to feed and cackle some more, and where wide-eyed mountain hares daydream, then suddenly start and dash off in a long-limbed gallop. Hunters rarely spotted this magnificent she-spirit - and only ever fleetingly - and when they did, they gazed fondly as she moved across the rock faces of Munt Pers to the Lej da la Diavolezza to bathe in its refreshing waters. With time, the young huntsmen became quite besotted, and then careless. They followed her, protected as she always was by her herd of chamois, across the rocky cliffs to her fortress of stone. One can only imagine what happened then, for nobody really knows. One hunter after the other disappeared, to err forever on Munt Pers (lit. lost mountain). This fate also befell Aratsch, a handsome youth from the village. One day, he failed to return from the hunt. They searched for him high and low, but in vain, and in the end they were forced to assume he had fallen into a glacier crevasse on Munt Pers or plummeted to his death. For after that, anyone who lingered at nightfall in the region of the Bernina Massif could hear the wailing voice of the Diavolezza, borne on the drifting wind, calling: «mort ais Aratsch» (Aratsch is dead). This story has been passed from one generation to the next and, in time, the beautiful Alpine meadow in the caldera of the Bernina mountain range became known as Alp Morteratsch. But still the Diavolezza would not rest, not until the glacier had inched its way down and covered the entire mountain alp with ice and scree all the way down to the valley. Then, finally, she left the region, lamenting «davent dal Munt dal Pers», and was never seen again.

More information
Engadin St. Moritz Tourismus AG
Via San Gian 30
CH-7500 St. Moritz
Phone: +41 81 830 00 01
E-mail: allegra@engadin.ch 
Internet: www.engadin.ch