"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings" - John Muir
This trip has been a humbling experience! There are so many more factors to consider in the mountains than I hadn't appreciated before. I thought there would be "good days" when the weather was good enough to climb, and "bad days" when we'd have to wait out the weather. But then there are the days when the snow stays soft and doesn't freeze, or the days after fresh snowfall when there is lots of frozen powder, and it is tricky trying to choose the best routes at the best times. So i feel very humbled with a new respect for this game that is a lot more complex than i had realised! That said, we have had a brilliant fortnight with a few peaks, lots of rock climbing and some exciting skiing experiences! We have accepted that we aren't going to manage to do all the peaks as we had initially hoped, and it feels like a big pressure release to shift the focus to spending a couple of months in the Alps enjoying climbing / mountaineering in all its forms! Again i write this post from a sunny lake in Italy, this time Lake Como; we have come to meet up with my friend Hannah who is here on holiday with her family, who have very kindly invited us to stay for a couple of days. It is wonderful to sleep in a bed for the first time in over a month!!
Bishorn
Upon leaving Arco, we decided it was vital to get at least one mountain ticked! We decided that Bishorn would be a guaranteed success as there is a grade "facile" snow plod to the summit. Actually we thought we could ski up it, but when we got to the carpark we could see that at least the first 800m of ascent had no snow, so rather than carrying skis we opted to walk. We left the car at 4am (in shorts and tshirts!) and arrived at the Tracuit hut mid morning in the blazing sunshine. We were grateful for our early start because we met some people who walked in later in the day when the snow was soft, and it took them nine hours! It turns out that they had knocked down the old hut and were in the process of building a new one, meaning the hut was not open and the winter room was a bile of rubble! And so we had essentially arrived at a rather chaotic construction site. It took a bit of persuasion to organise a space for the night, as originally they had asked us to go back down to Zinal. But kindly they let us stay, and so we got some sleep and set off for the summit at 2am. We arrived on the summit just in time to watch a spectacular sunrise across the alps. We headed back down to the hut and then the valley, arriving back at the car late morning.
Strahlhorn
We arrived in Saas Grund in the heavy rain, and the next day's forecast promised us thunder and lightening! So we resigned ourselves to a day of sitting in the car reading books, and also made a trip to the local boulder wall. Once the weather had settled, we took the Felskin lift and skied to the Britannia hut. On arrival we learned that it was their opening day for the summer season, and we were their very first guests! We enjoyed a leisurely day of playing cards and board games, as the hut slowly filled up. We left the hut at 4am the next morning, on skis, and it was really quite scary! It was dark , with mist so thick that you could only see another headtorch within a couple of metres, and the skiing was a steep descent from the hut. We skied up the Allalingletscher , following the ski tracks of a party who were a little ahead, who we knew were also heading for Strahlhorn. It was very disorientating in the thick mist, and it became apparent that the other party had headed of route. We broke of from their tracks, and it almost felt like we had made a U-turn, but the clouds lifted breifly and we could see a walking party ahead so we continued towards them. For the next hour or so, we skied up alongside their footsteps, until, to our great dismay, we saw them heading back towards us!! It was snowing quite heavily by this point, and their guide had decided to call it a day and head back to the hut. We continued on until just below the Alderpass (3789m), and deciding the weather was increasingly dismal, decided to turn round ourselves too. Skiing down the glacier was absolutely great, especially since so much fresh snow had fallen over the past few hours! The skiing totally made up for the fact that we hadn't made the summit, and so we returned to the valley in high spirits, and keen to make more use of our skis!
Saastal Day Trips
The next day we had a go at skiing up Allalinhorn. It must have got a lot colder overnight, because the snow was completely solid! So we ditched our skis and walked to the top, enjoying some fantastic views from the summit. The next day we made a quick ascent of Weissmies from the morning lift to Hohsaas, reaching the summit within 2hrs and were back down at the lift by midday. We then spent a sunny afternoon at the campsite finely chopping some potatoes to make Rosti for our dinner! The next morning we took the same lift up to Hohsaas and this time turned in the direction of Lagginhorn. Again, we made a fairly speedy ascent reaching the summit within 2h35. As it had been snowing most of the morning, we went to check the weather reports in Saas Grund. It looked like we were in for two days of heavy rain (snow up high), and then a dramatic temperature rise from 6' to 20' in the valley practically overnight, with the freezing level rising to above the summits. So, not attracted by the idea of soft fresh snow, we decided that we should spend the next few days rock climbing in the valley!
Saastal and Mattertal rock climbing
We first chose to do a rock climb called Brandgraben which climbs up a rocky ridge next to a waterfall just outside Saas Almagell. It was very nice, with a few interesting moves! We then visited a crag in the Zermatt valley called "Medji", which got 5 stars in the guidebook , and WOW it was worth every star!! It was mostly crack climbing, with routes varying between one and three pitches. And it wasnt even polished! Possibly the best crag i have ever been to! Finally, we visited a crag close to Visp to climb a route which was dubbed to be one of the most classic in the Oberwallis area, called Verschneidung. The route climbed up the corner of a large limestone wall, and topped out on the hillside, before a (rather difficult!) abseil descent. It was brilliant to get in a view days of rock climbing , especially at such high quality venues!
What's next?
We have enjoyed a very nice and relaxing two days in Laglio by Lake Como, with great company and lots of luxury! Tomorrow we are planning to drive to the south of france, (which is bound to be complicated as we plan to avoid the toll roads!) to Barre des Ecrins. We hope to meet up with some friends from uni, and tick the two 4000ers there, before possibly heading to the Verdon Gorge for a few days of rock climbing. And then back to Switzerland for some more 4000ers!
With thanks to Alpkit, MCofS, sportscotland and the Julie Tullis Memorial Award
Outstanding! Looking forward to meeting up in a couple of days :)
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