Monday, February 24, 2020

The Arete des Sommetres

Good forecast, though maybe a bit cold for climbing shoes, so we picked a long ridge that you can do in the boots: the Arete des Sommetres.

It's a longish train ride to Le Noirmont, but the stretch from Glovelier is great for getting into the "it's a beautiful day, it's going to be so great to be out in the sun moving"  mood. :-)

The approach is easy and pretty short. We put the gear on in the sun and then set off. This time we both have gloves with us, so the initial bit of climbing doesn't result in frozen fingers - once we're in the sun on the ridge everything is fine.

We really enjoy the scrambling and having the ridge mostly to ourselves (the only other person we see is a guy doing it solo) in the awesome weather. Again: this is certainly doable without the rope, but it's good practice and it is comforting to have during the couple of bits where you have to downclimb in fairly exposed positions. We're done in about 3:10, including a lunch break along the way.

After a longer rest to enjoy the sun on the peak (there are other people here), we continue along the ridge past the hut and then down towards Saignelegier. We do the last bit of this at a decent pace since there's a chance of catching an earlier train, but when that doesn't work out we just enjoy the hour sitting on a bench in the sun.

Really fun scramble on a very nice day.

Track with the approach and descent:
Stats:






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