Climbing around Hotel Steingletscher

To make up for leaving the Cabane d'Orny a day early, we started the weekend on Friday ;-)

Friday morning we leave early and do the train-train-bus thing to get to Hotel Steingletscher (we were here back in 2020). After dropping a bag at the hotel we walk to the sector Platten and climb the route Sylia (5a+, 4b, 5b, 5b+, 5b, 5a, 5b, 5a in Plaisir, but we ended up doing it in 7 pitches, so the breakdown was a bit different). G started. This was easy and fun climbing, less slabby than some of the routes. The abseiling was efficient and we were back at the hotel in time for G to do a couple of calls. A even found an almost new screwgate along the way, which is now part of her standard rack. 

Saturday morning we hiked up to the Pfriendler and climbed Gradufe (6a, 5c, 5c+, 6a, 5c+, 4c), A started. This was also fun climbing on great rock. We definitely noticed the increased difficulty and were slower because of it, but it wasn't a problem at all. We only saw one other group climbing. The abseiling was efficient except for the pitch where G didn't take the knot all the way out of the rope and had to climb back up to the stand to free it (for variety, he actually climbed the 5b route adjacent to the 5c pitch).

Sunday morning we hiked up to the Pfriendler again, past the crowd already there, and to the Pfriendler North. We were the first ones there (though another pair came as we were getting ready). We climbed the first three pitches of Verschneidung (5c+, 5a, 6a) then switched to the last two 4c pitches from Riss to get to the peak. G started. This was definitely harder, particularly the 6a pitch, which had its crux on a slab. G fell once leading it but eventually made it to the top (this involved a short bit on the neighboring 6b). The last two pitches were easy and alpine, but fun. The abseiling was tricky, but went ok except for the rope getting stuck in a crack on one pitch. Fortunately it was only three bolts of 5b climbing to get there, so G could go up, free the rope, and have A lower him off an old clip carabiner that we just left there. This area was way way less crowded than the Pfriendler today, but there were still three or four other groups climbing. The Pfriendler was madness (as was the klettergarten Eden, which we saw on the hike down).

We got back to the hotel with a couple of hours to kill before the bus ride, so we enjoyed a nice relaxed meal on the terrace before starting the long trip back home (first bus leg of this was on the bus doing the 4-pass tour... what a crowd).

General comment: at this point it looks like we are reasonably sure to be able to climb 6a multi-pitch routes. They are definitely more mentally taxing than easier routes, but certainly doable. Yay!

Gear note: this was Gs first trip in his new La Sportiva TX4 Guide approach shoes. They worked very well.