Hike up from Realp to the Rotondohütte. The first bit of the road is the same last time (though we saw two European adders/vipers this time!) but then we head off onto a trail that takes us to the Rottälligrat. Here we follow what is obviously the old route once we get past Stelliboden (the new route isn't on the map yet), but this still takes us up nicely into the fun alpine landscape.
We rejoin the new (red-white) trail at the crossing of the trail towards Furkapass (there's a bunch of new/improved trail work up here, likely due to the growing popularity of the 4 Quellenweg). Up, up to the saddle and then we stay on the blue-white path the last bit to p2748. We're both glad to have the climbing done with - it's hot and the packs are heavy, so our legs are tired! Along the lovely block ridge with good views (though the Witenwasserenstock is in clouds), past the sign for "Mount Sunrise", and then down to the hut.
We get settled in, enjoy some cool beverages and a piece of cake, rest for a bit, and then have a good dinner and head off the bed. The hut's a bit more than half full, everyone else seems to be hikers who are doing the 4 Quellenweg.
Stats: 10.4km, 1200m up, 220m down.
Day 2:
We saw the Leckihörner when we stayed at the Rotondohütte last year to climb the Witenwasserenstock. The traverse of the two peaks is also described in Dani's book and it looked really cool. That's the plan for today.
We start with decent conditions (though we still can't see the Witenwasserenstock) and follow the blue-white path down to the glacier. We rope up and start towards the Witenwasserenpass. When we get close to the long snowfield that heads up to the ridge it looks less steep than it did from the hut. Since snow conditions are good and the snow goes all the way up, we opt to head up that way. Once at the ridge we take off the crampons, get out the climbing gear and start our way along the ridge.
We're in clouds and the weather is in general pretty crappy, so we don't have any views at all and the landmarks on the ridge aren't exactly easy to find/follow. At some point it actually rains for a few minutes, so we put on our hardshells and wait that out. In the approach to the Cli Leckihorn there's a spot with some 3c climbing and then an abseil we were planning on doing, but we end up taking the less technically challenging but more loose and exposed route around that since we think we're at the "reddish tower" we're not supposed to climb (the winner quote from G at the beginning of that: "there's no way going up this bit is second grade climbing, this must be where we're supposed to go around"). Eventually we end up on what we think is the peak of the Chli Leckihorn and we start to follow the ridge down to where we're expecting to hit a snow field we need to cross. At some point A catches a glimpse through the cloud of a snow field off to our left. To our left? There's not supposed to be a snowfield to our left! We figure out that we're heading down the N ridge instead of the W ridge, so we turn around to head back up. Along the way we get enough of a clearing in the clouds to see the snowfield we're supposed to be crossing and the saddle at the beginning of the ridge to the Gross Leckihorn that we're supposed to be crossing to. Yeah! We break out the ice axes, decide against the crampons since the snow is good, and cross to the saddle.
A pitch of climbing up around a thin tower, a pitch of mostly scrambling, and then we shorten up the rope and continue along the really nice, mostly narrow and exposed, ridge to the peak.
There's a bit of down climbing to the cross, where a family that's hiked up from the hut is sitting and gawking (must be funny to see two people emerge from the fog above you when you feel like you're alone at the top of a mountain). Total time including breaks to the cross is 5:20 (Dani says 4-5, so we're pretty happy with this).We pack the gear away, chat with the family for bit (three generations!), have some food, enjoy the occasional bit of view, and then start down. At the saddle (that G thinks is the Leckipass) we opt to head down the snowfield, which is a bit steeper than G would like, but definitely manageable. Down, down we go the rest of the way to the hut. Total trip time is just under 7 hours. Cool beverages, some resting, a dinner that's really not up to the expected standard, even for a full hut, and then off to bed. Thanks to all the fog, the bit of rain, and the difficult route finding (on a ridge!), it was not an easy day mentally, but we certainly enjoyed ourselves and are a bit proud of ourselves for having pulled it off.
Stats: 6km, 600m up, 600m down
Day 3:
Our original plan was a long traverse of the Muttenhörner, but after reading about an interesting-sounding route to the Gotthardpass in a book at the hut we opt for that instead. The day starts with lovely blue skies and the first view of the Witenwasserenstock that we've had this entire trip.
Here we take a quick food break out of the wind and then head down the other side of the pass, down, down, down until we hit the blue-white trail towards the Passo di Lucendro and the Gotthard. More nice hiking under the face of the Pizzo Lucendro, into the cloud, and then steeply up to the Cresta del Poncinetto. They're in the process of putting a bunch of chains in here to make the step easy (and, probably, to get this over to red-white too). Really high winds on the ridge and pass, but we manage to get out of the wind to have another food break by the old buildings near the pass. Given the low clouds, we opt not to take the interesting (and unmarked) route down to the pass, but stick to the normal hiking path. This takes us down, down, past the Lago di Lucendro, into ever more threatening looking clouds. About half an hour from the pass it starts to rain. Fortunately it only rains hard for a few minutes of that and we make it to the buildings at the pass before the sky really cracks open. We've got some time, so we grab some food before getting on the bus and starting the long trip back home.
Stats: 14.7km, 780m up, 1270m down
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