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.

Climbing at the Mattstock

 Greg's feeling mostly better after his fun with COVID19 and the forecast is good, so we opt to go do some climbing on good rock (to contrast with Greenland). It's been a while since we were at the Mattstock, and that's super fun climbing, so we opt for that.

Train, train, bus to Amden, chair lift up, and then the approach to the wall. Of course we get the last part of the approach wrong and end up doing more scrambling than is strictly necessary. On with the gear and climbing we go. 

We climbed:

• Suedostwandplatte: 5a, 5a, 4a, 5a, 5a
• The first three pitches of Gimmi; 5a, 5b, 4c

Great climbing, the combination of Wasserrillen and slabby sections is just pure fun. The abseiling was efficient and clean; definitely a good day.

Gear note: this was the first climbing trip with our new Mammut 50m double ropes; the old ones were >10 years old, so we replaced them.

Hiking around the Capanna Cristallina

The forecast calls for rain and thunderstorms on Saturday night, but we want to camp, so we take  our new tent with us and head off to Tessin.

The usual early start from Basel and the train through to Airolo. Bus to the gondola and then the gondola up (with tons of bikes) to save ourselves the first 600-800m of climb. Good to do given the humidity and coming heat.

From the top of the gondola we follow the path for a bit and then head off along one of the service roads for the ski area. Up up and back and forth for a bit until we hit the old marked path leading towards the cliff. Now more steeply up, taking a food break along the way, until getting to the wall itself, a short bit of not-so-nice crossing of a gravelly slab, and then we are on a pretty easy to follow and occasionally marked trail that follows a weak spot in the wall to the top. Nice!

Up on the ridge we enjoy the views and then decide to follow the "trail” down, down the other side towards a herd of cows. Past the cows, another food break, and then onwards to a blue-white path which takes us towards the dam. This heads up a bit and then contours easily along the valley side.  A short break at Lago del Forna to appreciate the loveliness and then onward to Lago di Val Sabbia where we pump a bit of water and scope out potential camp sites. Continuing seems more promising, so on we go.  Down towards Lago del Naret (there is a road up to this and it is pretty busy), along the edge, and then up to Lago del Corbo. Here there are two tents right next to the path, but we continue to the end of the lake and start looking for spots above it. Plenty of good tent sites here! After some scouting we take a promising one and get the  tent set up. The rest of the afternoon is spent enjoying the sun and views, pumping water, etc. By this point the weather forecast has changed and there’s no more rain in the forecast. yay!

After a good dinner we walk up to the next lake and do a bit of sunset-color appreciation and tidying up before going to bed. The plan had been to leave the tent fly rolled up, but given the amount of dew that immediately starts condensing after the sun goes behind the mountains we decide against that… next time!

On Sunday we get take advantage of the early sun (planned for!) and are underway shortly before 8:30 even after a leisurely morning. We rejoin the red-white path and follow it up a bit onto the ridge and then towards the Lago Negro.  Nice trail followed by a particularly nice stretch of talus hopping (what a great surprise!) and then we are at the pass and enjoying the views down to the lake and across to the Basodino. Along and down the nice path above the lake and then a food and planning break with views.

After the break, we’ve decided for the blue-white path along and behind the Lago del Cavagnöö, onwards and upwards towards the Cap. Cristallina. When we get to the pass above the Lago Sfundau and see the hut sitting above it, we decide for a change of plans. Up, up to the hut we go, have a nice lunch at the hut, and then continue down the other side of the pass. On the other  trip to this region we went straight down to Ossasco, but this time after the walk down through the lovely valley we turn off to the right and traverse the valley side until we arrive back at the gondola station.

Gear note: this was the first trip with our new tent, a Sea to Summit Telos TR 2.

Track:

Stats:

• Day 1: 6:41, 14.1km, ~1300m up, ~600m down
• Day 2: 7:24, 21.2km, ~800m up, ~1400m down

Climbing at the Grosser Mythen

Decent weather forecast for the weekend, so we book a hotel room in Brunnen and plan two days of fun down there. The plan for today is to do some climbing on the Gross Mythen. We know that we'll start with the Adlerspitzli, but the rest we'll play by ear.

Train to Schwyz and then up, up, towards Holzegg. Unfortunately clouds start to colelct on the Gross Mythen as we're approaching, but we'll see how that goes. We leave the path/road at the hairpin and head through the woods. There's an easy to follow use trail until we get to the old snow (avalanche remains), where we turn right and head directly uphill to the foot of the cliff. This is steep but manageable. At the cliff we find the path again and follow it around the corner and to the foot of the route. We put on the gear, say goodbye to the two who've arrived behind us, and start our way up the route. This is easy climbing on less-than-ideal rock for the first couple pitches, but the rock gets better towards the top. At the top we are in a cloud, so we can't really enjoy the views, but we have a nice food break anyway. During the break we get passed by a local who's soloing the route; he continues on past us (goal: the Gelbe Wand). We had talked about continuing along a route up the Geissstock, but given the cloud and the fact that route finding isn't trivial we opt to descend instead.

The foot descent takes us along the Ruchband, an excellent T4/T5 hike just under one a big cliff. Super fun walking with cables along most of the hairy bits and some great atmosphere thanks to the clouds. At the "chamber pot" we do another food break and then start to head down, down. Here we don't manage to stay on the trail, but the scree slope is easy enough to descend and we find our way to the hut at the Holzflueli without problems. Here we pick up the trail and continue onwards and downwards into Schwyz. There the bus to Brunnen, check into the hotel, shower and rest, dinner at the pizza place next door, and then bed.

Definitely would be worth heading back to the Gross Mythen on a day with less clouds!

Gear note: this is greg's first tour with his new Black Diamond Vision climbing helmet.

Track (does not include the climb or the first part of the Ruchband):

Stats: 7:30, ~10.5km hiking, ~800m up (hiking), ~950m down (hiking)

Balsthal climbing and hiking

Beautiful weather forecast, so we decided to do a weekend of climbing. We enjoyed the Balsthal trip so much in November that we went back and did the same thing again. :-)

Saturday: 

train to Klus, hike up to crag, climb until we'd had enough, then hike to hotel. We probably could have rested for an hour and then climbed more, but it was getting pretty crowded.

Routes climbed (grades from the SAC topo):

• Geneigte Verschneidung 5a
• Kleiner Überhang 5b+
• Bohrhaken Übung 5c
• Zaff 5b
• Halbschräg 6a greg halb, andrea pa
• Körnige Platte Rechts 5a+
• Körnige Platte 5b+
• Kante 6a greg pa, andrea top rope pa

Sunday: 

Hike from hotel to crag, climb until it was super crowded (as in climbing gym crowded), decide spontaneously to do a hike.

Routes climbed  (grades from the SAC topo):

• Kleine Föhre (5a)
• Sunntigstüürli (5b+)
• Zwüschedüre (5a+)
• Milka (5c), Andrea top rope
• Grüeni Banane (5c+), Andrea, first three bolts only

The hike:

We were pretty sure that we'd seen people arrive from the end of the crag, so we just followed the path which runs along the foot of the cliff past the crag to see where it goes. This ends up being a narrow and not heavily used (but still easily doable) path under the cliffs. It's marked with blue markings throughout and goes past a cool moss waterfall before heading up and joining one of the Chum ufe Rogge trails. Up a bit more, now seeing people, until we hit a picnic table where we have a food break. Then onwards and upwards to the Roggenflue, along the ridge and then down to Tiefmatt, further along the ridge, another nice food break with a view before we get to Egg, past the cool ruins of Alt-Bechburg, and then up to the saddle where we had lunch during our November hike. We'd seen people heading up over the ridge here, instead of going around the small Flue, so we follow that use trail and get a nice little extra bit of ridge before rejoining the main trail and heading up onto the Höchi Flue and following that along to its end. now down the other side and fulther along to Santelhöchi where, for whatever reason, there are a ton of parked cars. Futher along the trail towards the Tüfelsschlucht. Onwards and downwards along the forest road, around the corner, past the super cool Sandloch cave and then down into the gorge. Now we're back in crowds again for the last bit through the gorge into Hägendorf and the train back to Basel.

A lot of this was repeating, in the opposite direction, a hike from November, but obviously in very different conditions. So nice to hike in the spring green, under a blue sky, with plenty of sun.

This was greg's first time climbing in his new La Sportiva Katana climbing shoes.

Track from Sunday's approach and hike:

Stats (for the hike): ~17km, 5:20, ~800m up, ~1000m down

Climbing above Klus

 The weather forecast was remarkably good, so we decided to do a weekend trip: climbing above Klus, a hotel night in Balsthal, and then more climbing either above Clus or above Balsthal.

We ended up spending both days at the "Alter Klettergarten" (been here twice before) It all worked out quite nicely: both days the fog burned away from the crag by the time we got there and then it was nice and sunny. There were plenty of people, but it never got crowded enough to be uncomfortable.

Routes we did (it turns out that the grades are quite different between our version of Plaisir Jura and the SAC guide, so I list both)

Saturday:

• Geneigter Verschneidung (5a/5a)
• Geneiger Pfeiler (5b+/5c+) we both agree that this was 5c+... there's a tricky move in the slabby bit that feels well above 5b
• Zaff (5b+/5b)
• Kleiner Überhang (5b/5b+)
• Kante (5c+/6a)
• Körnige Platte links (?/5b+)
• first part of Stifthakenplatten then Körnige Platte links (5b+?)
• Körnige Platte rechts (5a/5a+) greg also did this in approach shoes
• Tag du Arbeit (?/5a) greg did this in approach shoes, but it would have been more fun (and less athletic) with climbing shoes

Sunday:

• Schutzalter Sieben (5a+/5b) it was tricky for both of us to get into it today, so this felt harder than that
• Gelbe Backstein (5a+/5b+)
• Rissverschneidung (5a+/5b)
• An unbolted line next to Rissverschneidung in top rope
• Delago (5b/5b)
• An unbolted line next to Delago in top rope (A only)
• Bohrhakenüberhang (5b/5c)
• Halbschräg: (6a+/6a) in top rope.

This was great climbing and a super mini-vacation.

Gear note: this was greg's first weekend in his new approach shoes: Hanwag Lime Rock GTX

Climbing at the Mattstock again

Due to other travel stuff we only had one day this weekend to be outside, so we opted for a day of climbing at the Mattstock. We've been here before and were looking forward to another day of climbing the "Wasserrillen".

After travelling to Amden on Friday night, we take the chairlift up at around 9:00, hike up to the base of the routes (two other teams there, one already started, one climbing the route next to us), put on the gear, and then start up the route Südostwandplatte (5a). Five pitches of really fun climbing with great views later and we are at the top. The abseiling this time goes reasonably efficiently.

Back at the bottom of the routes we have lunch and then decide to do part of another route. So we head over to Dä Mond and start up that. More very nice climbing through the first three pitches and then we abseil down. After packing the gear up we head down (pretty quickly... it's getting late for the chair lift), take the lift down, and catch the bus for the trip back home.

A really nice day of doing a particularly enjoyable type of climbing.

This was greg's first trip outdoors in his new climbing shoes (Black Diamond Momentum).

Climbing the Rigi Hochflue

We wanted to take advantage of the good weather and get out and do a nice multipitch route. We opted to go to the Rigi Hochflue. We'd seen some of the routes on our previous hike to the peak and it seemed like a nice combination of interesting approach and good climbing.

From Brunnen we walked to the Urmiberg gondola, took this up to Timpel (no need to hike up those 700m today), and then walked to Egg on a familiar path. From here we followed a trail that contours around the south face into the woods. This is clearly the route for climbers. :-)

The path takes us through the woods, down a bit, up a bit, until it starts to get steeper as we hit the base of the cliffs. Nice glimpse of a pair in front of us who are on the "ladder". At the "Nische" we put on our helmets and climbing harnesses and continue to the very exposed iron rungs that takes us straight up (a couple of points here where we weren't unhappy that there was a line to clip onto). At the top of the steps we continue to climb, following a well trod path, until we hit the base of the routes. It's fun to have a T5 approach. :-) The pair in front of us is at the base of two of the routes having lunch; that seems like a good idea, so we continue along a bit to find our own lunch spot. Over lunch we decide that we'll start on one of the easier (5a) routes instead of immediately diving into a 5c; it's been a while since we climbed on slabs and it's still pretty early in the season.

After lunch we head to the base of the route Edelwis, put on the rest of the gear, and start climbing. The climbing has great views, is a bit scary at times (we really aren't used to doing slabs), confusing once or twice (the bolts are pretty far apart, so finding the route isn't always easy), but overall quite fun. We're certainly glad that we picked the easier route... a 5c would likely have been too much. Up top we take a short break, pack away the climbing gear, and then follow the path up to join the blue-white hiking trail that leads to the Hochflue. Up top (not too crowded today) we eat the other half of our lunch and enjoy the views.

After eating we head down the ladder (same as last time) and head down the ridge. We pass some very cool faces carved into a dead tree and eventually get to Gätterli, which is fortunately open. Yay! After cool and refreshing beverages we follow the interesting path down to Goldau and the train back to Basel.

Good hiking, good climbing, good weather, good views, good day! :-)

Gear note: Greg did this in a new pair of approach shoes: Salewa MTN Trainer GTX. They did well.

From Sissach to Oberdorf

Sunny Sunday Spring Stroll from Sissach to Oberdorf.
Text and track to come ....?

Gear note: Greg used his new backpack: a Blue Ice Dragonfly 25L.

Dallenwil to Niederrickenbach via the Buochserhorn

More text to come.

We both did this hike in our new mountaineering boots. Definitely overkill for the hike, but it was great to try out the new boots.

Track:
12.8km, 1435m up and down

Schiberg via the Brennaroute

Finally a weekend with good weather on both days! There's still maybe a bit too much snow to go high, so we opt to head to the region around Glarus.

For day one we're doing the Brennaroute up to the Schiberg. This is considered to be one of the reference T6 tours and seems a perfect kickoff to the real mountain season. :-)

After train-train-bus we start in Innerthal. The path leads us out of town and then up, up, up towards the Schiberg and Bockmattli. From the path up we can certainly see the route we'll be taking up the face of the Schiberg, but it's certainly not obvious; this is going to be fun! As one would expect for a sunny Saturday, there are people out and about but it's still early so there aren't really crowds yet. Despite the early hour, there are already a couple of groups climbing the route Namenlose Kante on the Bockmattli; it's a great looking route, but probably not something for a weekend.

At the Bockmattlihütte (which is teeny, but very nice looking) we turn off the hiking path and follow a trail steeply up to to the rock. Here we put on our climbing harnesses (just in case we need them at some point) and helmets and start scrambling up. This really is a great route: a mix of scrambling and walking, easy to follow thanks to blue markings and a use trail, really nice views (well, there are some clouds, so it's not what it could be), everything you could want. We're even mostly alone in the route: the only other person we see is a local(?) who powers by us while we're having a food break on the way up. The crux of the route is a 5m down climb that would be scary/tricky (anticipation of this is why we're wearing the harnesses) but someone has put a rope loop in at the ideal spot so it ends up being no big deal.

After the down climb we head up some steep grass, then rejoin the ridge for the last bit to the peak at the end of the ridge. We celebrate the successful scramble (boy was it fun) and then head along the ridge, across the wild limestone formations, to the peak at the end and its cross. Here we do another food break and enjoy the occasional views through the clouds that are all around us.

 After the break we head down to the saddle and pick up the blue-white path that leads us across the Schneeschmelzi underneath the ridge of the Schiberg and back to Bockmattlipass. Now it's up, up again to the Bockmattli itself, where have a quick look around before continuing along the ridge towards the Tierberg. At the fork in the path we opt to head down. Now it's down, down, steeply down, along a not-heavily used but well marked blue white path until we hit the houses at Hinter Ahornen. Another short break here and then we continue on down the road towards Obersee.  This isn't the most exciting bit of road-hiking ever (though certainly not the worst either), so we're super happy when a local stops and offers us a ride down to the hotel.

After refreshing beverages we check in, have showers, do a stroll along the lake, and then have a nice meal before heading off to bed.

This was a really nice tour. The feel was almost hochtour, but everything was green. Fun!

Track:
Stats: 12.5km, 1330m up, 1130m down.

Gear: this was Andrea's first tour in her new halbschuhe.

Day 2 around the Grigna: Cresta Segantini

Breakfast doesn't start until 8, so we can't really get an early start, but we're underway as quickly as we can be. There are, once again, low clouds over the peaks above us... ah well, we will hope those burn off. The same trail as yesterday (though moving a bit more slowly due to the packs full of climbing gear) up to the fork with the 8, which we follow this time. Fortunately the group of people we've run into stay on the 7th, so we're alone... excellent! Despite being called "Direttissima", the 8 leads up, up, up by traversing the mountain. Ignoring the misleading name, this is another excellent trail which ends up leading us up ladders, across bits secured with chains and cables, through a narrow chimney, and all of this in a crazy landscape of stone towers. Great fun!

Eventually we make our way to the ridge at the Colla Valsecchi and find our way to the (very well signed) beginning of the route for the Cresta Segantini. Here we put on the gear and head to where the actual climbing starts. We tie on the rope and get underway. We're in cloud but it's not too thick, so visibility is ok; the cloud has the side benefit of keeping the temperatures down. There's a pair of Italians in front of us, but they're far enough ahead that we never have to wait (plus with the cloud we can generally only hear them anyway). Since we don't end up with anyone behind us we're pretty much alone until we hit the peak. The ridge is really a huge amount of fun. It's mostly alpine climbing, but the climbing is never difficult (we're not wearing climbing shoes) and there tends to be a bolt near the trickier bits (and when those aren't there we have a few friends, the stoppers, and plenty of slings with us, so we can improvise). The markings were pretty good, so route finding wasn't that bad (though we ended up abseiling a couple of descents where we either missed the straightforward climb down or there just wasn't one). With our lunch break along the way the full ridge takes us about five and half hours; the book says two to three hours, so we really aren't especially fast. That's something for us to continue to practice,

For the trip down we continue along the really nice trail along the ridge until we hit the intersection between trails 1 and 3 from the previous day. Here we continue down trail 1 to get back to the hotel.

This was our first trip with a new rope (60m Mammut 9.5mm Infinity Dry SD).

The track (plenty of noise due to the climbing):