Long weekend in Unterwasser

The plan was to spend the long weekend doing some multi-pitch climbing in the Alpstein. It didn't quite work out that way, but it was a great weekend anyway.

Thursday 

We took the train to Unterwasser on Thursday morning, dropped our bags at the hotel (which happened to have our room ready... such a bonus!), and then split up and did some trail running/hiking in the Churfirsten for the rest of the day. It had rained like hell the previous day and overnight and remained overcast, so climbing wasn't a great idea. Still, we both had good days in the mountains and met back at the hotel for a rest and then dinner.

Friday

Friday was a beautiful, blue sky day. In the morning we hiked up to the Schattenwand and got set up to start with the three-pitch route Schlüsselblümli. Unfortunately it became clear pretty quickly as G was leading the first pitch that there was a ton of grass in the route. This wasn't any kind of problem for the climbing, but G didn't want to end up with ook on his hands again. So he came back down. A then led the pitch so we didn't have to leave anything behind and we packed everything up and did the very nice hike over to the Klettergarten Stoss. The rock here looked super nice, but is fully exposed to the sun and it was pretty crowded in the section of the wall where the easier routes were. A tried Heinz (5b+), but that was a bit too much for the first climbing here. G was already mentally done, so we packed the stuff up again and hiked back to town. Not much of a climbing day, but we had beautiful weather, great views, and some good hiking.

Saturday

Saturday was another perfect weather day. We left the climbing stuff at the hotel (rather than risk another day with no real climbing) and did an alpine hike instead. We took the bus to Wildhaus and headed from there along easy paths to Gamplüt. Then it was red-white steeply uphill along a nice grassy ridge to the back of the Wildhuser Schofberg. Here we took a food break, enjoyed the views, and scoped out the route ahead of us while we discussed what to do next. There was a considerable amount of steep snow in the next stage of the blue-white trail in front of us. There were clear tracks in the snow and other people underway, but G was still really nervous about the snow. In the end, G gathered himself, we changed into the approach shoes (we'd been wearing trail-running shoes to that point and carrying the approach shoes in a backpack), and we started off. G didn't enjoy the traverse across the snow or the descent into the bowl, but the snow was soft enough that it was no problem. The hike/scramble back up the other side to the saddle next to the Jöchli was fun (a bit of snow at the top, but ascending is always easier than traversing or descending). From the saddle we went up the Jöchli  itself to enjoy the crazy views and then continued along the trail under the Nädlingergrat. This would have been even more fun if there were no snow in it, but it was still pretty good. At the end of the ridge we hit the red-white hiking path crossing from the Rotsteinpass to the Zwinglipass and followed this (a couple before us had take the very quick way down by descending a steep snow field... this was too much for us). After sliding down the last bit of snow of the initial descent, we follow this very well trampled path to the Zwinglipasshütte. A cool beverage and snack while enjoying the views, then on with the trail running shoes and a mostly very nice hike/run back to Unterwasser. This was a great day hiking, despite the snow. :-)

Muelenen to Oey-Diemtigen via the Niesen

 Text to come

Glamaig and the northern Red Hills circuit

 based on Glamaig and the northern Red Hills circuit (Walkhighlands)

Ascent to The Storr

 based on The Storr - ascent (Walkhighlands)

Climbing trip to Sicily

 

The climbing

• Friday 22 March, morning. Sector Central bunker
• Vai a Sinistra 5a
• Via Kuchenclub 5b
• Il Ritorno 5c
• Arrivederci Ingrid 6a (both lead with one fall)
• Il Nonno 5c
• Friday 22 March, afternoon. Sector South amphitheatre
• Burning fat 5a (felt harder than 5a)
• El Bahira 5b (A only)
• Just for fun 4c (A only)
• Saturday 23 March, morning. Sector North Campo Base
• Maria 5a
• Eliza 5c (this was our project back on the first visit 12 years ago)
• Chiara O 5c
• No Drill No Party 5b
• Mannara 6a
• Scorpione In Letargo 6a (G top-rope first 1/2, then down, A top-rope first 1/2, then lead, G lead the whole way, “accidentally” since the planned setup to allow him to top-rope the first 1/2 didn’t work)
• Calze Nere 6a+, both top-rope the first 3/4 to the head wall (from the stand of Scorpione), which looked easy and uninteresting
• Saturday 23 March, afternoon. Sector Central For Snails
• For snails 5a
• Autonella 5c
• Stay straight 5c
• Fay is the boss 6a (top rope, very nice climbing)
• Sunday 24 March. Sector North Orange Wall
• Gracie Josef 5c (A kicked loose a big rock on this one and that changed the character of the day for her)
• Gracie Maria 5c (A to 2nd to last bolt)
• Pray al Vento 5c (G only)
• Sunday 24 March. Sector North Campo Base
• Cimitero della Lumache 6a (A in top rope)
• Mezzo Crucchi 6a+ (A in top rope)
• Dolores 6b (G in top rope, A attempts)
• Monday 25 March. Sector Center Bunker
• Colazione Piu 5b
• Pilastrino 5c
• Strapiombino 5c
• New Years Greetings 6a
• Classic Delux 6a+ (A top-rope with some pulling through the very physical crux)
• Silvester 6a (A top-rope, but it was easy for her)
• Tuesday 26 March, morning: we tried, but it was super windy, so we went home
• Tuesday 26 March, afternoon: Sector Far South Cocodrillo
• King for a day 5b
• Tuesday 26 March, afternoon: Sector Far South Isulidda tower (we changed sectors because it seemed like the entire German speaking world wanted to climb the four routes we were interested in in Cocodrillo)
• Tower pillar 6a
• Luigi 6a
• Skywalk 6b
• Anton aus Tirol 6a+ (G only)
• Wednesday 27 March, morning, Sector Central, Il Paese Piccolo. We ended up leaving early because it was raining
• Via Giuliano 5b
• Tibi 5c
• Don Pedro 6a
• Wednesday 27 March, afternoon, Sector Central, Il Paese Piccolo
• A Passatempto 6a
• Espresso 6a (A 3/4 lead, then top rope over the bulge, but the final beta for this was doable in lead)
• Sono In Fuga 6a (A couldn’t get over the bulge, which was super physical)
• Eselparty 6a+ (G only, again super physical over the bulge)
• Thursday 28 March. Sector South Scomparto Rifiuti
  • Happy Birthday 5b
  • Tre Fratelli 5c
  • Diedro Giallo 6a (A toprope because she wasn’t sure about the physical last bit, but she found a good solution to it and it would have been no problem)
  • Chris 6a (A did 85% of it and then took a bad fall. Finished the route later in toprope)
• Saturday 30 March. Sector Central, Bunker. Today was super windy, so the climbing was a bit challenging at times and the rope handling required care.
  • La Femmina 5b
  • Fur Christian 5c (A toprope to get her head back in it)
  • Lavoro di Domenica 6a
  • Per Giorgio il mio Amico 6a
  • Happy Otzis 6a
  • Due Giganti sulla Roccia 6a+ (G only, pretty good fall in the crux on the first try)
• Sunday 31 March. Sector North, Campo Base. A's head wasn't in it for the last half
  • Nini 5c
  • Chiara O 5c
  • Via Della Zanzare 6a+ (A halfway, G the second half but with a PA, A toprope, G toprope)
  • Molloblocco 6b (G in toprope with a couple of rests, this felt like the absolute limit of what was doable. A did some good tries, but couldn’t get through the very thin crux)
  • Mezzi Cruchi 6a+ (G, this was a repeat from last Sunday)
  • Calze Neri 6a+ (G, last week he just top roped the first 80% or so)
• Monday 1 April. Sector Central, Fakiros Wall. By the end, it was hot and both of us were feeling a bit tired in the head (but A wants to be clear that she felt better today than yesterday)
  • Flic 5b
  • Nives Rosa Tiss 5b
  • Ildefonso 5c
  • Swiss Friends 6a+ (toprope, G did it two times)
  • Il Mano di Fadri 6a
  • La Formica 5b (A only)

Other stuff:

• Hiking in the Zingaro nature reserve on Friday the 29th and then a trail run/hike up to the Monte Monaco to watch the sun-set

Three scrambling ridges to the Rigi Hochflue

 Plenty of sun and warm in the forecast, so off we went to do some hiking and scrambling. We've done the Rigi Hochflue a few times, both scrambling and climbing, but we've never combined the scramble with the logical addition of the Buetzli and Stockflue. Today was the day for that.

Start in Brunnen and head up, up out of town to Kraehen. Up, up a bit more, then on the blue-white path (well marked, easy to follow) towards the Buetzli and Stockflue. Once we get in the sun it's nice and warm, T-shirt weather. Up, up we go in the sun with things getting progressively steeper and a bit scrambly until we hit the Buetzli. Here a quick break to enjoy the views and sun and then further along the path. The route down has a cable which we're actually grateful for, then more up, up through the woods, with a bit of scrambling until we get to the small hut below the Stockflue. Here we leave the path and follow the logical scrambling line which takes us to the top (this is nicely described in the SAC Tourenportal). Up top we are alone and get the bench, where we have a nice food break and enjoy the spectacular views. 

After a good break we continue along the blue-white path towards the top of the gondola at Timpel, but we stay on the path towards Egg and the Hochflue. Up top here, particularly on the North side, there some snow, but the going is still easy. We can see the route up the Hochflue, including what looks like a traverse of some steep snow. g is skeptical about that (and we stupidly don't have the ice axes with us), but we continue along the ridge and up, up to check it out. Leave the red-white trail for the blue-white, up up, to the ridge itself, then along the ridge for a bit towards the big snow field. As we're almost there we catch up to another hiker on his own. As the snow amount increases g gets more and more skeptical, but A encourages us to continue as long as we can. When the guy in front of us heads into the snow it's clear that after a few not-so-great steps there are really good, deep, solid tracks to follow up, so we continue. Up, up through the cement-hard snow (you can actually use the ice axe holes from whoever first did this as hand holds!), up, up until we get back to the rock. A steep bit with rock and snow and a bit of ice, but also with a cable and some steps to make it safe, and we're on the final ridge. Here along the ridge, still in snow for a bit. Quick food break in the sun and then the last few minutes to the peak. Good second lunch in the sun at the cross, again with amazing views, and then we take the route down the south face. This is pretty straightforward despite a bit of snow at the top and plenty of mud throughout, but we make it down to Ochsenboden without trouble.

Here we decide to take another new line and follow the path that traverses and descends back to Brunnen. This turns out to be a really nice, not frequently used trail, with great views all along and some interesting steep bits through the woods. We make it back to Brunnen in time to get a yogurt drink before starting the trip back home.

Really nice scrambling day in spring-like conditions, despite the fact that it's January. It's amazing that we haven't done the Buetzi and Stockflue before... they were super fun and I'm sure we'll be back and do them again!

Track and stats to come.

Scrambling on the Brüggler and the Chöpfler

A hike to take advantage of late-season warm weather.

Train to Ziegelbrücke, quick hike to the gondola station in Niederurnen, gondola up to Morgenholz and then we start hiking. Gently up the valley, then turning and doing more real up, up, up on a good red-white path to the Wanifurggel. Food break in the pass, and then following the blue-white path along the ridge.

The first bit of this is easy following the ridge, just under the cliff. Then down, down along a bit of muddy terrain through the woods until we get to the climbing routes, then right and up, up, along the nicely routed trail that takes us back to the ridge, including some good scrambling (note: wear a helmet here if there are others underway). Once on the ridge a mix of hiking and scrambling, always following the makred path, on good rock, until we get to the peak. This trail maybe has too many chains and other helpers on it, but I imagine that they are nice if people are doing a foot descent after topping out the climbing, and it's nice to have the chain available, just in case, on the one quite exposed 5m scrambling bit just before the top. Nice food break with views and pictures (a large group of younger hikers shows up from the other direction when we're almost done, but they luckily aren't super loud), and then we continue along the ridge.

The first bit is easily down through not-so-steep grass, and then at the next saddle we follow the use trail which leads us towards the Chöpfler. This one is not marked and doesn't have chains, but the rock is good, it's generally not super exposed, the route finding is easy, and it's just super scrambling and hiking. Just before the peak we hit a blue-white trail coming up from the left (we'll take this down). We scramble the last bit to the peak (instead of taking the easier trail), have a short picture break (it's gotten quite windy), and then head back down the trail. This takes a nice route down through the cliff face, past some nice limestone formations, down, down. Towards the bottom a Rega helicopter flies slowly by, it looks like they're looking for someone. We take a quick snack break and watch what is either a very realistic drill or an actual rescue (though who knows what people were doing to the west of us) before continuing down, down into the valley.

We opt to head down the valley towards Niederurnen (instead of through the saddle and down to Innerthal) and follow a nice red-white trail to Lochegg, where we start our way down, down, towards town The last few km of this are, unfortunately, on road (some quite steep road), but we make good time and manage to get to the bus stop 2 minutes before the bus arrives to start us on the trip back to Basel.

Track:

Stats: 18.6km, 6:55, 1300m up and 1700m down. The track includes a straight line which is the gondola ride up, this is not included in the stats.

Climbing around the Cabane d'Orny

We had planned a four day mini-vacation at the Cabane d'Orny to enjoy some alpine climbing on granite (and do some more tours from Dani's new book).

Saturday: long train ride down to Orsieres and a hotel night

Sunday

First bus up to Champex, the lift to La Breya, and then the hike up, up, up to the hut. It's a beautiful sunny day, but it's really warm and the packs are heavy, so we don't enjoy this nearly as much as we should. After dropping extra stuff at the hut (loads of people around!) we head up to the klettergarten to do our first tour: the Aiguilles d'Arpette south ridge. 

Rather than hiking through the klettergarten, we opt to start with a pitch of actual climbing. After some looking around to find the route we choose XXX, which is 5a according to Plaisir West (the topo in the hut says 5b). Since the rest of the ridge is scrambling/very easy climbing, we decide to challenge ourselves and do this in the mountaineering boots. The route has a step in it which is, at least at the moment, quite burly to do, but G makes it over in lead and A follows. Aside from that step it's easy climbing on good rock. At the top we shorten the rope, find the use trail which we start us on the rest of ridgem, and then start to head up the ridge. G pretty quickly ends up feeling lightheaded (probably the heat+altitude), so we bail and head back to the hut. After checking in, we rest/nap for an hour or so and then head back up to the klettergarten to do a bit of climbing (with rock shoes this time) before dinner.

There are ~10 of us in the hut, so dinner (pretty good) is nice and quiet. After dinner it's off to bed for an early(ish) start the next day.

Monday

Breakfast at 6, on our way by 7. The plan today is to climb the Aiguilles d'Orny (a lovely and prominent rock spire, labelled Aiguilles Tourelle on the map) via the "Classique Sud" (along the SW ridge). We follow the trail towards the Cabane de Trient for a while and then follow a clear(ish) use trail up towards the foot of the Aiguilles d'Orny. The German couple we had dinner with are ahead of us (they left before us), taking a slightly path up and are doing a different route. The start of the route is easy to find since we have a picture and there are some faint markers. 

We put on the gear and then start our way up. The pitches, according to Dani, are 3c, 4c, 3c, 4b, 3c, 3c, 4b, 4b/5a. A starts. The climbing is really nice. Mostly good rock, a decent number of bolts and/or places to self-protect, and relatively easy route finding. Also excellent views which get steadily better as we make our way up. We do a quick food break between the 5th and 6th pitch. The climbing in boots at these grades on this rock is no problem and we are pretty efficient with everything. Since everything is going well, we opt for the 5a variant of the last pitch (the only difference is the beginning, with a couple of moves up a chimmney and then around the corner to join the 4b version... this goes without a problem) and are on the peak all too soon. G has the peak to himself for about a minute before the lead of the French team who we had seen arrive a bit later arrive along the route La Mosquette (the last pitch of this ends at the abseil stand). While A is on her way up, the lead German arrives on the other peak, so there are eventually 6 of us up there enjoying the views. Total climbing time for us was 3:10, including the break (Dani says 3). We do another quick food break while getting ready to abseil and then follow the French team down. 

The descent is along an easy-to-follow use trail with some cairns through the rocky bits and it leads us down, down, down to the trail between the two huts. Another break to eat something and pack away the last of the gear and then we head back to the hut.

After a nice break we still have a few hours before dinner, so we decide to go back up and finish the Aiguilles d'Arpette. This time we take the hiking/scrambling route through the klettergarten, and follow the use trail up into the scrambling bit. We do the scrambling with the rope on (~12m between us), but don't end up pitching anything other than the steep (but easy) bit up to the "Kanzel". A actually goes up the couple of meters to the Vorgipfel, but G skips that. Now some downclimbing, between the two towers, over the next bit, and then down to the saddle below the wall to the peak. We have some time pressure and A isn't feeling super motivated, so we skip the last three pitches of climbing and opt to leave the gear in the saddle and take the walking/scrambing route to the peak. A bit of view enjoyment here then back to the saddle. There we pack up the gear and head down through the loose couloir and then follow a use trail/cairn markings back past the side of the klettergarten and onto the trail back to the hut.

There are a few more people in the hut tonight (thanks to a big group of newbies there with a guide), but it's still <20 and reasonably quiet.

Tuesday

Breakfast at 6, on our way by 7. The forecast is questionable, so we want to be efficient and flexible. The plan is to do the SW ridge and then S face of the Aiguille de la Cabane (the route name is Voie bon Accueil), because we can break that one off in the middle if the weather changes. We'd seen the line on the hike up to the hut and it is really appealing. The approach is easy, along a path with plenty of stone men, and takes about 20 minutes to get to the bottom of the route. There we put on the gear (including the climbing shoes this time... the first pitch is 5b). The pitches are, according to Dani, 5b, 4c, 4a, 4a, 4b, 4b. The first one, which A starts, has a couple of trickier bits (the 5b parts) on the face to get us up to the SW ridge, which we then follow for the next three pitches. A short walk past the saddle which we will later return to and which leads to the descent route (steep, ugly looking couloir) and then along the descent route from the Aiguille du Glacier Rond takes us to the foot of the S face. Here two really nice pitches lead us up to a stand just below the peak, with an abseil point just around the corner. Total climbing time 2:30. The weather is starting to look dodgy, so we quickly rig the abseil and drop down the 15m to the beginning of the descent route. We do a quick food break while packing away most of the gear and changing our shoes and then start following the cairns for the descent as it starts to sprinkle. The cairns lead us back the saddle and from there we follow the obvious trail down the couloir. As always: it's not nearly as bad as it looked from above. Not too long afterwards we're back at the start of the route where we pack away the last of the gear and then head back to the hut. The gentle rain stops along the way, but since the forecast for the evening isn't good and for Wednesday it's even worse, we decide to head back down. After a nice lunch of soup and wienerli we say goodbye to the hut warden and then make our way back down, down, down to the lift. Of course the sun comes out along the way. :-)

There's definitely tons more fun stuff to do around the Cabane d'Orny, so it would be at all bad to head back again.

Tracks from the whole thing:

Hundsee Bivvy

We have an excellent weather forecast, so we opt for hiking from the Kiental to the Lauterbrunnental (this has been on our list for a while) with a bivvy along the way.

An early start on Saturday to do the train-train-bus to Griesalp (unsurprisingly there are loads of people out and about on this sunny August Saturday!). Then up, up, following the road to Obere Dürreberg. It's quite hot, so we're happy to find a shady place beside the stream for a nice food break (funny scene below us as some cows also cool off in the stream) and to pump a bit more water. Then it's up, up, steeply up, through the Hundsflüe on a good blue-white trail. It really is oppressively warm, and the packs are not light, so we take another break and short nap-with-a-view at around p2420 before continuing up, up  to Telli. Through the rock wasteland and past the first small lake, then on to the larger lake (p2677, there's already a group here who will obviously be staying the night). One possible plan here was to head up the ridge to the Hundshore, but neither of us is particularly enthusiastic about that, so we continue on to the saddle. Here we opt to improvise and take a more direct route down rather than staying on the blue-white path towards the Schilthorn and then down (we'll be heading up that tomorrow). The first bit of this is mostly ok, then it's a bit hairy near the first set of cliffs, then ok again as we head down, down, to rejoin the trail at Hundshubel. The next order of business is to find a place to bivvy, so we head up to the ridge above the (mostly dry) Hundsee and follow that towards the Horen until we find a nice location. Ditch the packs, pump some water from the Sefibach, then spend a lazy afternoon enjoying the amazing views and watching other groups show up and find places to camp (of course we aren't alone: the weather is great, the views are great, and there is a relatively short approach from the Schilthorn). The group on the other side of the lake, who have chosen to camp in an area easily accessed by cows, are a running source of entertainment. After a nice dinner we walk up to the Horen to enjoy some amazing sunset colors on the Jungfrau, Mönch, and Eiger.

Sunday morning we're awake early enough to enjoy the great sunrise and packed up and underway shortly before 8. Back to the Hundshubel, then following the nice trail up, up, to the pass at p2684, where we do a short food break. From there along the ridge to the saddle at p2798, and then steeply down into the Soustal. If there wasn't someting of a use trail, this is a descent we probably wouldn't have done; the first bit is pretty hairy and a lot of it is quite steep and on fairly loose terrain. With the use trail it's not too horrible. Down, down we go into the lovely valley, which we then follow more or less to the end. We do a lunch break and then, later, a bathing break along the way. At the end of the valley we take the trail through the woods which leads us to the gondola at Grütschalp which starts us on the long (crowded) trip home.

Track:

Stats:

• Saturday: 5:50, 12km, 1460m up, 540m down.
• Sunday: 6:07, 15km, 600m up, 1430m down

Ridges above the Cabane de Moiry

The weather forecast is decent and (after some effort) we manage to find free beds in a hut, so we took a long weekend around the 1st of August and went off to the mountains for a long weekend. We've got a very exciting new guidebook for alpine climbing (it's like Dani Silbernagel wrote this one for us :-), and that inspires our choice of the Cabane de Moiry as our base.

Since it takes forever to get to that part of Switzerland, we head down to Grimentz on Saturday (after a nice bouldering session in the morning) and get the first bus up to the Moiry glacier parking lot on Sunday morning. On with the packs and up the valley we go, enjoying the lovely views and the good (though definitely not empty) trail that takes us up, up to the hut. 70 minutes later we're at the hut, where drop off stuff we don't need for the day and then immediately head back out to do our first tour.

Sunday: Aiguilles de la Lé traverse

The first part of this one is finding our way up to the Col de Gardien. There is supposedly a yellow blazed path which leads up to the hut's small climbing crag, but we never end up finding that. Still, we know where we want to go, so we just take a logical route up, up across the talus. Past the crag we actually run across a few cairns that we follow the rest of the way up, up to the saddle. Here we have a quick food break and put on the climbing gear while enjoying the amazing views (particularly really nice view of the Weisshorn and friends on the other side of the valley) and watching a group do the first part of the ridge. After the break we start our way along the ridge.

The first bit of ridge takes us easily, with some light scrambling, up to the south peak of the Aiguilles de la Lé (p3158). On the way up we pass the other group (five guests and a guide) on their way back to the col. The ridge continues, descending, until we get to the Col des Aiguilles. We're not super efficient on this first part: we've got a bit too much rope out and it takes a while to get into the flow of where and how to keep ourselves safe while still making progress. From the col the ridge heads steeply up. The next bit is more climby, so we let out the rope and do a couple of easy pitches before taking up coils again and shortening the rope to have about 15m between us and moving on. The ridge is now narrower, more exposed, and more scrambly. It's super fun. Along the way we end up with a cloud coming up from the E side which makes for dramatic pictures but robs us of the long view along the ridge. According to our topo, we're supposed to leave the ridge after the N peak (the SAC description continues along the ridge to the next saddle, but our book says that the last piece is dangerous), and at some point we figure that we've past the peak and are approaching the yellow tower which marks the descent to the next pass. So we head back to the peak we've just passed and take a food break while looking around for the descent, which isn't obvious (even though it's supposed to be). Meanwhile another team of two catches up to us. After looking at the map we decide that we aren't on the actual peak yet and continue along the ridge. More fun ridge scrambling (yay!) and then the actual peak (including a sad cross) comes into view. We do the last bit up, take some pics from the narrow peak, and then head down to the W "ridge", which is obvious at this point. The other two opt to follow us down instead of continuing along the ridge. The descent is steep, but not hard and it's pretty easy to follow a mix of cairns and use trail down, down to a small saddle where we leave the ridge to the N. More scrambling and descending and we end up on a big talus field with the final descent couloirs in view. Down, down we go across the talus to a nice green nob where we have a quick food break and pack the climbing gear away. We realize that we've come down to the wrong couloir, so after the break we head back up 50m or so and traverse to the correct couloir. This is an easy steep descent and we're back down on a more normal slope in no time. Across the grass to the path to the hut we followed earlier in the day and then up, up to the hut. Dinner, some view admiring, and then we're off to bed.

We were a lot more efficient on the second part of the ridge. We had a bit less rope out (maybe 12m) and focused on placing slings or cams to try and ensure that there was always one piece of protection between us instead of always using rock spikes and really minimizing the amount of time with both of us on the same side of the ridge (we still did some of that, but tried to keep moving as much of the time as possible).

Track:

Stats: 6:40, 7.8km, ~1030m up and down

Monday: Couronne de Breonna traverse

We're underway at 7:15 after a good breakfast. Today we're both a bit nervous about the approach to the planned route since it's not obvious how straightforward it's going to be to get off the (easy) glacier or to manage the last steep bit up to the Col de la Couronne. We follow the marked path down to the glacier, put on the crampons, cross the dry glacier (we come off near a big cairn with a pole sticking out of it), stash the crampons and ice axes under a rock, and then follow the clear use trail easily up to the top of the moraine. A bit along the moraine and then another (less clear) use trail takes us off to the left and up, up towards tht col. We end up being able to follow this more or less all the way to the top (we lose the trail in the talus fields, but it's always possible to find it again).

At the col we have a quick snack, enjoy the views, put on the gear, and start the climb. Another team shows up as we're leaving, but they end up being considerably slower than us. We start with two pitches for the first steep bit and then use the same efficient ridge technique as on Sunday to do last bit up to the Clocher de la Couronne. We find the abseil anchor, do the 5 abseils down to the saddle, and then continue along the main ridge. This has six towers, some of which we go over and some we go around, the topo is good and there's almost always a use trail indicating the right direction. Plenty of scrambling fun on the ridge with a bit of easy climbing mixed in. We do another food break and enjoy the views before the last steep bit of climbing (there's even an actual bolt in this part... crazy!) and then at some point we reach the peak. This isn't totally obvious on the ridge, but that's not so important anyway... we're just continuing along the ridge and down to the Col de Breonna. :-)

There are apparently one or two places where you can abseil, but we end up just downclimbing everything and have more fun scrambling the rest of the way along the ridge and to the col. Another food break, pack away the gear, plan our strategy for heading back down, and then off we go. We take a distance-efficient route back down to the blue-white path which will lead us to our gear... this is a nice walk, but it probably would have been more time-efficient to head more or less directly along the use trail to the blue-white path. Anyway... once on the trail we follow it along the moraine. There are a surprising number of day trippers on this trail; likely they are all just taking advantage of the relatively easy apporach to get close to a glacier. Back at our gear we put on the crampons, re-cross the glacier (now there's a group doing crevasse rescue practice), pack everything away on the other side, and then head up up to the hut.

Back at the hut we have some cake and spend a relaxed afternoon enjoying the nice weather, views, and chaos on the terrace. Dinner, more views, and off to bed.

This was another really good day of climbing and scrambling. It felt like we were pretty efficient for most of the day and didn't spend too much time messing around with the gear or doing unnecessary pitches.

Track:

Stats: 8:35, 10.8km, ~1200m up and down

Tuesday: Zinal via the Col du Pigne

The weather forecast is a bit dodgy, so we aren't clear what we're going to do until after we've had breakfast and checked the radar. Things look stable enough to take the more interesting route, so after packing up all our stuff we follow the blue-white path up up to the Col du Pigne. It's only a short bit along the ridge to get to the Pigne de la Le from here, but we opt to skip that and just head down the other side towards Zermatt. The first bit of the descent is in terrain where it's nice to have the trail there (steep, not great footing) but then things flatten out a bit and the walking gets easy. Great views of the other side of the Aiguilles de la Le and what would be great views across the valley except for the low clouds. Down, down we head, with a very small amount of rain and hail along the way. Down in the green we pass a couple of groups heading up towards the hut. We go past a big group of ibexes just hanging out and chilling in a group of rocks (boy do they not care about us being there!). Down, down we go until hitting the red-white path which takes us the rest of the way down to the valley floor. There are tons of people down here! The last bit is flat along a trail/road next to the river until we get to the edge of Zinal. Here we head to the bus stop and start the long trip back to Basel.

Stats: 3:50, 10.6km, 360m up, ~1500m down

Track from the whole trip:

Climbing above Partnun

The forecast for the weekend was good, so we went to the Rätikon to do some climbing. We've only been in this region once before in the summer time: long ago back before we started climbing and didn't really get it. Things are different now. :-)

After the long trip to get there, we drop a bag at the Hotel Sulzfluh and then hike up the valley, past the Partnunsee (plenty of people enjoying the nice weather at the lake) and up, up, enjoying the fantastic landscape, to the end of the valley and the Gruobenflueli. On with the gear and let the climbing begin.

Routes (grades are from the SAC Tourenportal):

1. Spätzünder (5a, 5b, 6a+)
2. Nebelmeer (first two pitches only: 5a, 5b)

Excellent climbing on compact, slabby limestone. Fun fun.

Then we make the descent back to the hotel, have a shower and a nap, a good meal, enjoy sitting outside in the evening sun, then off to bed for an early start the next day.

Sunday morning the clouds are still around as we set off back up, up the valley. Today we're planning on climbing Abraxas: a long multipitch through the wall of the Chlei Venedig. We aren't great at finding the start of alpine routes anyway, and the clouds definitely don't make things easier, so it takes us a while to find the route. In the end we actually missed the easy beginning of the first pitch at started at one of the bolts along the way. 🤷 

The route is great, the climbing is lots of fun, and the clouds even go away before we make it to the top, so we have some awesome views to enjoy from the belays. This is our first real 6a multipitch (Quarzader has a 6a move, but that hardly counts) and it goes well. We aren't fast through those pitches, but we both do our leads without falling (G does hang in the rope twice in order to rest).

The pitches, grades according to Plaisir Ost: 4c, 5c+, 4b, 4a, 6a+, 6a+, 5a, 4a, 5b, 3c. A. started

After topping out we pack the ropes away and change into the approach shoes (A actually knocks one of hers off the edge, but we're lucky and it stops just before a big drop, we're able to lower her down to retrieve it), and then head up through light scrambling terrain until we reach the top and the normal hiking path. Here we do a food break, pack all the gear away, and then head off along the path towards the Sulzfluh. We drop the ropes and a bit of gear at the fork for the Gemschtobel and then do the last bit up the peak. Another short break to enjoy the views and have another snack, and then we start our way down, down. The path through the Gemschtobel is efficient and fun, through some impressive terrain. Down, down, down we go until we make it back to Partnun. Here we pick up our hotel bag, refresh ourselves a bit, and then do the last of the short descent to the bus stop and the long trip back home.

Excellent weekend of climbing in a really nice area. We really need to go back and have some more fun in the Rätikon. :-)

Norway day 12: Blånebba traverse

The forecast is for it to be nice in the morning and then rain in the afternoon, so we get an early start.

The plan is to head back up into Venjesdalen, head up to the ridge at the Litlefjellet (near where we went up to the ridge on the Romsdalhorn tour) and then head North along the ridge to traverse the Holstind and the Blånebba. David (our guide from last week) has recommended the Blånebba ridge scramble and we have descriptions of the whole thing. So off we go.

We park at the lot where the bus stops and then quickly walk the 4km up the road to get to the trail which leads up to the Litlefjellet. Follow the trail up the side of the valley to the ridge and change shoes (we've been wearing trail runners and now change into the big boots for the later scrambling) and enjoy the views. The first bit of ridge is easy, with a good use trail taking us past a few of nice camping spots, some of which are occupied. Eventually the use trail kind of peters out, so we just follow the logical line along the ridge to where the ridge narrows down and things start to get steep. Here we pick the use trail back up. It's 1:50 to this point. After a quick snack, we start our way up.

The scrambling up to the Holstind is route-finding intensive (lots of reading the terrain to figure out where to go next) and with some bad rock quality moments (also some good rock quality moments!), but quite fun. It's just a joy to move in this kind of terrain. Once we get up top we stop to enjoy the views, eat some more, and check out the wall of the Blånebba looming ahead.

A use trail (it's back again!) leads us along the ridge, with a bit of down-climbing, to the face of Blånebba. Here the rock quality is a lot better, the route finding is pretty straightforward, and there are some really good moments of exposure. Pure ridge fun. It's over all too soon. Total time on the ridges, including the food break, was 2:20.

We enjoy the views for a bit and then head over to the main peak (this is easily done purely on rock... when we were there last week there was a bunch of snow here, so we've carried the ice axes with us for basically nothing) and follow the broad ridge to the trail which leads back down to the parking lot. Now we also start seeing other people again; we haven't seen anyone else since the the folks camping around the Litlefjellet.

The trail down to the car is easy (we've done it before in the other direction) and enjoyable. We don't push the pace, do another food break along the way, and just enjoy the landscape and nice weather until we're back at the car.

Stats: 6:30, 13.8km, 1170m up and down.

Norway day 7: the Klauva (horse-shoe) loop

Finally a decent weather forecast, so...

FINISH

Stats: 9:26, 19km, 1765m up and down

Norway day 4: climbing the Store Venjetinden

Our last day with David and the most ambitious of the trips: climbing the Store Venjetinden via the route "Dream Dihedral". The peak is super prominent and dominates the view out the living room window of our flat, so it's extra fun to be climbing it.

There are clouds in the valley, which leads to some nervousness (particularly after yesterday), but we drive up out of them and end up under lovely blue skies, yay!

We put on the packs (heavy since we have crampons and ice axes with us) and head steeply up, up along a clear  use trail (well, clear as long as you know where it starts). At first we're in green, then we transition to moving up and across some slabs. We're in the shade (which is nice for ascending) and have great views back across the clouds in the valley. At some point it's steep enough (at and times slippery enough) that David has us rope up and start moving on a short rope. Up, up we go until we hit a larger snow patch. Here we break out the ice axes and head up, up the steadily steepening snow (by the end it's over 40 deg, but it's good "Trittschnee", so not overly nervous-making for g) until we hit the rock.

Transition to the rock, some food, on with the climbing shoes, boots into the packs, and the real climbing starts. It's a very, very nice route. The rock is great and there's a lovely mix of styles (face, crack, and stemming), such an absolute pleasure. Having David do the leading means all we have to do is enjoy the climbing... luxury! Too bad it's only six pitches, we would happily have done more, particularly of the dihedral!

When we get to the ridge we change back into the big boots and enjoy the views a bit (except for the view down onto the couloir which we plan to descend... that makes g unhappy) before doing the last bit to the peak on a short rope. Some traversing under the ridge until we meet the "N ridge" route, which we follow up to the peak. Really amazing 360 panoramic views from here! 

After plenty of pictures and fun we start the descent. This seems funny at first because we start out by going the wrong way, but after some walking and down-scrambling and snow crossing we end up on "Gallery" path: a really nice narrow path along a band that takes us around the corner and to the top of the couloir between the Store Venjetinden and the Lille Venjetinden. It's a great relief to g that the snow doesn't seem as steep as it did when we were above it. Out come the ice axes, on go the gloves and we start the descent. An initial experiment with sliding ends up with a three-way wipeout, so we just go with plunge-stepping down. Down down down we go until the snow runs out at a short waterfall. David lowers us over this (yay! canyoning!), abseils down to us, and then we continue. Down, down, until near the end of the snow, transition to rock, more descent and traversal, down another snow field, down, down, transition to rock, more traversing, down down another snow field, and then we're back on the path we took up in the morning. Last bit of descending and then we're at the car. David had estimated 3 hours up, 3 hours of climbing, and 3 hours for the descent; it took us 9:13 including all the breaks.

Stats: 9:13, 7.9km, 1390m up and down.

Norway day 3: climbing the Bispen E Ridge

In contrast to the past two days of cloudless blue skies, today we wake up to low clouds. There's a pretty good chance that this would result in a change of plans if we were at home, but we've got a trip planned with the guide, so off we go. We meet David in Andelsnes and then drive up the valley to the Trollstigen. It's still early, so there's essentially no traffic, which is a bonus on the windy road up to the pass and into the clouds. By the time we get to the pass itself we're fully in the cloud.

We park, grab the gear, and then follow an unmarked trail up, up the valley side. Visibility varies from decent to marginal, but following the path is easy. At some point we turn off along a much fainter use trail which we follow more gently up and around the corner of the Bispen and onto a set of slabs. Near the base of the South ridge we put on the gear and rope up so that David can short-rope us the rest of the way across and up easy (but exposed) slabs to the base of the East ridge.

The climb up the East ridge is fun and easy. The rock quality is mostly quite good and climbing in the big boots is no problem. David mostly leads, but like on the Romsdalhorn he does let us do a couple of the easier pitches and follows along to coach and make sure everything is done safely. It turns out that climbing in a cloud is really no big problem: we didn't have views, but it wasn't actively raining and we could always see where we were going. 

We're at the top sooner than it seems like we should be. There are no views to appreciate, but we still do a short food break before doing a brief practice session on setting nuts (something we don't often do) and then heading down the North ridge. This is a hike/scramble and we do the scrambly bits short roped (we are, after all, with a guide) before packing the gear away and doing the rest of the descent back to the saddle and then down to the parking lot. 

By the time we get down to the car it's lightly raining and the clouds are quite thick... the drive back down is a bit nerve wracking until we end up behind a big bus, which makes everything easier.

This was a good day of climbing and it was quite nice to spend some time doing trad climbing with someone providing advice and suggestions. G isn't convinced that this is something we want to make a frequent habit of (you spend too much time thinking about gear placement and not enough time actually climbing), but it's definitely good to know and it would be nice to have the option to safely do more pure trad routes.

Noteworthy aside: though we have now climbed to the top of it we still haven't actually seen what the Bispen looks like aside from on photos. We'll have to go back in better weather to check it out!

Stats (for whatever reason it took a while for my watch to pick up the GPS signal): 7:11, ~8.5km, 830m up and down.

Norway day 2: climbing the Romsdalhorn

We figured that it made sense to start our Norway trip by spending a few days climbing with a guide so that we can learn more about the place and the conditions and get a good overview. This was our first of three days with David.

The goal for the day is the Romsdalhorn via the North face. We meet D and drive up into the Venjesdalen (aside: the camera-based automated toll system is nice) and park near the end, under the ridge which leads to to the Romsdhalhorn. The weather is beautiful as we hike up to the ridge and then follow it to the base of the route. On with the gear and then we start the climbing. It's easy climbing (we're wearing the big boots) on mostly good rock and we head up reasonably efficiently. After a few pitches, D lets us each lead an easy pitch so that we can practice. G is too nervous about building an anchor to benefit from this, but A takes full advantage, observed by D. There's only one other group underway: another guide and guest pretty far ahead of us who abseil past when we're about 2/3 of the way up. We're to the broad top all too quickly and have a nice break to enjoy the views, check out the shelter up there, eat something, and take a bunch of pictures. Then it's time to abseil down. There are nice bolted anchors for this and it also all goes quickly. At the base of the route we say bye to D, who's meeting another guide to change some of the abseil anchors, and then head directly down the valley wall and back to the car.

Nice short climb on a very prominent peak in great weather and a good intro to David and what climbing in the area is like.

Technical/efficiency note: when abseiling, D had us both get set up with the rope through our guide plates before he abseiled down. Once he was below we then followed without needing a prusik since he could always stop us by pulling the rope taut. This would be a good one to remember when climbing with people with less experience.

Stats: 6:41, 6.5km, 990m up and down

Norway day 1: the Romsdalseggen

Text to come

Stats: 6:34 17.8km 1354m up, 1730m down

Climbing the Bire

The Bire, which rises prominently above Kandersteg, has been on our climbing list for a long time. We haven't done it yet since we were always concerned about crowds. Sunday we decided to go ahead and give it a try, possible crowds be damned!

Early train from Basel to Bern and then on to Kandersteg. Walk to the gondola and then gondola up to Oeschinensee. Follow the sign for Bire climbing (uh oh...) and blue markings (eventually turning to red markings) up, up through the woods and then into the open. We're alone until we get towards the top, when another couple catches up to us and passes. The start of the route is marked with a red point, so G (of course) can't really see it... good thing A is there!

Gear on and a quick snack while waiting for the other couple to start, no one else coming behind us, so maybe it won't be crowded? We start climbing at around 10.

Really nice climbing on good rock, fantastic views (the Bluemlisalp group and other mountains have a fresh dusting of snow, which just improves things). The couple in front of us is faster than us and no one is under us, so no stress. A couple of walking bits. At the Tschäri we do another quick food break and enjoy the awesome views before switching to the approach shoes and doing the short hike to the last pitches to the peak. Here we see a third team, a pitch or two in front of the pair in front of us... still no stress at all. The last section is considerably more alpine and route finding is trickier but that's just a different kind of fun. (Note in case we do this one again: traverse to the left on the second pitch and then head up where the first bolt is... continuing around the corner is not good.).

We get to the peak at 15:00 (5 hours of climbing + breaks), have another short food break while packing up the gear and enjoying views, and then start the descent. The route down is really fun, one of those "wow, I can't believe a path leads through this terrain!" things that we enjoy so much and after 1.5 hours we are back down with the crowds at the gondola station, where we start our trip home.

The two topos we have disagree about the number and difficulty of the pitches, here's both:

According to Plaisir West: 4b, 5c, 4c, 5a, 4c, 5c, 4b, 5a, 5b, 5a, 4b, 4c, 4c

According to the SAC: 3c, 5b, 4b, 4c, 4b, 4c, 5b, 5b, 5a, 4a, 4b, 4c

This was a great day: really good climbing, a super fun descent, and great weather.

Greenland day 5: traverse of pt835

The day starts like the preceding one: overcast with some low clouds. We are underway at around 9:00.

First we cross the streams/rivers, then up to the glacier. a bit of crampon instruction and practice, then up on to the glacier for real. Up and across until we hit snow, then roping in (one team) and following the snow across to the slope we hope leads to a nice col. Up, up the steep snow, across some ice, more snow, up up. At some point switch to a 3-team and a 2-team, move up. Across the bergschrund, more up to the top of the slope. Here sheltering in the randkluft and doing some planning.

J goes forward, leading up an ugly bit of wet slab and loose mess and then belays the rest of us up. From there it's up, up a fairly loose slope until we high the col. Awesome views from here (we aren't in the clouds since they have lifted). Some food and a discussion about what to do next. We opt for the shorter traverse of pt835 and head up to the peak to our right.

This is a mix of loose mess and some nice scrambling that takes us to the top and some more stunning views. The sun is almost out and it is fantastic! Yay! We're in Greenland! Some cairn building and view appreciation and then we start down the other side.

This is a bit messy and steep, but J finds a great route and gets us down to the col. Another short break, on with the crampons and down the snow on the other side. When it gets a bit steeper (moving from one snow field to the next) we rope in, but otherwise continue down to the glacier. Fast and easy down, down the great snow. Across the glacier and back to camp for soup, quesadillas, and a normal freeze dried meal. Then bed.

What a great day! The weather is really starting to improve. Tomorrow is going to be good!

And here's the track:

Schrattenflue climbing and hiking

 We wanted something mentally easy this weekend, so we opted for climbing at a crag instead of something more ambitious. After some poking around in the tourenportal to try and find crags likely to get a bit less sun, we decided on the Schrattenflue.

Saturday morning: bus to Hirsegg, then up, up, up towards Heftbode. At first along road, then under trees (yay, shade!), always up, up. Out of the trees and into fun limestone landscape, up, up until we get to the Heftihutte (what a great location... too bad there's no water in the summer) and the ridge. Lunch break enjoying the views and then we wander around a bit to orient ourselves and figure out where what is.

We decide to start with an easy (5a) route on the Kleine Nadel. This ends up being way trickier than anticipated and neither of us wants to go past the second bolt (sandbagged rating? typo? just not used to climbing on limestone? who knows). It's no problem since all the routes on the spire go to the same stand. Plan B is the 4b Suedriss; except we can't find that one at all. The crack is clearly visible, but there are no bolts visible. Plan C is the 4a (obvious bolts up high, but nothing towards the ground). Plan D is the 3a on the backside (this is now getting absurd). Here there's at least one bolt, but the rest of the route has none. At this point doing free solo doesn't sound great. A engages problem-solving mode and uses the first bolt on the back to get to the 4a. This way she makes it to the top. Next plan is for her to clean out the quickdraws on this side (not easy due to rope drag and the rope getting pinched). Then back to the top and G will lower her over the "5a" to recover the quickdraws. BUT... the rope keeps getting stuck and this doesn't work. We eventually get her to the ground and manage to get the rope down (that was a near thing). A cleans out the 5a by heading to the second bolt and leaving a clip behind. 

That was frustrating... back to the hut for a food break and to decide what to do next. Neither of us is particularly motivated at this point, but G has noticed a route which looks pretty easy and nice. So after a bit of a rest we check that out, eventually figure out which route it is and confirm that it's a 5a. G starts this time and makes it easily through the fun beginning before getting to a steeper bit somewhat lacking in holds. At this point motivation fails, but there's a maillon in the last bolt, so turning back is easy. A does the beginning and reaches the same conclusion about the steep top, and that's that for the day's climbing.

We pack the gear up and head down, down, down, back to the bus stop and then 15 minutes along the road to our hotel. Check in, shower, do some really nice wellness, have a nap, good dinner, and then sleep.

Sunday we are underway by 8:30. Up, up, up we go again. Nice hiking... at some point we make a navigational error which takes us on a trail too far to the left; easily corrected with a traverse along cow trails back to the main path and then up, up through cool limestone. Past a few routes in a hole (you need to abseil to them), then up a bit more until we get to the Schiff routes. There's another group of 5 climbing here, but there are plenty of routes.

After yesterday we start with a couple easy 4b's just to get our brains working. Next is a 5b which goes without problems. Food break in the cool and shady hole (sitting next to an enormous block of surviving snow)... would be fun to climb one of the routes in here, but only one looks like it could be safely belayed and the beginning of that is tricky to get to because of the snow. Anyway... back out of the hole, another 5b (also pretty easy), then G does a 4b on the edge (in trail running shoes) to get a good picture. It's now getting too hot to climb, so we pack up and figure out a nice hike out.

We opt to head to Kemmeriboden Bad via the Hengst. This gives us a nice bit staying up high in the karst landscape with great views before heading down, down, down. Notable things on the way down: past the Clushuette, which has a potable water tap (yay!) and then another spring + trough under the trees most of the way down to cool down before hitting the bus stop. We had time, so the plan was to have drinks at the hotel before getting on the bus. Unfortunately the hotel was badly flooded in early July, so it's closed. :-(

Nice climbing (on the second day at least), and some great hiking.

[Tracks to come]