Category Archives: Alpine Climbing

Grindelwald Days- Eiger Monch Engelhorner

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Vadim was back again to climb in these Alps and we decided to base ourselves in Grindelwald. What an exceptional valley for climbers! From the magically silent cliffs of Hintisberg and the Engelhorner, to the ice palace at the Jungfraujoch, and the wild jaunt ascending to the Mittellegi Hut, this valley has everything for the ambitious mountaineer (and hill walker and tourist!). We were hoping to climb the Schreckhorn, Monch, and Eiger, but of course the weather determined our program.

We started with a few climbs in the surrounding valleys, then worked our way up to the heights. Cow bells echoing off the high walls surrounding Hintisberg sounded the way towards the Eiger. The changeable weather then chased us to the Mediterranean Sea and a couple more limestone cliffs.

Have a look at the photos and let me know when you are coming! Autumn air is creeping into the weather, and it looks like climbing possibilities shall be with us for a good number of weeks still.

Climbing the Matterhorn via the Lion’s Ridge

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Fiona and I climbed the Matterhorn this early October, just hours before the first winter storm moved in. All lifts in Cervinia were closed, which meant an 1’800 meter climb, just to the Carrel Hut! It was the next day that had me thinking: 8 hours round trip to the summit from the hut, then 1’800 meters back to the car. Ouch!

We left the hut at a leisurely 7:30AM, just as the sun was rising. We immediately reached the first fixed ropes, The Awakening Ropes. I was fully awake after getting over the final vertical section. (Hmmm, not quite like the Hornli ridge…) Though it was quite cold, the weather was perfect as we climbed. The winds from the west were picking up as the impending storm approached. The route stays on the south face, clear of the ridge for the first few hundred meters, which meant we were out of the wind, but once up on the ridge I was happy to have my down jacket on under my gore-tex shell.

We then progressed across the south face, zigzagging towards, then away from the ridge, never too far from it. A metal cable appeared, which added security as we continued right and up on the south face. After some guess work, we reached the Tyndall rope that takes you to the ridge at approximately 4070m. We then climbed on the windy ridge to the top of  Tyndall peak (4241m). The climbing was easy and fun, but challenging with the wind. Though there was ice in places, the whole route was doable without crampons or ice axes. From Tyndall peak,  the hike is horizontal going NE, then some down climbing and the not to be missed, “enjambée”. The guide book says to step across or jump. Reading that, I’d gotten quite psyched to jump it, until I had a look at it. Forget that! Stepping across worked quite well thank you…

Once across the Col Félicité, the climbing is straight forward until the steep Jordan Ladder. Climbing this wooden rope ladder was a lot easier than it looked from below. After the Piravano fixed ropes, we were quickly on the Italian summit. And from there, a short down climb then up to the one meter higher Swiss summit.

Equipment: There’s lots of fixed pro, so bring 3-6 quickdraws and a few large locking carabiners. I used a 37 meter single rope. Crampons and axe may be necessary, plus all the other obvious mountain gear and clothing. The hut is unguarded, so bring food. There are a couple of good gas stoves and (dirty) pots and pans and dishes, but no water. We filled up with water at 3300 meters, below the small glacier, west of the path to the hut. One can find snow to melt near the hut, but may be difficult to mine (ice).

Piz Badile North Face Cassin Route

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The weather has been fabulous! It has been hot, hot, hot. With a week free to go climbing with my friend and fellow guide Mike Powers, we chose the Cassin route on the Piz Badile. Temperatures in the valley were 30+ degrees, so this looked to be a perfect window to climb a north face. The route was beautiful! Though the hut seemed ridiculously expensive compared with camping in the Val de Mello on the other side, we enjoyed our afternoon on the terrace of the Sasc Furä, gazing at the north face and surfing the internet!!! There looked to be around 5 other groups heading up, plus a few others bivying above the hut. Most groups would be climbing the North Ridge.

We left the hut at 4:15 and arrived at the foot of the face at 6AM. I had a few good topos of the climb. Marcel Dettling had given me a pdf of a drawing he made. It proved to be quite accurate. Though we were quite surprised at the scramble up to the ridge. This would have slowed me down had I been roped up with a client. After down climbing, rappelling, then traversing to the base of the route, the first pitch started with good climbing right away. We opted for the Rebuffat Dihedral. A bit of layback on small foot holds got us to 2 pitches of cruisey climbing. Then some delicate climbing below Cassin’s first bivy got us off route. Some nice person had fixed a rope to get climbers back on route. I can’t imagine this will remain in place much longer though. It was looking a bit frayed. So stay left like the topo says. Duh!

Climbing to the “Noon Ledge” was again quite easy. But here starts some steep climbing with the hardest moves at 6a. The rock is marvelous and varied. It makes for sundry climbing , always asking for different movements and preparation. There were many opportunities to place friends and rocks.

A 70 meter pitch got us to 2 pitches of chimneys, the first of which I found super awkward!!! Lucky Mike got this lead. :-) We hit the ridge after a couple of fine pitches. 12:00 high noon. Then we moved together to reach the summit. 5 hours later found us back at our tent in the Val di Mello enjoying cold beer and pizza!

Frendo Spur

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Looking up from Chamonix to the Aiguille du Midi, Vadim asks, “Is there a route up there we can do together Hans?” Of course I immediately thought about the Frendo Spur, number 62 in the “100 best of” by Gaston Rébuffat. Anyone out there collecting points from this classic guide to the Mont Blanc Group? Without even looking at it beforehand, I realized we did 3 this week- 23, 42, and 62!

We took the second lift of the morning from Chamonix, arriving at the mid station of Plan de l’Aiguille at 7AM. From here, it’s about 45 minutes to the base of the route. The neve steepens, and one wants to traverse right to stay out of the line of fire from the seracs above, to the left of the Frendo spur. There was still good, hard snow on the two initial ramps, allowing us rapid progress up. At some point, as the second ramp steepens, one goes right, up some steep blocks and chimneys over something called the râteau de chévre. I never did find it, instead settling on the excellent Hawaiian Variant. A couple of moves on hands and knees near the end of this fine variant, and we were in the sun on the other side of the spur. From here, we climbed quickly together on super mellow terrain. It was fun to scramble rapidly up, gaining lots of height with each step. When the rock steepend, we scooted left again and found more good scrambling and a few nice moves of 3+ – 4. The key passage at the tiny col was a quite obvious dihedral blocked by a little overhang on its left. Three pitons allowed us to French Free this is fine style. Then we pitched out 4-6 rope lengths on super nice rock. A super hard aid move to get over a silly block, of which no guide book ever mentioned, got us on a line to get around even further left and within view of the final snow and ice pitches. Putting crampons on again, we climbed together up the steep knife ridge. As it steepened and the ice became more apparent under the snow, I slapped in a screw and started running out pitches again. The ice was superb! It felt like the finest icy desert to an already fine meal of rock. My Nomics were happy to sink their teeth into some alpine ice after months sleeping under Anya’s bed.

We stepped over the top, into another world. Climbers all over the place, heading up to the Midi lift, heading down to the Cosmique hut, people talking, carabiners clinking, full-on sun… and the lift to take us back down to Chamonix for beer and a Chinese meal! And all this just to save on the lift pass from the mid-station to the top!!!

The Grand Jorasses

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Descending into in the Larch forests filling the valley floor, I’m aware of the dwindling roar of the cascading waters from the Freney and Brouillard glaciers and conscious of the birds, the trickling water and soft sounds of my feet on the pine needles of the forest bed. Spending a few days high in these hills, and sleeping in these friendly Italian huts, provides one with such a fine feeling of alpine environments. It’s not until you return to the valley floor that you become fully conscience of the sights and sounds that have been with you.

Vadim is back with more intriguing stories of Moscow, Russia, and trips to South America and more. He is so interested in peoples of other cultures, how they prepare their food, the plants they use, and how they cope with different situations. It’s a luxury for me to spend time with him.

We climbed the Ottoz route on the Aiguille Croux from the Refugio Menzino, a 13 pitch, pure rock route, to get acclimatized for our 4000er, the Grand Jorasses. With a maximum move of 6a, this route has an alpine feel to it, yet with only and hour and a half approach from the hut. Armando, the guardian,  is super nice, and has great tips for doing many great climbs from here, including some of the wild routes to the top of the Mont Blanc.

Conditions on the Jorasses were excellent. The huge area of seracs, which discourages many from heading this way, did not look too menacing. And I’d spotted a line from our previous outing that took us left of the main group of seracs. We climbed to the unguarded hut of Bocalatte in three hours the first day. What a pleasure it was to be completely alone in this part of the Alps. While climbers are scrambling all over themselves on the popular routes, we were all alone in this hut. A tiny MSR stove and a bit of pasta kept us satisfied, eating our dinner looking over the glacial ice tumbling down beneath our feet.

We got going the next day at a leisurely 5 AM, with dawn fully cracked. The snow on the glacier was nicely crampon-able, and the rock on the Rocher du Reposoir was warm and dry. A few moves of 3+ got us up and over towards flatter terrain and then onto a snowy ridge. A little serac blocked our traverse to the second rock rib descending from the Whymper, so I was happy to have my “piolet traction” to help me up this little vertical step. The rest of the route to the top was real straight forward. It was magnificent to look own into France, with all her glaciers winding away. Thanks for the trip Vadim!

Jungfrau and Rothorn warm ups

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Wanting to complete our plans after traversing the Drus last year, Vadim has returned to climb the Grands Jorasses. But the 50+ cenitmeters of fresh snow and high winds, have put an end to that.

We had a few nice climbs at mid elevations, then a couple nice peaks- the Jungfrau above Grindelwald, and the Rothorn, above Zermatt. Both were in great shape, which was a pleasant surprise. It snowed the day we arrived at the Rothorn Hut. But by the next day, most of it had melted from the rocks on the SW ridge, yet stayed put where we needed to crampon. The rock climbing above 4000 meters was on perfect granite!

Today we climbed above Verbier on the Pierre Avoi. 8 pitches of fine limestone has given us the desire for more fun in the hills.

The weather is forecasted to hold for the next 2 days, then turn cooler. High winds are forecasted from Thursday. Not many pictures…

Mont Dolent

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We climbed this pretty summit on the Swiss, French and Italian border under a perfect blue sky. Though not technically difficult, fantastic views abound. We spent the night at the Fiorio bivouac to break the climb into a couple small chunks. It is a cute little hut, reminding me of what most of these alpine huts used to all be like. Take a cook stove, food and a couple of spoons to prepare your own food since this bivi is not guarded.

Rock Climbing near Verbier and Chamonix

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Summer is over and I have not published a thing! Too much time to do too many things!

The weather is back to summer-time temps, reflecting again the in and out weather in the Alps this season. Most recently, we did a couple of real fine climbs on perfect granite. One, up the Val d’Arpette, which many of you know from winter ski season. The other on the Pointe Lachenal above the Chamonix valley.

Olivier Roduit’s route on the Six Carro in the Val d’Arpette is one of the nicest climbs anywhere! The rock is stunning, with all sorts of cool forms, from cracks to knobs. The Contamine Route on the Pointe Lachanel is another supreme route, offering the aspiring, clean, crack climber the opportunity to protect his lead with the sole use of rocks and friends.

Matterhorn 4478- The Hornli Route

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Catherine and I climbed the Hornli Route on the Matterhorn last week, taking advantage of the last good weather of the summer. As fall steps in, those light dustings of snow will begin to stick. But it’s not over yet!

We made it to the summit in a bit over 4 hours, proving how well acclimatized Catherine was. It was so nice that her brother Andrew was there at the same time. It is such a special peak, this one, evoking intense emotions after the colossal struggle to get to the summit. As the saying goes: No pain, no gain! And what a scene it is on this hill. The hut was full of guides and their clients. The sign read, “Breakfast at 4:30, depart for the summit at 4:49″! How’s that for precision? There were so many of us on the climb, but depending on where you were, you may have been alone or with others. Classic Matterhorn climbing!

The weather in the mountains this week has been mixed. It has really cooled off and the Bise was blowing. That made for a few really fine days of sailing on the lake!