The following is an account of an amazing week mountaineering in the Valais Alps this August, with my climbing buddy Giles Ruck, which included:
- 12 4000m+ tops.
- 7 major 4000m peaks: Breithorn, Castor, Lyskamm, Pyramide Vincent, Signalkuppe, Dufourspitz and Nordend.
- 3 classic AD routes.
- 5 nights sleeping at, or above, 3400m and one night at 4500m in the highest building in Europe.
For an extended set of pics on flickr, please go to the end of the article for the link.
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Day 1 (Saturday):
Fly to Geneva, train to Aigle, picked up by Giles who had finished his IML summer assessment a few hours earlier. Drive to Stalden, find a motel, eat, sleep!
Day 2 (Sunday):
The morning consisted of Breakfast, faffing with kit, drive to the local station, more faffing to find a place to leave car, train to Zermatt, a milk float across town to the Klein Matterhorn cable car, up the cable car, a bit more kit faffing and finally ready to start on the Breithorn at about 1pm!
We enjoyed a quick romp up the Breithorn, which was very easy despite quite soft snow and a small river at one point and best of all no altitude effects. We then descended and made our way round to the Val d’Ayas hut.
No sooner had we arrived at the hut, than we bumped into 2 IFMGA Guides I know from my home area – Phil Dowthwaite and Owain Jones, affectionately known (by themselves!) as the Morecambe Massif; both doing the ‘spaghetti Tour’ with a group of english clients, two of whom were also from the Chester area – it never ceases to amaze me what a small world this is! We were then in the same huts as these guys each night which made for a nice social side to the trip.
The Val d’Ayas was a nice traditional hut, though busy, with small dorm rooms and our own bunk beds. The only down side to the hut being the continental style, hole in the floor, toilets.
Day 3 (Monday):
Woke to poor visibility with some people getting up just after 4 am despite a short day on offer!
We luxuriated a bit longer in bed and had a very leisurely breakfast and faff time, meaning we were just about the last to leave by some margin. Despite that, by the time we started up the flank of Castor we had overtaken most people and overhauled our Brit-Guide buddies on the ascent itself thanks to their being very accommodating in letting us through. We met on the summit again and Owain gave us very helpful info to assist our navigation down the other side in what was now typical Scottish winter conditions i.e. very poor visibility! We romped down the other side and were in the Quintino Sella hut before lunchtime – great for eating and a bit of rest, bad for boredom and wanting to get on with it!
We really wanted to do the Lyskamm traverse the next day but with fresh snow forecast overnight and the likelihood of strong winds it just wasn’t on. None of the guides were risking it, so there was no way we were going to try. We looked at the guidebook and decided that we would have a go at the South ridge of Lyskamm if the weather wasn’t too bad as it is mainly a rock ridge with the option of coming back down it if the snow was bad on top. So, satisfied we would have a crack at Lyskamm, we went to bed with the snow coming down outside.
Day 4 (Tuesday):
The early morning was not promising, some fresh snow lying around, cloud lingering and a strong wind still blowing but we kept the faith in the forecast which had promised the wind would abate. To that end, we had another leisurely start and once again caught up to most people by the time we needed to start the ascent of Il Naso – a stepping stone for us, but the main event for most people on the hill. A queue had formed on the steep direct route, so we chose to follow the alternative rising traverse which we spied a few people taking. As we progressed, we could see the two teams in front of us stopped and apparently unwilling/unable to go further on the traverse line. On approaching, it appeared that there was a very icy section and no-one fancied it.
After some deliberation, Giles and I decided to dispense with the traverse (and the issues of trying to get round people) and take route 1 - a direct line up the icy slope to the crest. I placed a screw and Giles clipped onto it and belayed me as I set off up a section of hard ice at around 55O. The crampons and my technical axe bit well but the mountaineering axe took a bit of whacking to get a firm placement and I found my first ice climbing experience at 4000m a pretty tiring one! After about 30m, the ice was becoming more nevé like, so I placed a belay screw and brought Giles up to lead on through. About 15m further up he reported easier going on good nevé, so we took the decision to carry on together. I stripped the belay and we progressed fairly quickly but breathlessly to an easing of the slope near the summit plateau, whereupon we stood gasping until recovered enough to walk up and onto the summit, passing our Brit-friends just coming back off it. Our proximity to them told us that our decision to take an alternative route was justified as we had leapfrogged another few crews.
At this stage, our route took us on over the summit and down a steep and narrow rock/snow edge to the snow col at the bottom of our route, the Cresta Sella or South Ridge. The col was a short but narrow snow arête followed by a short section of mixed before what looked like clear, dry rock for the majority of the ridge until just the junction with the East Ridge. We decided to dispense with crampons –a good move in the conditions – and made steady progress upwards through a series of steps which at first looked intimidating but always provided a steady route. The guide book indicated that steps should be taken on the left but we took a variety of routes sometimes left, sometimes right, sometimes direct. The rock quality deteriorated quickly away from the crest so we tried to stay close to it whenever possible, also using crampon scratches as a guide to the most used route.
As we approached the top we had a short section of steep snow/ice and a small cornice to negotiate so crampons went back on at this stage and Giles led on over the edge and onto the E ridge where a left turn up the snow arête (quite broad at this point) to a narrow section and a final rock step brought us onto the summit and real sense of satisfaction – we had done this on our own, the only people to take on the challenge that day and had the summit to ourselves as we pondered the next decision – which way down?
To retrace our steps was doable, if much less pleasant than the ascent, and indeed the guide states this is the safest way off the mountain in poor conditions and would take quite a while once the descent of Il Naso was factored in. The alternative was to descend the classic and (in)famous E ridge snow arête. The guide describes it as “... a sensational knife edge ... good balance and steady nerves are essential”! We looked at it and decided it was in reasonable condition and that we should give it a go – we also had the knowledge that a couple of people had successfully completed it that day because we had seen them from the Cresta Sella.
After a gentle start, the ridge lives up to its reputation, being as wide as a gymnastics beam in places and requiring several steps from one side of the crest to the other and a very short section requiring side stepping on steep, softish snow. However it does relent slightly in between the trickiest bits and I actually started to enjoy it -whilst still wanting it to end! It took us an hour to gain the Lisjoch - the col at the start/end of the ridge – well under guidebook time of 1.5-2hr and much faster than the descent of the Cresta Sella would have been. Even better, we now had only about an hour of easy snow plodding to reach the Gnifetti hut (which we did in less) and still overtook parties who had taken the standard Il Naso route on the final approaches, arriving in time to get a late lunch and bask in the cosy glow of satisfaction that comes from one of those days where everything – weather, decision making, movement - all clicks to make a memorable outing.
The Gnifetti hut proved to be another solid hut with small dorms and decent food (the usual hole toilet unfortunately) and we enjoyed a pleasant, but tired, evening.
Day 5 (Wednesday):
After a very poor sleep, we settled into our usual relaxed morning hut routine as a beautiful day dawned with super cloud inversions. This day was set to be a day of peak bagging, all fairly easy technically, but with a lot of ascent culminating in the Margherita hut at 4500m on top of Signalkuppe. The route is known as the ‘traverse of the tops’ but we were also adding Pyramide Vincent (an independent 4000m peak) to the agenda. Within 10 minutes of starting the slog up the glacier I could tell I was jaded for the first time on the trip and that this was going to be a long, tough day. Even so, we still moved faster than everyone else as we peeled off to get to the col for the final ascent slopes up Vincent. Gaining the col, we were rewarded by some amazing, picture postcard views of the hills on the Italian side in the early morning mists and cloud. Vincent was despatched easily enough and we luxuriated on the summit in the sunshine just drinking in the breathtaking scenery before forcing ourselves to move on and down to the col, thence rejoining the ‘traverse’ trail and completing the Balmenhorn - not really a top but it does have a bivi hut and a statue of Jesus on its rocky top so worth a visit - Corno Nero, Ludwigshohe, a snow arête traverse of Parrotspitze which I found particularly hard going on the uphill stretch due to my tiredness and finally the long slog up to the summit of Signalkuppe and the hut. Despite my tiredness, I was satisfied to see that we were coping with the altitude better than most, keeping up a steady plod whilst most parties were in that start/stop mode of people unable to get enough breath to keep going.
The Margherita hut is quite an edifice, perched on the summit of Signalkuppe, the 4th highest summit in the Alps, with room for 80 people - all of whom can be fed a 3 course meal in the evening! There is no water there except bottled water and in the toilets (yes you guessed it – more holes) I learnt one possible origin of the phase “shitty stick”! There were quite a few people here struggling a little with the altitude but no-one I saw developing full blown AMS. Surprisingly, even at this height we had individual bunk beds rather than the classic alpine platform. Separate beds seem to be bit of a feature of Italian huts, which I like. The views at sunset from here simply defy description!
Day 6 (Thursday):
Despite the altitude I had a better sleep, which was just as well because this was to be our biggest day yet, hopefully bagging the Dufourspitze the crowning glory of the Monte Rosa massif and second highest peak in the Alps at 4634m and finishing with Nordend(4609m) the third highest.
The day started with the short, steep descent to the col below the hut, followed by a traverse of Zumsteinspitze, a subsidiary peak. This involved a fairly straightforward ascent but a very scary snow arête down the north side!
This was, if anything, narrower than the E ridge of Liskamm and steeper at its crux but thankfully this was short. There then followed a tricky mixed descent to the col of the Grenzsattel. One move in particular, the final one before gaining the snow arête of the col, involved lowering over an overhang in hope and anticipation that there would be something for my feet as I got lower, which fortunately there was! This was followed by more snow arête, rising this time which I find much easier, before arriving at the base of our main objective – the SE ridge.
This involved some superb mixed climb up the crest of the ridge to the Grenzgipfel, with a slabby section in the middle – we had heard this was a bit tricky and poorly protected but in the event I found it straightforward and great fun.
The final section from the Grenzgipfel to the summit involved a tricky traverse to summit - mainly due to a couple of tricky downclimbs with much air beneath them – passing the descent route with its rope, on the way, but finally we had made it, the high point of the whole expedition, in amazing conditions. Whilst relaxing at the summit a voice near me suddenly said “Is that Andy?” and I turned to see Dave Kenyon, a British Mountain Guide, with whom I have done some routes, with a group from Martin Moran, and as we spoke another head popped over and it was Andy Teasdale just summiting with another client from Martin –and as we chatted and drank and ate a little on the summit it felt almost like a Brits tea party! It transpired that they were also going to summit Nordend before descending back to the Monte Rosa hut – a very long day for them as ascent of Dufour alone is around 8hr from the Monte Rosa hut.
So, in a bit of a line we made our descent via rope to Silbersattel, completed the snow arête and rock step ascent of Nordend our final peak before starting the long descent via crevassed glaciers and loose rock to Monte Rosa hut, the latter part of which was fairly unpleasant in our tired state of mind.
Once at the hut we tucked into a celebration lunch of Rosti and Rivella, whilst steeling ourselves for long dash out to get the Gornergratt train to Zermatt. If we thought the fun and trickery were over however, we were forced to re-appraise as we crossed a horribly crevassed dry glacier, ascended long ladders, rickety bridges and completed a final uphill route march to gain the station with 15 mins to spare - phew!
From then on, things finally quietened down and we gradually made our way down the valley, collected the car and Giles manfully drove us back to Chamonix and our bed for the night in his father-in-law’s chalet.
Extendecpicture set here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/shandyd05/sets/72157635363612918/
