Yesterday I
returned back home after spending a week of climbing in the Valais area of Switzerland
together with my brother Peter. Since about 5 years we’re used to climb
together. We already climbed a lot of rock routes in the Bergell but also some ice routes in winter. This year
he wanted to climb some higher peaks and the weather forecast was ok. So we
drove to Switzerland.
Our main
target was the Schali ridge on the Weisshorn. It is a long rock route on one of
the most impressive mountains in the area (4505m). To get to the start at the
route you first have to walk up 1600m from Zermatt to the Rothorn hut. The next
day you cross the Schalihorn (3972m) to get into the nice bivouac at the bottom
of the ridge. So, actually, you need at least 2,5 nice days. It is very
exposed, not easy to access and the climb itself is on good rock with a long
descent down the east ridge.
The weather
forecast was good until Wednesday with detoriation of weather conditions
thereafter. We were not yet acclimatized and therefore we spent one night on the Grimsel
pass on our way down to the Valais. We did some nice rock climbing in Meiringen
in the late afternoon to compensate the long sitting activities… The next day
we walked up to the hut to start very early on Tuesday morning to walk to the
bivouac. We were quite slow, I did not feel very well (altitude??). If you are
on top of the Schalihorn, you are half way. Just below the summit the snow
conditions on the 40 degree slope got really bad. It was blowing very hard and
some clouds started to come in. We did not expect so much wind and the next day
they predicted more wind. We thought that this is not a real good combination
and decided to return. The trip itself to the Schalihorn was really cool, no
people, we felt really alone in one of the most busiest climbing areas of the
Alpes, so we had a good day.
the Weisshorn on the right, the Schali ridge is the line that comes from the left, we went up to the Schalihorn which is the top to the left of the Weisshorn.
Zinalrothorn,
4221m
The next
day we climbed the Zinalrothorn, 4221m. This is a great peak for good rock
climbing on high altitude. Usually the rock is very loose in the Valais, but at
some peaks the climbing is nice. It took us 4 hours for the ascent. We stood on
top at 8.30 in the morning, great views, especially to the north face of the
Matterhorn,…. This was Peters first 4000m peak, great job.
Peter close to the gabel
close to the summit
desending the rocky coloir at the start of the route
After a
fast descent, we had some great cake and a coffee on the hut. We went down to
Zermatt to take a restday. A long day with 1000m ascent and 2600m descent to
the tourist hell of Zermatt. Funny thing was that you can’t see the top of the
Zinalrothorn during the approach to the hut. So Peter was wondering how the
mountain he climbed would look like… so we went down to the campground in Taesch
and from there we got a first good view on our mountain…
Zinalrothorn seen from the campground
Facts: AD, 1000m
from the hut, 4-6 hours climbing, rock up to 3a, good climbing left of the couloir
to get into the notch. a 50m rope, some slings a very small set of friends are
good. There are a lot of bolts on the short 3a section (not really necessary
because that section would be easy to protect with nuts and friends, anyway). More
than 10 years ago I climbed the north ridge from the Mountet hut, this is a
great ascent line as well!
Weissmies,
4017m.
We went up
to the Hohsaas hut by cable car, no walking with heavy back packs, yeah… early
next morning we walked to the Lagginjoch where the north ridge of the Weissmies
starts.
beautiful sunrise on Taeschhorn and Dom...
Last year I walked on my own into that notch for soloing the south
ridge of the Lagginhorn. The north ridge of the Weissmies is a bit longer and
more difficult. There are some towers on that ridge, some of them you climb
directly and others you sneak around to avoid the difficulties.
tthe lower part of the ridge
enjoying the mountains
the upper part of the ridge
the last meters...
The rock is
usually good but you have to be careful in the more fragile parts of the ridge…
we climbed all the ridge on a running belay technique. Just the 4a section we
belayed in the classical way. There are some bolts and the crack is easy to
protect with a few friends up to 0.75. After that crux pitch the ridge
continues, continues, continues….. it is quite long. After the rocky section
you got a last part of snow and ice to get to the summit. A really nice route! After 4,5 hours on the ridge we topped out! Peters second 4000m peak. We
descended on the north west slopes.
Facts: AD+,
long ridge of rock, snow and ice, take a small rack of friends and a few slings
with you and enjoy this easy accessible route .
Thank you for sharing this valuable knowledge.
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