Cogne

the pre-christmas kick-off of the ice climbing season 2013-2014 took place in Cogne, Italy. We had five great climbing days in the Valnontey and Valleile.
After our arrival on the first day we did some climbing in the first pitch of the Lillaz Gully, WI 4. It was a beautiful afternoon with clear skies and some winter sun.

nice warm sun!

Next day we walked into the Valleile for climbing Patri. The first pitch was very wet. Gloves and ropes were wet and frozen immediately. The ice was pretty good. After two easier pitches we were at the start of the real climbing. The left hand variant was good on the far left. Normally you can climb the whole upper part in one 60m pitch, but now I made belay after 30m on a bolted belay left to the exit gully. The last 25m were really nice climbing. After that I started to climb the right hand variant but too much water was coming down... i made a Abalakov and rappelled down. A great day out!!!


Patri, first pitch


third pitch, good ice!



Next day we went into the Valleile and climbed Tutto Relativo and the crystal pillar to the right. Tutto relativo was really interesting climbing. We had 10cm of fresh snow and the ice in the first easy pitch was completly rotten. One bad ice screw was all i could place on the 50 metres. But the climbing was not difficult - so it was ok.

The pillar of Tutto Relativo was still quite thin early in the season. It had been warm the last days and the freshly formed ice structures were far from solid. It took quite a while to find good hooks and spots to place protection - interesting. The last pitch was nice again. We rappelled down the route because walking down on the other side was steep and we were not sure about slides with all the fresh snow. After that route we did some climbing more to the left. an again, great day outdoors!


attack on the pillar of Tutto Relativo...


Cristallo, WI4+

On our third day we climbed the Lillaz Gully, great ambience, in the far background Mont Blanc, and in the gully a lot of mixed climbing. the upper three pitches were really thin. That made the climbing really interesting. lots of fun.


views on Mont Blanc




first pitch of the Lillaz Gully




















climbing the first pitch...


looking down the first pitch, thin ice...




the upper part
















start of the second pitch, loads of snow...



nice mixed climbing in the narrow gully...

third pitch, tricky...

The last day we walked to the Lauson ice fall for some exercises... just a short session, because we had to drive back.....


Lauson

note: please be careful with the avalanches in both valleys! and please keep in mind that on the east side of both valleys with e.g. Coyote and Tuborg in the Valleile and Lauson in the Valnontey the sun already arrives at 11.00h! Please carefully assess the risk of icefall!

nice exercise

yesterday with Miel some good drytool and wood exercise

Chamonix

Last week I have been to Chamonix, our plan was to climb some alpine routes around the Mont Blanc du Tacul. But I did not feel really good, some fever, tired, headache.... so I decided not to climb on altitude and in the cold. First with Bernd and then with Miel we did some nice drytooling around Chamonix.

First day I went to Servoz and Bernd and I did some easier drytool pitches. The guy from the OHM told us to go there but the first pitch of the multipitch routes would be a bit muddy, oh yes, he definitely was right... anyway, it was a good introduction into drytooling.


Bernd in Servoz

Next day I went with Miel to le Fayet, quite big drytool area with real overhanging sections, the easiest routes are M6/6c, but good bolted. We lead climbed one route and then toperoped that route a few times. After 2 hours we were pretty exhausted, great exercise!







 drytooling in Le Fayet

On monday I felt a bit better and we decided to go to Aosta and the Chabod refuge to climb the northface of the Gran Paradiso. It was a really nice walk in to the hut, real autumn colours, warm sun and after 1 hour first look on the face. Stupid thing was that after 2,5 hours walking to the hut I felt sick again.... luckily next day there was bad weather and snow, so it wasn't too bad that I could'nt climb... we drove back to Cham and spent the rest of the week with some drytooling.


Gran Paradiso



next morning

 drytooling in La Fayet

ice climbing season is opened!

Last friday and saturday I have been to The Hague for work. In the Globe there is a big outdoor shop and the climbing gym as well. Special feature is the indoor ice wall - a huge refrigerator produces a 12m ice wall. With a self belaying device you can do a non stop exercise with your own ice axes and crampons. It was great to hear the sound of my ice axes again.
After 1,5 hours and about 30 climbs I totally climbed more than 300m of ice - great exercise and nice preparation for winter climbing.

more info about the indoor ice climbing on http://www.bever.nl/icewall

rock climbing

Well, summer is almost gone, we are at home again and to be honest I’m already planning for the ice climbing season...

Last weeks were great. Together with Marieke I went to the Frankenjura and to the Dauphine again. We had not been in the Frankenjura this year. Last two springs we had been to the Bavarian climbing Nirvana for a few times. Already after our first visit back in 2011 we knew we would come back. The whole package is great: there are a few thousand routes on several hundred rocks in a very quite and nice forest/lower hill- region. The rock is most of the time steep and fingery, the easier routes are mostly poor equipped and have to be protected by yourself. The harder routes normally see more bolts but it can be pretty demanding. Beside that climbing specific features – the Frankenjura is a good place to be because of the hospitality of the people, good food for an affordable prize and most of all – all smaller villages have their own brewery…. What else do you need?

We spent our first week in Freienfels on the very low profile campground Waldmühle… no 4 star swimming pool, just the backyard of the old watermill. An old school campground.

First day we went to the Treunitzer Wand. A small climbing area with about 20 routes between UIAA 4 and 7-. Nice warm up. We went there by bike and checked out one of the breweries… I ordered a beer and got half a litre – yeah. Next day my brother and his girl-friend arrived as well and we went to the Treunitzer Klettergarten. A larger area with plenty of routes in the lower grades. We checked out a pretty hard 7+, pure fun!

 Marieke climbing on the Treunitzer Wand

 cycling before the beer was ok, afterwards was interesting...

 at the brewery

 At the Treunitzer Klettergarten

Another great spot is the Rote Wand close to Kleinziegenfeld. A really impressive wall with on the right a few classic routes. We climbed the old direct south face, steep and long! After that we did some nice attempts in “brothers in arms” UIAA 8. Good and steep with a boulderproblem halfway. There are a few more really interesting routes rated 8- till 8+, they look really good and I definitely will come back. To the right are easier routes, Peter did some good leadclimbing there.

 the classic south face of the Rote Wand...

 Sarah working here way up in "brothers in arms"

Another great spot are the Obere Schlossbergwände close to Gössweinstein. We went there twice. After two attemps I redpointed my first 6c+/UIAA 8-, the route is called Ulala and has a fingery start and in combination with the small roof in the middle it is a nice route. two weeks later we met a guy who opened these routes, by the way, we met him in the Dauphine...

 excellent climbing on the Obere Schlossbergwände

After 10 days the weather got bad and we drove to the south – to the Dauphine. I was really happy to go there. In the last 5 years I visited the Dauphine every year for alpine and sports climbing. The southern climate and the French culture are almost a “must have” in the summer! We went to the camp ground in La Roche de Ram, about 20 minutes to the south of Briancon in de Durance valley. 

The biggest ice axe of the world.... in Argentiere, well, a bit heavy if you need two of them for steep ice....

We went to the climbing areas of Freissnieres, les Traverses and most of the time we ended up at the Rocher Baron. The quartzite rock is very solid and the routes are really good bolted. That makes it easier for Marieke to do some leadclimbs as well. Most of the routes are in the lower grades but in the second sector you can find some hard routes between 6c and 7c+. I redpointed a few 6c’s and a 6c+ and almost catched my first 7a. Good workouts up there in the sun and the wind. Great.

 the Tete 'd Aval, impressive south face. the "rank xerox" is a pretty cool route through the center of the wall, maybe next year...

 Marieke at Rocher Baron...

 mission possible, 6c+ redpoint at Rocher Baron

 working in the overhanging 7a sections, really cool

Valais - Switserland

Last week a small disturbance brought some rain and snow... we planned to climb the Scheideggwetterhorn but we expected the route to be wet... so we decided to go to the Valais and try to make the Täschhorn-Dom-traverse.
We first went up to the Britanniahut. It still was raining on 2800m when we arrived.


 on the way to the hut...

Next morning we started at 3.30h for the ascent of the Allalinhorn (4000m plus). It is an easy climb but still 1000m from the hut to the summit. We were pretty fast, other parties kept behind and we were the first to summit that day on 7.15h. The sunrise was exceptional (and the wind as well). It was pretty cold for a "hot" summer day. But we enjoyed to be out there. We were half way, we went down on the other side, crossed the rock tower "feechopf" and climbed the Alphubel (4000m plus) via the SE-ridge. The ridge was in good conditions (no ice, only firn). At 10.00h we were on top with beautiful views on the other high peaks in the area...


on the Hohlaubgrat, views on Täschhorn, Dom and Lenzspitze

 
Stefan close to the "climbing crux"


Alphubel, Täschhorn, Dom

 
Close to the summit of the Alphubel


the Mischabeljoch biwak attached to the North ridge of the Alphubel

We went down on the north ridge to arrive at 12.30 in the Mischabeljoch biwak... a very exposed biwak hut in the col between Alphubel and Täschhorn. The biwak is a really good starting point for the Täschhorn southridge and the traverse to the Dom.
We relaxed a bit, made some coffee with my jetboil and checked out the route we would climb next morning in the dark. There was still a lot of snow on the ridge and this ridge is faced south. We were in doubt about how the conditions would be on the north ridge of the Täschhorn where we would have to descent to reach the top of the Dom. The rock up there is really loose and slabby.... with snow on it things get pretty interesting....
Next morning we started at 4.30h and after one hour we got first light and after two hours we catched first sunlight. We were fast and other parties were far below.... Great.... there was a strong wind all day and at 8.00 we reached the top of the Täschhorn....


great sunrise, Stefan climbing on easy grounds, you don't see the wind on the picture :-)



a very long ridge...



 looking to the south east with sunrise on the Matterhorn (left) and Weisshorn (right)


on the middel section


climbing close to the summit



on top!


the traverse to the Dom...

We checked out the start of the traverse, a lot of snow and the wind gusts were even getting stronger.... we decided that this was a bad combination, the traverse normally takes 5 hours, another 4 hours to reach the Dom hut and another 3 hours to go down to the valley.... in these conditions the traverse can take 8 or 9 hours.... so we went down the ridge we climbed up. A bit disappointed but in the end the better decision!

Tessin - southern Switserland

Well, and this week as well the weather asks for patience and flexibility.... our initial plan was to climb the Niederman on "Graue Wand" in the Furka area but the weather got bad, so we drove south to the Tessin. Normally, the Tessin is a good climbing area almost all year round. The mild climate of the Lago Maggiore and the excellent climbing facilities makes this area a good place to be. In summer it is often too hot.
But if you want to climb and in the other areas is too much rain predicted you drive south, take some extra water with you and don't even think about complaining about the warmth.... shut up and climb :-)
Things are really interesting down there when it is hot. The typical routes are on slab and the friction under your climbing shoes correlates negatively with rising temperatures.... and again, shut up and climb :-)
First we climbed a classic route in the area: Speroni di Ponte Brolla. It's a worthwhile route on slabs in the lower part and the upper pillar get's pretty steep. The belays are well equipped and you will find a lot of bolts in between. We used a single rope (50m) and brought 10 quickdraws with us. We climbed the 11 pitches in about 3 hours... from the top of the pillar you walk back to the valley in an hour or so. We were back at 13.00h, took a swim and in the late afternoon we did some baseclimbs.


hardmover Nando on a "one finger problem":-)



in the late afternoon, some baseclimbs in Ponte Brolla with the "Speroni" in the background...

Next day we climbed Alhambra. The Alhambra is one  of the longest routes in the Tessin, 19 pitches (2 x 6b+, 2 x 6b, 2 x 6a+, 2 x 6a and a lot of slab pitches around 5b/5c. Together with the high temperatures (shut up....) it was a pretty demanding climb. It took us 7,5 hours to reach the top and another 1,5 hours to walk down again (including 6 abseils). The Alhambra is really good protected as well, we took 13 quickdraws with us.


6a slab in the upper headwall 



almost on top, Nando following in the last difficult pitch

Good topos and information about all climbing stuff in the Tessin area you can find in the Suisse Plaisir climbing guide "sud".

 

preparing for the next alpine climbing stuff - bought some new climbing shoes, after 3 years the "climbing zone" was almost gone, I bought the same LaSportiva shoe again, can you see difference....