My vertical world: Bietschhorn area

on sunday 21st of july we started our ascent to the Baltschiederklause (2783m). The hike starts in the Rhone valley in Ausserberg at 1200m. More than 10km and 1500m in altitude difference makes this hike one of the longest ascents in the alps. We started early in the morning to avoid the heat of the day. It was a really nice hike through a lonely valley. After 4 hours we got a first sight of our targets (Breithorn and Bietschhorn). After 5 hours we reached the hut.

the hut, next morning

Next day we wanted to climb a shorter route on the Breitlauihorn (passing the 3 towers and then continuing the south ridge and descend on the westridge). Early in the morning we obviously were not able to count to 3.... we started climbing up the first tower what later seems to be the summit of the "northern jegihorn", nice climbing in the upper part but much harder than the grade 3 rock climbing we expected. After downclimbing we reached the start of our original route... the rock was really loose... at 13.30 we reached the foot of the south ridge, the snow was already really warm and slushy... so we decided to go down...

On tuesday we started at 3 AM for climbing the Blanchet ridge on the Breithorn (3785m). After 2 hours walking we reached the foot of the ridge. The moon was shining, so the routefinding wasn't too difficult. There is still enough snow to go up the small glacier and to find your way up to the ridge.

We climbed the first pitches in the dark, at the first pitch I forgot to take the friends with me. After 40 m climbing in the light of my head torch I found a solid rock, put a sling around it - belay. In the next pitch Nando lead to the start of the ridge... we got the first light of a beautiful sunrise. routefinding got easier and we had beautiful views to the south. We were on track... if the first sunlights comes in and you know you are on the right way everything gets easier.... in the end, this kind of climbing takes place in your head... my head sometimes makes the night even darker than it actually is... but at that moment everything was bright!!!

second breakfast at 5 AM, powerbar is great!

the ridge...

sunrise in the south, on the right you can see the Weisshorn (4505m), on the left the Mischabelgroup

We continued on easy ground. After 1,5 hours on the ridge, the real climbing starts... only 4c rated, but it's alpine, climbing with a backpack, big shoes and a light climbing rack is demanding. You can not place protection every meter. After 5 meters I placed one friend in a good crack, climbed 10 meters to clip an old piton and after 40 meters I made belay on two friends.... The rock was really solid, a lot of structures in it, although I enjoy these pitches I am really careful after the "loose experience" the day before - you don't want to risk a fall....

catching the sun...

Nando leading on the ridge...

We continued the climbing, and the crux pitch came into sight: a steep and smooth slab with 5 bolts, free climbing 6a, but with our mountain boots we did not even discussed the way how we would climb it - artificially of course. Nando did his job really well: he used 60cm slings in the bolts as aiders.... in no time he was up on the belay and I followed....

the smooth slab....

The climbing got easier again, but there were some interesting pitches as well.... a very exposed traverse on the left side of the ridge and afterwards some pitches in really compact rock, not hard but technical....

The upper part of the ridge is quite loose, you must climb carefully to avoid rockfall... the last 100 meters you can continu on the loose rock or make a traverse to the right and continu climbing in the snow. We reached the long summit ridge of the Lötschentaler Breithorn at 13.30h. We started walking up to the summit, but we only made progress really slowly.... some darker clouds came in. We estimated that it would take another 1,5 hours to reach the summit - ok, let's go down. We did not want to get into a thunderstorm. So we turned around.

ok, let's go down...

The descent is interesting as well. First you walk to the Gredetschjoch (between Gredetschhorn and Nesthorn). With three abseils you reach the bottom of the Gredetschgletscher. Walk down to the south until the Baltschiederlicka (another col) comes into sight. Walk up again to reach this col and then please use the rock on the northern side of the couloir and don't do what we did (downclimbing the couloir itself). We reached the hut at 16.00h. A long but great trip, 13 hours roundtrip. The Blanchetridge is rated D, 4c and can ben climbed on mountain boots and with a small rack.

Next day the weather was predicted to be bad. So we decided just to climb a short route - traverse of the southern Jegihorn.... we started at 7.30h.... it was raining a bit and I was not in a good mood (a bit tired and the idea of climbing on wet rock was not really attractive). Funny thing is when your climbing partner is really optimistic about the weather and you start a nice discussion about if it is now raining or not :-) Of course, in the end Nando was right... the rock was climbable and we had a really good day out there.... we reached the summit at 12.30 or so.... we were back on the hut at 14.30h. We were hungry, the best thing you can do is to order a big rösti..... go to sleep.... get up for the diner at 6.30 and thereafter go to bed again....

Rösti attack, please don't ask about the price we paid....

At 3 AM next morning we got awake again for climbing the east spur of the Bietschhorn (3934m). We left the hut at 4 AM and reached the start of the spur at 6 AM. The glacier travel is easy at the moment (no crevasses) and you can reach the spur without bigger problems. We had some snow/rain during the first hour but it was ok. The mountain itself was in the clouds all day long... from 3600m onwards the clouds made the climbing really spooky.... for the climb itself try to stay on the ridge if possible. sometimes you have to climb a bit beside it, but the rock is immediatley getting bad....

sunrise on the Bietschhorn on monday on our way up to the Breitlauihorn... the east spur is the long ridge from the summit coming down to the left and front...

on the ridge....

Nando gives a rope command ... :-)

looking back...

the climb is long but not really difficult, a few sections are rated UIAA IV, but it is really ok... We reached the summit at 10.30h, in this case you really are half way. The descent on the westridge is really really long.... I soloed the west ridge 4 years ago and the only thing I remembered was that it is long and loose.... I was a bit disappointed because I couldn't remember the exact details of the descent. At the start of the descent we were not really sure where to downclimb - the clouds made it really difficult. After a short look on the map we continued and found some tracks.... after 4 hours downclimbing, scrambling.... we were save. We went down to the Bietschhorn hut and stayed there for one night.