Last week I have been to Cogne, Italy. Together with Bern
and in the second part of the week together with Jeroen I climbed some really
nice routes.
This was my 7th or 8th trip to Cogne in the last 3 years but
I never had been there that late in the season. The ice falls on the west side
of the valley, like Tuborg and Coyote,
were pretty degenerated already. They get the sun from about 10 AM and
with the warm spring temperatures over day, the avalanche risk (wet snow
avalanches) rises dramatically during the day. On the other hand, the ice falls
on the opposite side are still really fat! Lots of ice, almost no sun and
overall not very cold (-3 in the morning in the first part of the week and
-9/-10 in the second part.
We started our ice climbing week with some routes WI 4/W5
just to make a lot of metres in the ice and as a good preparation for harder
routes. First day we climbed Tuborg (WI 4/5). Nice steep ice, but not too
difficult. Bernd did a very good lead on it!
Me on the second pitch, nice wall
At 10.00 AM we were back at the bottom of the route and we
switched to the other side of the valley. We continued on the nice pillar of
Tutto e Relativo (WI 4). It was my fifth time that I climbed that route, it is
a really nice one. After topping out we saw that the eau de cristeau icefall
was also in condition and we continued on that wall for another 2 pitches.
Great day! And of course we finished with a cappucino in the bar Licone in
Cogne.
Next day we made the long walk into the Valnontey to climb
Erfaulet, WI 5. Cool route with really fat ice! After a short ice section you
have to walk steep snow for at least 100m to reach the belay on the right. The
start of the crux pitch. The start is not too difficult but after 30 metres it
gets really steep (vertical). Because of rope drag Bernd made a nice belay on
the left and I followed. Cool climbing and it was up to me to finish the crux
for another steep 15 metres. Cool climbing.
The last pitch was some good ice again, not very steep though. The final
belay is on the left, in between some rocks and not very obvious.
Bernd on the steep part of Erfaulet, he traversed to the left and made a belay on screws
Final pitch of Erfaulet!
We rappelled down and were back at the start at 12.00h. We
checked out Tradimento Direct (WI6) but there was a huge crack over the full
length of the pillar, did not look very good. Repentance looked very good, also
Monday Money.
We decided to walk back and climb Patri, the all time
classic waterfall of Cogne. We hoped that there would not be too much people,…
but we were wrong. When we arrived at 13.00h there were still maybe 15 people
around… anyway, we climbed the initial pitches and then the left hand
variation. On the right hand variation there was a lot of slow motion climbing
activity going on, very very slow. After waiting for 30 minutes we decided that
cappucino was more important than that final pitch…
Bernd on the left hand variation
Next day we had a rather short day, because we were a bit
tired and next day Jeroen would arrive and we thought it would be good to have
a fresh start all together. So Bernd and I climbed the first two pitches of the
Cold Couloir, a lot of ice, two pitches of more than 50meteres each, nice
climbing.
second pitch of cold couloir
Next day we decided to climb Hard Ice Direct (WI6), one of
the harder routes in Cogne. The pillar looked solid but steeper than last year.
Bernd did a very good lead on the first pitch and it was up to me to climb the
pillar. The start was a bit wet but the ice features were great. Good hooking,
twisting turning, like rock climbing. After 10 metres you get on the front of
the pillar and then it goes very very steep for 15 metres up!! Hooks and holds
were good, but it was very steep for a lot of metres. It was great to climb the
pillar again! I think I climbed it very solid.
First Bernd and then Jeroen followed on the pillar. It was great
fun to be out there together. On top of the pillar we decided to climb the
route on top as well, it’s called hard ice in the rock, WI4. Jeroen lead all
the three pitchtes up. We found no real belays but only Abalakovs every 60
metres. Nice climbing up there.
hard ice direct on the approach! we were the first - as it should be!
Geared up and ready to go!
Bernd on pitch 1
Bernd makes the traverse to the right!
First metres on the pillar, traversing out, than back to climb inside for a few metres...
here you can see the nice features of ice...
and back again, up for another metre and than to the left on the pillar up for 15 metres...
oh yes, steep ice as we like it!
Great shot from Jeroen, Jeroen was rappeling down after we finished hard ice in the rock, there was this Italian climber on the pillar... impressive!
beautiful picture of hard ice direct with nice sun, golden rock and blue ice!
Next day we climbed Stella Artice, WI5. It was my third
ascent of Stella and like the times before it was pretty demanding for the
grade – steep, good holds for axes and feet but nog always solid and you had to
be careful with screw placement. I climbed it solid and Bernd and Jeroen
followd. After the pillar there are two more ice pitches. Nowadays there are
some bolted belays which I did not find the last time when we had been there.
Anyway, cool climbing again.
Start of the first pitch
Bernd on pitch 1 of Stella
Start of the first pitch
Bernd on pitch 1 of Stella
Jeroen on the last wall of Stella!
Stella Artice around noon! Still no sun!
Stella to the left and to the rigth Inachevee Inception
On the last day Jeroen and Bernd climbed the cold couloir. I
spent a relaxed day in the appartement because I had some back issues again since
I had to make a jump the day before to avoid some pieces of ice falling down. I
am getting 40 next week and minor health issues sometimes occur. But overall I
had a great week again in Cogne!
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