Blog Posts in Category: Alpinism

After arriving in Arolla we decided to make the most of a weather window by heading straight up to the Cabane des Vignettes with the aim of climbing the Pigne d’Arolla on the next day. The weather on the walk up was stunning but it was very hot, and with the combination of the excessive heat and altitude I really struggled on the ascent. Thanks to some encouragement from our friends we continued, and thankfully as we got onto the glacier it clouded over which provided some respite from the heat. After an excellent evening in the hut, followed by the best hut breakfast I have experienced (bacon, scrambled egg and pancakes) we started the climb up the Pigne d’Arolla the next morning. The route is meant to be an easy snow plod, but due to the very hot summer there was a short section which was steep, bare glacial ice. As we were four on a rope we pitched the ice on the way up and down to ensure that we were safe. After the icy section the rest of the route was straightforward snow where we were able to. Read the full article…

Prior to my trip out to the alps I started doing some research into alternative plans due to the poor alpine conditions. During this research I stumbled across the Salbit, a peak in central Switzerland which has three major ridges which all provide excellent climbs of varying difficultly. In addition to the major ridges, there are numerous other multi pitch routes. Due to a week of poor weather dumping a considerable amount of snow on the high alpine peaks, we decided to stay low and do some multi-pitch rock climbing instead. The obvious destination was to head to the Salbit and attempt the classic Sudgrat, a 600m long granite ridge, and top out on the summit needle. Due to the weather window we had we decided to walk up to the Salbit hut early in the morning before heading out to climb a 13 pitch ridge which is above the hut, called the Hüttengrat. Hüttengrat, Gemsplanggenstock We competed the walk in very quickly, shaving an hour off the 2h30 book time. While we were walking in there were fantastic atmospheric views, unfortunately the atmospheric views did not continue and shortly. Read the full article…

Due to a last minute change of plan I ended up joining Becky and David on their alps trip. As they had just spent a week in the Monte Rosa this provided a challenge due to my lack of acclimatisation. For the past few years I have always acclimatised reasonably slowing, which meant I had no idea how well I would cope with going up high quickly. As we had a four day weather window Becky and I decided to head up into the Bernese Oberland from Fiesch and climb some mountains while heading to the Jungfraujoch train station where we were going to meet Dave to climb the Mönch and Jungfrau. This enabled me to get up high, but while staying relatively low at 2850m. Day 1: Fiesch to Konkordia Hut The first day involved a long glacier walk up the Aletsch Glacier to the Konkordia hut at 2850m. The Aletsch Glacier is the largest glacier in the Alps, and walking up it certainly made us feel very small and insignificant while we were surrounded by such a large expanse of ice. The walk up the glacier seemed to take. Read the full article…

After an aborted attempt at the Rimpfischhorn due to conditions which were more similar to Scottish winter due to hill fog, a freezing wind and plenty of fresh snow with some dangerous windslab. We arrived back in the valley too late to start a long walk in to a hut which left our options fairly limited. In order to make the most of a brilliant weather window we decided to head up to the Hohsaas hut with the intention of having a look at the North Ridge of the Weissmies, although this was potentially a bit more optimistic due to the amount of snow around and not having any condition reports from the ridge. We woke up to a fantastic morning with cold air and a clear sky, this enabled us to make very quick progress up to the Lagginjoch. After the approaches to the Rimpfischhorn and the Aiguille d’Argentière it was great to have a short approach to a route, rather than a long slog. The sunrise over Italy was fantastic and provided some great light over the Saas mountains. It was a freezing morning and we initially started climbing. Read the full article…