Swiss perimeter

July 15th

Start: Capanna Regina Margherita; finish: Refuge Monte Rosa (CAS)

Distance: 10,4 km
Time taken: 7 hours 10 minutes (plus 40 minutes for the stops)
Vertical distance: 400 m uphill, 2070 m downhill

Main summits:

Zumsteinspitze, 4452 m
Dufourspitze, 4634 m
Nordend, 4609 m

Euan and I left the hut at 5.20 a.m., heading for the Zumsteinspitze. Clear sky, cold wind.  Beautiful sunrise seen from this summit 20 minutes later.  The snow ridge connecting it with the Dufourspitze was a real knife-edge, the narrowest we had ever seen, some 200 metres requiring genuine tightrope walker skills.  I just looked at the next step without looking down into the abyss on either side!

Very pleasant climbing on good rock followed, with some snow fields. Half way up we witnessed a rescue operation first hand. About 7 a.m. a red Air Zermatt helicopter came and hovered over us, disappeared and came back moments later with a doctor/mountaineer dangling on a long rope. He was deposited next to a group of 3 climbers less than 20 metres from us.  Next, two of the climbers were attached to the large hook at the end of the rope and lifted off and away.  A few minutes later the helicopter came back and lifted off the doctor and an injured girl in a sort of stretcher. Amazing precision! We later learned that the climbers had spent all night waiting for their rescue.

More enjoyable climbing and scrambling took us to the top of the Dufourspitze, the highest mountain in Switzerland, about 300 m inside the frontier, at 8.20 a.m.  Later we climbed down some fixed ropes to the “Silbersattel” and did our third 4000-metre summit of the day, Nordend, which is the last of the big mountains of the Monte Rosa group.

Finally, a long plod down past interesting seracs and crevasses to the new Monte Rosa Hut with its striking shape and modern facilities.

Photos:

1. Sunrise seen from the Zumsteinspitze
2. One hour later

July 14th

Quintino Sella Hut to Margherita Hut
Distance: 10,6 km
Time taken: 7 hours 20 minutes.
Vertical distance: 1440 m uphill; 470 m downhill

Main summits:

Ludwigshōhe, 4341 m
Parrotspitze, 4432 m
Signalkuppe/Punta Gnifetti, 4554 m

We left the hut just before 5 a.m.  The next summit should have been the Lyskamm but other guides and the hut warden all said that nobody had done the traverse of the critical knife-edge ridge this year; also there was still a strong north wind over the ridges. So we had to bypass this summit.  This involves crossing Il Naso, a snow-covered spur going south from the Lyskamm.  Steep icy slope to get over it. Euan did well here, leading three 60-metre pitches with ice-screw belays.

The rest of the day was just plodding up snow fields. Beautiful snow ridges at the top of the first two of today’s summits. Clear weather, very windy on all the ridges, good hard snow mainly. Crampons worn all day, from hut to hut, same as yesterday.  The Italian-run Margherita Hut on the top of Signalkuppe is the highest mountain hut in the Alps.

Photos:

1. On Ludwigshöhe, Monte Rosa behind
2. Rifugio Margherita (CAI)

July 13th

Distance: 9,9 km
Time: 7 hours
Vertical distance:  1180 m uphill. 1420 m downhill

They did not want us to come so threw some bad weather at us, in the form of a very strong, cold north wind that nearly blew us off their summit ridges. First Pollux, then Castor, most impolite!
We left Klein Matterhorn at 4 a.m. Good hard snow, gusts of wind, but we were often sheltered on the Italian side. Reached the top of Pollux, 4092 m, by 7.15, then the top of Castor, 4223 m, by 9.45 and the Quintino Sella Hut by 11. Too cold to stop. Geo-Tracking did not work on Castor.

Photo:

Fixed rope on Pollux

July 12th

Total walking time:  4 hours 10 minutes.

Breakfast at 6.30 a.m.  Dave and I left the friendly Abruzzi hut just after 7, to reach Plan Maison in just under an hour. Here I left Dave and my rucksack and took the cable car down to Cervinia (Breuil), where I found the Guides’ Office, paid for Giorgio and thanked the lady for her efforts to get me an excellent guide.  Then back up to Plan Maison to continue to Testa Grigia with Dave and my rucksack.  From here we had to trudge up the ski pistes to Klein Matterhorn in hot sun and on soft snow, 1 hour 10 minutes.

At midday Euan arrived to take the place of Dave who left for Zermatt and beyond to have his foot examined properly.  With Euan we slowly went up the Breithorn, following a clear trail made by dozens of other climbers, mainly Italians.  It is Sunday and there must have been at least 200 people on the summit that day!  2 hours there and back, 410 m up.

We spent the night at the “refuge” at Klein Matterhorn: no warden, costly but well organised, with all facilities.

Photo:

On the summit of Breithorn

July 11th

Distance: 13,1 km
Time: 14 hours.
Vertical distance: 1850 m up and down. The Matterhorn is a big mountain!

We had arranged to meet at 3.30 a.m. Giorgio, the Italian guide arrived on a motorbike before 3 a.m., I heard him and got up for a quick cup of coffee with him.  Then off in the dark.  He spoke good French and turned out to be excellent.  About 45 years old, he knew every inch of the way, every short cut, every piton.  We made good progress and reached the summit at 10.15, having rested half an hour at the Carrel hut for a cup or two of tea.  There are many fixed ropes along the way where you must pull yourself up with your arms, which I found quite tiring. Good weather but a strong cold wind on the ridges. And a continuous ballet of sightseeing helicopters buzzing around the mountain, full of rich tourists.

Going down took about the same time as the guide was more cautious, or more tired?  At the fixed ropes, he lowered me down on a rope like a sack of potatoes – except that I had to stay fairly horizontal and put my feet in the right places.  This way saved time and was easier for me.  The whole climb was a unique and wonderful experience!

Meanwhile Dave had to hang around all day at the hut.  I was “rewarded” by being given a proper bed for the night.

Photos:

1. On the summit
2. and 3.  The guide Giorgio Cazzanelli

July 10th

Dave and I took the cable cars up to Klein Matterhorn (now called “Glacier Paradise”!), walked down to Testa Grigia in about 40 minutes and took more cable cars down to Plan Maison.  From here walked up to Rifugio Abruzzi in 75 minutes.  Then Dave found he had a problem in one foot, possibly stretched tendons, and could not continue.  So after much phoning I got a local Italian guide for tomorrow.  Abruzzi Hut very nice but we had to sleep on the floor because no beds left.

Photo:

With Dave Green in Zermatt

July 9th

Distance:  18,9 km
Time:  8 hours 30 minutes
Vertical distance: 530 m uphill, 2240 m downhill

Left the Bertol Hut at 5 a.m. and climbed up to the Tête Blanche with other groups doing Chamonix to Zermatt.  It had frozen that night and walking with crampons was a real pleasure.  So much so that we went on without stopping and were soon on the moraines of the Zmutt glacier below the Schönbiel Hut.  These were tedious but we emerged in the end onto paths leading to Zmutt and Zermatt, both of us quite footsore.  Dave took a train to Martigny to fetch his van from the Grand-St-Bernard tunnel entrance, while I had a pleasant afternoon and evening with Sally and Neil who had come up by train.

Night: Hotel Cima Garni, Zermatt

July 8th

Itinerary:  Bivouac de l’Aiguillette à la Singla – Col de l’Evêque – Plans de Bertol – Cabane de Bertol (3311 m)

Distance:  17,0 km
Time: 8 hours 30 minutes (plus 1 hour for the stops)
Vertical distance:  1370 m uphill; 1260 m downhill

Certain sections of frontier having been declared “out of bounds” or impossible or dangerous by the guides, my options are limited.  These sections include the Col du Mont Brulé, the Tiefmatttenjoch and the long east ridge of the Dent d’Hérens.  This means that the Dent d’Hérens would have to be climbed from the Rifugio Aosta, itself only accessible from the Col de Valpelline, with a return the same way, at a cost of at least 2 extra days.  So I reluctantly abandoned the idea of doing this summit, a pity as it would have been my first 4000-metre peak.  Instead, we would do the Matterhorn, from the Italian side as originally planned, because the normal Hörnli ridge on the Swiss side would have too many people climbing it.

Sadly,  we had done no more summits after Mont Vélan:  it is far too warm, nothing freezes at night; snow is soft, progress slow; stonefall danger; impossible to do anything serious in the afternoons.

We had 3 days without any mobile phone signal!  It was only at Plans de Bertol, above Arolla, that there was a signal, which allowed me to update the blogs.

July 7th

Start: Chanrion Hut;  finish: Bivouac de l’Aiguillette à la Singla (CAS), 3199 m
Distance: 11,5 km
Time taken:  6 hours
Vertical distance:  950 m uphill, 210 m downhill

We decide to go up to the Bivouac de l’Aiguillette in the hope of going to the border and climb a summit or two.  Left at 5 a.m.  To reach the Otemma glacier, the hut warden insisted that we must cross the river and climb fairly high on the south side of the valley.  But after a while, there were no more cairns and we had to work our way down scree and moraines to get to the valley floor again.  This lost us at least 30 minutes.  Another group did the same as us, others stayed on the right bank (north side) without problems.  Further along the Otemma glacier, we turned right and reached the bivouac by climbing ledges full of scree and steep snow slopes.

In the afternoon we cross the small glacier to reach the Col d’Otemma, 3209 m.  Snow very soft and we can do neither of the two neighbouring peaks.  No mobile network either.  Return trip of 3.5 km and 180 m height difference, 1 1/2 hours.  Very comfortable bivouac hut; great views; thunderstorm at night.

July 6th

We had not thought far enough ahead.  The way over Col Valsorey into Italy would take us down over 1000 metres; the passage via Col du Sonadon was very dangerous because of frequent stonefalls (and accidents) on the Plateau du Couloir.  The only escape was to descend to Bourg-St-Pierre and use road transport.  This we did: we covered the 5 km to the trailhead in 1 hour 40 minutes.  Yves Stettler kindly picked us up and took as to the next valley where he had organised a taxi to take us past the Mauvoisin dam and lake. This road is only allowed for taxis and takes about an hour.  I had hoped to go up to the Fenêtre de Durand and possibly climb Mont Avril in the afternoon.  However, we were dropped close to the Chanrion Hut at about 1 p.m. and supper there was announced for 6.30 p.m., so there was not enough time for this sortie.  A bad day for the frontier!