Daily Archives: 2 July 2016

July 2nd

Itinerary:  Wiesbadener Hut – Piz Buin, 3312 m – Fuorcla dal Cunfin –  Silvrettapass – Silvretta Hut

Distance:  13,5 km
Time:  5 hours 40 minutes (plus 1 hour 20 for the stops)
Vertical distance:  1080 m uphill, 1180 m downhill

Left at 6.30 a.m.  Some sun, but mainly overcast and windy.  Piz Buin summit around 11.10.  No view as all in the fog, but were able to telephone!

The first ascent of Piz Buin was on July 14th, 1865, exactly the same day as the first ascent of the Matterhorn!

A lot of soft snow still, which made the ascent slightly easier, but the approach and the traverse to the next hut more tedious. Good work by guide David, who broke the trail for the traverse.

Reached the hut at 1.30 p.m.  Sonia left us a bit later to go down to Klosters and return to our home in Grandvaux, to be ready to return to Abu Dhabi tomorrow.

No mobile phone network nor wi-fi at the last two huts.  Good network here at the Silvretta Hut, so I was able to update the blogs (in one language).

Photo:

With Sonia and David on the summit of Piz Buin

July 1st

Itinerary: Tuoi Hut – Fuorcla Vermunt – Dreiländerspitz, 3197 m – Wiesbadener Hut.

Distance: 9.4 km
Time: 4 hours 45 minutes (plus 1 hour 15 for the stops)
Vertical distance: 1010 m uphill, 820 m downhill.

As expected, the weather is quite good.  Some clouds and beautiful sea of fog in the valley.  Start at 6 a.m., summit at 10 a.m., at the hut at midday.  One advantage of having a guide is that one does not waste time finding the path and looking at the map and the GPS.

Good snow conditions, there were tracks and we did not need to put crampons.  A very nice climb successfully completed!

The Dreiländerspitz is the triple point shared by the three “countries” of the Grisons, Vorarlberg and the Tyrol. It is on the watershed between the Rhine and the Danube.

June 30th

We have arranged to meet a guide, David, this evening at the Tuoi Hut, the other side of the mountains.  The forecast of rain and the bad visibility preclude going there directly over the Jamjoch.  So:

Down to the car in Galtür, 8 km in 1 hour 30, partly in the rain.

Drive from Galtür to Guarda in the Lower Engadine, via Landeck, in 2 hours.  Rainy weather.

In the nice village of Guarda we have lunch at Hotel Meisser and take advantage of their wi-fi to update the blogs, send emails, etc.

Then we walk up to Chamonna (=Hut) Tuoi:  7,9 km, 680 m uphill and 20 m downhill, in 2 hours 5 minutes without stopping.  We arrive just before the next rain shower.  Later, the young guide David arrives.  We are the only guests at the hut!