Blog Posts in Category: Switzerland

With a perfect weather window, or so we thought, we decided to head into the Bernese Oberland for a 5 day tour from the Oberaar reservoir into the Finsteraarhornhütte for some peaks before heading back out. There was an unusual amount of snow in the area and the hut had advised us to bring snow shoes, something which is normally not the case at this time of year. We found a local shop to hire the snow shoes from, who were very confused when I rang up asking to hire show shoes! Oberaar to Oberaarjochhütte – 7.5km, 977hm Our first day was a relatively short day, which allowed us to faff in the morning to hire the snow shoes and drive from Täsch to the top of the Grimselpass, before swapping into one vehicle and heading up to the Oberaar reservoir. This was a very unusual road as there is only a 10 minute window for starting to drive up the pass, and another 10 minute window to drive down the pass 30 mins later. We set off in good spirts with good weather, but very heavy bags. The walk. Read the full article…

Having discovered that the hut for the Dent Blanche was full we developed a new plan, to traverse the Zinalrothorn from Zinal to Zermatt via the north ridge. To get to Zinal we had to get a number of buses, and due to the timetables we ended up in Zinal very early in the morning. This enabled us to have a leisurely stroll up to the hut before spending the afternoon relaxing. The start of the walk was in the mist which we both appreciated as it kept us cool during the majority of the ascent. Eventually the sun started burning off the morning mist and we were greeted with a stunning view of the Grand Cornier, the Dent Blanche and the Ober Gabelhorn. Due to the ever changing views the walk in was one of the most enjoyable I have experienced to date, this combined with relaxing all afternoon at the hut made for a very enjoyable day. All too early the next morning ours alarms woke us up and we both struggled to eat anything for breakfast as our bodies definitely wanted to still be asleep at 2:45.. Read the full article…

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…