The time has come to start pushing skitouring to higher altitudes...and why not starting with a nice summit above 4000m? Destination for this weekend is the Britannia hut above Saas Fee...and then one of the summits there around depending on weather and conditions.
As per my religion, taking cable car up mountains is totally forbidden, and this is no exception to the rule. We get to Saas Fee and start walking all the way up along the ski pistes. And even if we wanted...at the time we arrived the cable car was closed so no chance of any mechanical help! Must say that is was not the best ascent I've ever done to a hut because it was done on a ski piste...but I feel better this way than taking a cable car and then only crossing for 30 minutes to the hut. In 4 hours, including breaks to dry all the sweat we get to the Britannia hut, a massive construction up at 3000m. Soon after getting there we start doing some crevasse rescue practice (since this time there is only two of us). At some point we have the feeling of being in Bahnhofstrasse in Zürich because there are tons of people getting to the hut at the very same time...but really lots of them! We will discover that the hut is completely booked for the night and there are in total 135 people...and do you know why all turned up at the same time? Because there was one single run of the cable car at 4:30 in the afternoon...and all those lazy people took it so to avoid a 4 hours ascent...psst!!
 |
| The Britannia hut |
 |
| Weissmiess and Lagginhorn in the evening light |
Anyway, in the evening the weather forecast is getting better for the next day and we decide to aim for the Rimpfischhorn the next day, instead of the Strahlhorn, which is way too easy. Wake up call is at 4:45 in the morning and at 5:30 making things very quickly we manage to leave the hut much before other people do.
Once down on the glacier we put the skins on and start climbing up. Head torch will not be necessary as there is already light even is the sun is not there yet.
 |
| Leaving the warm hut for a chilly morning |
 |
| As always...our destination is the further at the horizon |
The track keeps the right hand side (having the britannia hut in the back) of the glacier and contours all the south flank of the Allainhorn. This all the way up to the Allalinpass. Temperature is changing a lot from chilly to warm and then windy, so we have to stop several times to put a layer more on or to take one off. In the end dressing for the mountains is a bit of an art, which requires lots of experience.
 |
| And once again here comes the sun... |
 |
| Towards the Allalinpass |
From the Allalinpass we keep a contour line to the left following the north ridge of the Rimpfischhorn. In reality it would be slightly better to lower down a bit more. At the foot of the first spur coming down from Rimpfischhorn the terrain becomes a bit too steep and we are forces to ski a little bit down to overcome it.
 |
| The Strahlhorn...maybe another time |
 |
| At the Allalinpass |
Once also the second spur is surpassed the toughest part of the ascent (with skis) starts. The lack of oxygen starts to become obvious but someone once said that the show must go on! My friend is at his first summit over 4000m and needs a few more breaks than I would like...but I'm clearly not going to complain in this case! A few zig zags and probably more than one hour later we are up at the Rimpfischsattel, but is still not time to leave the skis. A couple of more zig zags on pretty icy snow to get to the rock face just under the beginning of the couloir which marks the beginning of the climbing part.
 |
| Zig zags to the Rimpfischsattel |
 |
| On the Rimpfischsattel |
From here we take the skis off and put crampons instead. At first the route follows the couloir up, until it makes a slight kink to the right. At this point there is a clearly visible step on the left hand side, so the couloir has to be traversed to get to this step. Some traversing on the rocks a very short icy slope to get on the proper ridge. The climb on the ridge is not difficult, maximum II probably. Most of the route can be done on the rocks except for a couple of places where, in case of good snow, the climb can be by-passed by going up on steep snow fields. I always prefer the rocks as they are typically more reliable and there are more possibilites for securing. On the first part of the ridge there are two slings around rock blocks, which give some help in belaying and making anchor points. At one point there is even an iron bar with a T shape. From this point the ridge becomes for a short bit a bit less steep, and is easier to progess on the snow up to a second iron bar. From here is the only time where the ridge has to be climbed on the right hand side (facing the summit) on a really nice slab. This is the perfect type of climbing when wearing crampons in my opinion. And from the end of this slab the ridge goes on rather easily to the pre-summit...
 |
| The pre-summit as seen from the summit |
 |
| View from the summit |
 |
| The really cool slab!! |
 |
| Last part of the ridge before the pre-summit |
It is quite deceptive to get up here and to see that the summit is still not there. You have to get down on a quite thin snowy ridge and then up again to the real summit. And well...what a view from up here! Totally worth all the effort of coming up here. The descent however has still to come and to reveal its surprises. When back on the thin snowy ridge I see that there is a cornice and I keep on the tracks...only using the ice axe on the cornice for slight balance. At one point the entire cornice collapses down on the east face and I see my left foot at a few centimeters from the abyss...literally petrified, scared like seldom before...it takes me a good minute to recover from the adrenaline rush and walk properly again. Now I know why corninces are that dangerous...
Apart from that the descent goes on quite well and even faster than the way up...until we finally get back down to our skis. From here the absolute best descent of the whole season is starting! The aim is to get down to Täschalp and the snow could not be any better! At the beginning is good powder, even if the legs are a bit tired to enjoy it properly. Then is suddenly becomes perfect sulz which is an extreme pleasure to ski. And for the whole descent we can always see his majesty the Matterhorn. This summer...oh yes...this summer I will stand on its top! On the lower parts of the descent there are a lot of small, medium and massive rocks to be avoided which make things even more fun...but we are relentlessly going into summer which means that we cannot get to Täschalp. Instead, a good hour of walk along the whole valley is awaiting us. This is not that bad in the end because it has been such a nice day that the good memory of the descent and ascent are enough to keep us happy...even when carrying an heavy rucksack under a really hot sun.
And the first 4000m summit of 2015 has just been conquered...many more will hopefully come!
No comments:
Post a Comment