For too long have I circumnavigated the snow capped peaks of the alps without setting foot upon them. Resisting the draw to go rock climbing with zero minute walk-ins and lounging with banquets stashed at the base was counter intuitive, but it was time to test my restless self once again in the alpine.
Tim and I met in Stafal, a small village at the back of the Monterosa ski area, where we took lifts and the pleasant ridge line hike up to the Quintino Sella Refuge. It’s cheap for CAF members (€14 p/n) and we ate our Italian spoils and settled in for an early night.
Golden sunset from the Quinino Sella Refuge.
Bleary eyes snoozed the 03:30 alarm, but before long we were wrapped up against the winds that swirled around the refuge. The boost of Italian espresso was to thank for our quick progress up to Colle Felik.
A narrow ridge leads up to a 45 deg snow slope that was mostly good excusing 20-30m of glacial ice poking through. Being time and weather-window pressured, I was ascending up to 4527m without any acclimatisation. Luckily the affects of the altitude were marginal, with the result just being occasional ‘wobbles’ rather than headaches and nausea. Not ideal on a windy ridge line, but a manageable trade for the fortune of being up high in the mountains.
Tim on the Western summit hastily adding layers against the gusting winds. Apologies for the gloved photo!
Once on the ridge we were in awe of what lay stretched out in front of us- a clean rising knife-edged arete in perfect conditions. The total ridge from Col to Col is close to 5km and truly one of the finest of its kind in the Alps.
From West to the Eastern summit, see the fine snow arete continuing up and right.
There’s a short bit of easy grade II down climbing before climbing up to Lyskamm East. The wind was gusting up to 50kmph but that didn’t stop us enjoying every stretch of it. It added to the wildness and completeness of the journey.
This was a perfect Alpine outing. I hadn’t had one for a long time, too many half done objectives, poor performance, poor choices, poor conditions. I have been uninspired and this route bought back the distant feeling of satisfaction and justified why mountaineering is even on my radar when there are so many other walks of life to enjoy.
Soaking.
Arriving at the Col d’Lys, we found ourselves with energy for more despite the unnerving incident where we were both blown off the descent ridge 10 mins before. Well, Tim more keen than I, but I was coerced into claiming a few more easily reached 4000ers while my unacclimatised body was still unaware of its position.
We strode off towards Parrotspitze(4432m) which provided another elegant ridge longer than it appears from below.
On the summit of Parrotspitze (4432m)
Down we went, and so did my physical state. I had cheated the altitude devils for longer than I deserved. A dull ache in the head, legs feeling leaden. Tick tock went the performance clock. Not being far from the next short climb we quickly dispatched Ludwigshohe (4341m) and moved round to Corno Nero. I left this one to Tim catching a snapshot of him as he ticked it off.
Tim alone on Corno Nero(4322m)
The final lump was the Vincent Pyramide(4215m) which went without trouble having ditched our bags at the base of the 150m climb. With 5 for me and 6 for Tim, we were done with being above 4000m for the day, and descended down towards the Gnieffi Hut and round to the lift (9hrs total time).
Tim left that evening after a well earned pizza and snooze in the car. I had some unfinished business with the bouldering area ‘Gattineri’ just above Gabi in Gressoney Valley. Some beautiful lines, highballs and roofs, aretes and slabs. I enjoyed a relaxed day until I got a message from Tim-
Forecast has got turbo good. Don’t waste yourself bouldering, time to go big!
I got in the car and headed back to Chamonix…
UpSlideDown 