Climbing the Eiger
The Eiger. The name means "Ogre" in German and it has a a fearsome reputation - the brilliant book "the White Spider" probably put more people off alpinism than any other!
Climbing the Mittellegi ridge is more technical than the Matterhorn Hornli or Italian routes. The hardest parts have fixed rope, but there's still lots of climbing on flat or slopey limestone holds needing good balance and confident footwork, and some very narrow, exposed snow ridges. It starts literally as you step off the hut terrace - the lights of Grindelwald shining over 2000m below you - and is sustained all the way to the Sudliches Eigerjoch around 8 hours later. .jpg "Looking back to the Mittellegi hut from the first part of the ridge.")
.jpg "It's not all fixed rope!")
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.jpg "The start of the long fixed rope. Hut visible way down the ridge.")
.jpg "Previous pic was middle right of this one - the fixed ropes. Grindelwald in the shade way below")
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.jpg "The upper fixed rope, with Alpiglen catching the sun 2200m below")
.jpg "Narrow snow ridge and some excellent short pitches lead to the summit arete.")
.jpg "The excellent red rrock of the South ridge - not to be underestimated - it takes as long to get down the South ridge as it does to climb the Mittelegi.")
.jpg "GREEN=Mittellegi hut approach, RED=Mittellegi ridge, YELLOW=South ridge, BLUE=Nordliches Eigerjoch to Monchsjoch")
Alpine Climbing in the Swiss Valais
A few more pictures from the last few weeks. Ridges, rock climbing and snowy glaciers...
.jpg "Enjoying the Trifthorn summit")
Weisshorn
The Weisshorn - just over 4500m high, and reputedly one of the more serious 4000m peaks in the Alps. No lifts or trains for help either - the ascent is all on foot, 3100m from the carpark in Randa to the summit. Complex route-finding, loose rock, BIG exposure and a serious snow finish make it a classic Alpine experience! After all that we reached the summit in thick cloud so there was no view!
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Summer update 2
A few pictures from last week - more great weather and 2 of the finest ridges in the Alps.
Summer Update
A long overdue update - after the long, lockdown lay-off it's been a hectic start to the summer with no time for blogging...so here's a quick catch-up of the first 3 weeks. Excellent weather, good conditions once the snow settled, and some great mountains!
.jpg "Rest and recovery, Alpine style")
.jpg "High on the Hohlaubgrat. Snowy and deserted")
.jpg "Sunny rock on the aiguille d'Orny")
Ice Climbing "Introduction" week
I have to point out that this wasn't an average Intro week! Andy and Chris had a lot of experience (Alpine Intro, rock climbing, Scottish winter, ski touring, Alpine 4000m peaks...) so we/I went for the accelerated-learning syllabus! Still we did do some easy stuff...
The excellent ice boulder at the Hotel de la Tsa turned out to be perfect for training, so we quickly moved on to this...
And we found time for some proper technical instruction. Making belays, placing screws, rope management, Abalokov threads, etc. There's a lot to learn!
Then had a learning-to-lead "race".
Multi pitch ice at the Arolla tunnels
The Arolla mountain classic, Cascade des Ignes. A great day out with good climbing and a snowshoe approach, all in a spectacular setting at 2500m.
