My log from climbing in the Alps
Aug. 15th, 2009 02:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dagibbsThis log starts with Tuesday, July 15th. I arrived at the hut on Monday, about mid-afternoon. Reinhart didn't get there until the evening.
Tuesday: Via Leni on Pizzo Spazzacaldeira -- route on a lower buttress of this mountain. 5 pitches, 120 meters. Single toughest move around 6B to 6b+ but could be aided past. (I didn't, Reinhart did on lead.)
Wednesday: Ostturm (east tower) - of Piz Balzet. Holy cow are the approaches long.
Thursday: Klettergarten (Piz dal Pal ridge?), lead 5a. (maybe 5b? Or top-roped it?)
Friday: Spazzacaldeira, to the "Flame". Crazy down-climbing. Slipped while doing hiking/scrambling near the peak. Scary, scary. Flame: 5c+. Hiking poles are really handy on steep terrain.
Saturday: rest day. Down to to town. Bank card didn't work. Bought some groceries.
Did a bit of internet.
Sunday: Geisterfuhrer route (ghost route/lead) on Piz Balzet, well mostly... quite an adventure, left around 6am, back to hut well after dark, around 11pm. Scary, scary, scary. I don't think alpine climbing is for me. Piz Balzet: 2869m; we started near lake level (2165), close to 700m vertical. (Book says 650m vertical.) Didn't quite make it, very close, less than 50m vertical from summit (Reinhart did another route later, says about 5 minute scramble from top. Doh.) Down-climbed a gully. Yuck. Then over a ridge, and down a trail to the hut. Down the trail mostly in the dusk and dark. Hiking at night very different... slow... a lot of stepping by feel. Hiking poles really helped.
Monday: recover from Piz Balzet expedition. Up for breakfast around 7am, then back to bed until 2pm or so.
Tuesday: Andamente - 5 pitches of Trad on Spazzacaldeira, up towards the North Ridge (east face). Some tough, but very interesting climbing. We got back to the hut late, but not after dark. Had more adventures in rappelling.
Wednesday: Punta Albigna, route Steiger. (Apparently very popular, there were something like 6 or 7 groups going up it when we were.) Mixed sport and trad pitches, and I ended up doing a bunch of both sport and trad leading, including accidentally something in the 5a range for Trad. (Also lead 5b sport, but that was ok.) 15 pitches, some 45m or so in length. Started reasonably early, got back in time. The down-climb included a very uncomfortable traverse accross some slabs that got steeper towards a drop-off below. Also broke a hiking pole -- teeter-totter rock.
Thursday - body said another rest day. Reinhart went climbing with a guy who works at the hut and who had never done, but wanted to do, a multi-pitch climb. (The guy had a few days off.)
Friday: rain day, so another rest day. When I mentioned to someone at the climbing gym I was headed for the Alps to climb, he said I should have at least a couple weeks, cause it could rain for a week. We've had 10 days straight of good climbing weather -- so I'm already ahead, I guess. Reinhart says this is the best string of good weather he has seen in the Alps, too.
Saturday: have had a sore throat for a couple days. Hiked up with Reinhart to another route on Piz Balzet -- starting far closer to the peak than the long one. Couldn't find the route. He wanted to go up a ridge, but weather was iffy -- so I bailed. He soloed the ridge (which was ok). By afternoon was feeling better, so went and did the nearby (just below the hut) slabs with Moritz (who works at the hut, but had the day off). The crazy Swiss had a bonfire at night... the wood would have to have been flown in by helicopter. Slabs: "Seeplatten", route "Wassersinfonie".
Sunday: thunderstorm this morning, going to see if things clear up later. Went bouldering with Moritz -- nice local boulder. Did several problems, gave him 2 new probems he hadn't thought of that we both did, and a couple more that are "projects", one really tough looking. Thunderstorm with hail around 3:30pm.
Monday: another day of rain. Doh. Lots more solitaire.
Tuesday: teleferique, bus, train, and now killing time in the airport.
Quick grade translations from the French technical system that I made notes with:
5a - 5.6; 5b - 5.7; 5c - 5.8; 6a - 5.9; 6a+ - 5.10a; 6b - 5.10b; 6b+ 5.10c. Of course, all grades are "subjective and approximate" and translations between schemes are that in spades.
I'll have pictures, too. They take more processing.
Tuesday: Via Leni on Pizzo Spazzacaldeira -- route on a lower buttress of this mountain. 5 pitches, 120 meters. Single toughest move around 6B to 6b+ but could be aided past. (I didn't, Reinhart did on lead.)
Wednesday: Ostturm (east tower) - of Piz Balzet. Holy cow are the approaches long.
Thursday: Klettergarten (Piz dal Pal ridge?), lead 5a. (maybe 5b? Or top-roped it?)
Friday: Spazzacaldeira, to the "Flame". Crazy down-climbing. Slipped while doing hiking/scrambling near the peak. Scary, scary. Flame: 5c+. Hiking poles are really handy on steep terrain.
Saturday: rest day. Down to to town. Bank card didn't work. Bought some groceries.
Did a bit of internet.
Sunday: Geisterfuhrer route (ghost route/lead) on Piz Balzet, well mostly... quite an adventure, left around 6am, back to hut well after dark, around 11pm. Scary, scary, scary. I don't think alpine climbing is for me. Piz Balzet: 2869m; we started near lake level (2165), close to 700m vertical. (Book says 650m vertical.) Didn't quite make it, very close, less than 50m vertical from summit (Reinhart did another route later, says about 5 minute scramble from top. Doh.) Down-climbed a gully. Yuck. Then over a ridge, and down a trail to the hut. Down the trail mostly in the dusk and dark. Hiking at night very different... slow... a lot of stepping by feel. Hiking poles really helped.
Monday: recover from Piz Balzet expedition. Up for breakfast around 7am, then back to bed until 2pm or so.
Tuesday: Andamente - 5 pitches of Trad on Spazzacaldeira, up towards the North Ridge (east face). Some tough, but very interesting climbing. We got back to the hut late, but not after dark. Had more adventures in rappelling.
Wednesday: Punta Albigna, route Steiger. (Apparently very popular, there were something like 6 or 7 groups going up it when we were.) Mixed sport and trad pitches, and I ended up doing a bunch of both sport and trad leading, including accidentally something in the 5a range for Trad. (Also lead 5b sport, but that was ok.) 15 pitches, some 45m or so in length. Started reasonably early, got back in time. The down-climb included a very uncomfortable traverse accross some slabs that got steeper towards a drop-off below. Also broke a hiking pole -- teeter-totter rock.
Thursday - body said another rest day. Reinhart went climbing with a guy who works at the hut and who had never done, but wanted to do, a multi-pitch climb. (The guy had a few days off.)
Friday: rain day, so another rest day. When I mentioned to someone at the climbing gym I was headed for the Alps to climb, he said I should have at least a couple weeks, cause it could rain for a week. We've had 10 days straight of good climbing weather -- so I'm already ahead, I guess. Reinhart says this is the best string of good weather he has seen in the Alps, too.
Saturday: have had a sore throat for a couple days. Hiked up with Reinhart to another route on Piz Balzet -- starting far closer to the peak than the long one. Couldn't find the route. He wanted to go up a ridge, but weather was iffy -- so I bailed. He soloed the ridge (which was ok). By afternoon was feeling better, so went and did the nearby (just below the hut) slabs with Moritz (who works at the hut, but had the day off). The crazy Swiss had a bonfire at night... the wood would have to have been flown in by helicopter. Slabs: "Seeplatten", route "Wassersinfonie".
Sunday: thunderstorm this morning, going to see if things clear up later. Went bouldering with Moritz -- nice local boulder. Did several problems, gave him 2 new probems he hadn't thought of that we both did, and a couple more that are "projects", one really tough looking. Thunderstorm with hail around 3:30pm.
Monday: another day of rain. Doh. Lots more solitaire.
Tuesday: teleferique, bus, train, and now killing time in the airport.
Quick grade translations from the French technical system that I made notes with:
5a - 5.6; 5b - 5.7; 5c - 5.8; 6a - 5.9; 6a+ - 5.10a; 6b - 5.10b; 6b+ 5.10c. Of course, all grades are "subjective and approximate" and translations between schemes are that in spades.
I'll have pictures, too. They take more processing.
