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I've put together a report of climbs of three 4000 m peaks in the Saas Fee area of Switzerland. They are all 'easy' by Alpine standards, though are still quite serious undertakings compared to hiking in Britain. Anyone unsure of their abilities should hire a guide (Saas Fee Guides are especially recommended).
Allalinhorn (4027 m)Allalinhorn is often described as one of the easiest 4000 m peaks by it's standard route, the North West flank (F+). I had done this the previous year as part of a guided group, but wanted to climb the mountain again via the East ridge, known as the Hohlaubgrat. Most guidebooks rate the Hohlaubgrat as PD+. The AD grade given by the Swiss Alpine Clubs seems way too high to me. It's mostly just an easy snow ridge with one short rock climb just below the summit.
The forecast for the weekend was for bright sunshine, temperatures well above freezing at 4000 m, and over 10 degrees at 3000 m. Warm temperatures are a serious hazard on alpine routes involving glacier crossings as snow bridges covering crevasses can become weak, increasing the chance of falling through. The situation over the summer has become so bad, I've invested in a dedicated snow anchor for use in crevasse rescue.
- Allalinhorn from Stellihorn
- Allalinhorn from Stockhorn
- Allalinhorn from near the Britannia hut
I climbed Allalinhorn with our new PhD student, Raphael. We had climbed the Balmhorn (3698 m) the previous week (PD+), so were reasonably acclimatised. We arrived in Saas Fee the previous day, took the cable car up to Felskinn, then climbed up to the Britannia hut. We arrived in plenty of time to do the new via ferrata that's been put up nearby. This is rated up to K4, which is moderately difficult, though considerably easier than the Plan Praz via ferrata near Leysin (K5).
We set off from the Britannia hut at about 4.15 am and descended down to the lower Hohlaub glacier. Below around 3100 m, the glacier was 'dry', meaning there was no snow cover and all crevasses could easily be seen.
Above 3100 m, there was a cover of very soft slushy snow. This was exactly the thing we were worried about and we soon began to encounter crevasses covered by very weak snow bidges. After a couple of near misses, I broke through a snow bridge with both feet. Somehow I managed to stay calm and slowly crawl forward until I was on firmer snow and escape the crevasse. We stopped and waited for a following group to cross the same section in case anyone needed rescuing.
We reached the crest of the ridge at about 3500 m. There are a couple of rocky sections, but it's mosty just snow. Beware cornices on the left side - you really do not want to fall down the South face (shown on the first photo of this report)
Approaching the crux:
A closer look:
The lower section of the rock band is the hardest part and would probably be UIAA grade III if climbed free, but is now made much easier by chains bolted into the rock. The rest is no more than II, but must be free-climbed.
At the top of the rock climb:
Once above the rock band, there is a short walk to the summit:
Rimpfischhorn, with Monte Rosa on the left, Liskamm behind and Castor on the right:
Thankfully we reached the summit about 15 minutes before the hoards coming up from Mittelallalin. In one case, a guide was hauling a group of six clients on a single rope.
Me on the summit:
The descent is via the normal route (NW flank), which is an easy snow plod but is very crevassed.
Some real monster crevasses
:
View of the route from Mittelallalin:
After a beer at the revolving Mittelallalin restaurant, when took the underground train and then the cable car back down to Saas Fee and were back in Geneva by dinner time
Lagginhorn (4010 m)A week after the Allalinhorn trip, I was back in the Saas Fee area. The huts were almost entirely booked up and the only place we could get any space at was the Hohsaas hut. This gave us the option of climbing either Weissmies or Lagginhorn, both via a number of possible routes. Unfortunately Raphael called in sick and needed to cancel, leaving me on my own. Fortunately, the Lagginhorn is one of the few 4000 m peak that can be climbed solo with reasonable safety due to the lack of crevasse risk. The standard route is usually rated PD with rock climbing up to UIAA II. Providing there is no snow or ice on the rocks it's more like a long, difficult hike (T5 in the Swiss system). The PD rating is justified, however, given the high altitude and length of the route. The Lagginhorn should not be underestimated and people have died trying to climb it. In 2012 a group of 5 German climbers, most from the same family, were killed when descending from the summit. They were not roped up, which makes it difficult to see how such a calamity could have occurred.
The standard route follows the WSW ridge, which is the one on the left on the photo below. The parallel ridge on the right is known as the WSW rib. Both appear very foreshortened in the photo.
- Lagginhorn from Alphubel.
The standard route from the Hohsaas hut starts with a short descent, followed by a scramble over the WSW rib. This is mostly easy (no more than I) and the main problem is finding the route in the poor light of early morning. The most awkward section is protected by a cable. Once at the top of the rib, an easy descent leads down to what is left of the Lagginhorn Glacier. This was almost entirely covered in a thick carpet of rocks falling from the West face, above. Previously, the normal route climbed almost to the head of the glacier, then turned left and followed a 'dog leg' route up onto the WSW ridge. The risk of rockfall has increased to the point where this route is no longer considered safe any more. Groups starting from the Weissmies hut tend to climb the WSW in its entirety, while those coming from Hohsaas now cut straight across the glacier and climb more directly onto the ridge (see photo below). This is not technically difficult but is annoyingly loose, especially lower down.
Once on the WSW ridge, the way to the summit is over a well-worn path, with occasional sections of minor scrambling. If you can manage something like Sharp Edge, you should have no problems.
The most technically challenging part is a section of slabs about halfway up. This is no more than UIAA grade II and just involves a few difficult moves with limited handholds. The photo below is taken from the top of the slabs, looking down. In some photos I've seen, the slabs appear to be almost vertical, although in reality the angle is about 45 degrees, maximum.
I became stuck behind a number of guided groups labouring up a scrambly section near the summit. One unguided couple was having all sorts of trouble with a really easy rock step, despite an obvious path lying just a couple of metres to the side. Taking advantage of this, I managed to get past them and clamber up some easy rocks to get in amongst the guided groups, then found another short cut to get ahead of everyone.
I then quickly scrambled up the remaining rocks to reach the summit, which I had to myself. Most reports and youtube videos show climbers crossing a snow field just below the summit. This was one of my biggest concerns as a solo climber because it appeared quite steep and exposed. In reality, it's possible to avoid the snow field entirely, especially if the rocks are free of snow and ice.
The summit area is quite small and exposed, although not as bad as I'd feared.
View to the North to the Fletschorn:
Looking South towards Weissmies:
For the descent, I followed the WSW ridge all the way down to the end. This has now become the standard route up for groups starting at the Weissmies hut. For much of the way, I followed another couple of solo climbers, one of whom was wearing sandals
. I've seen worse. At least this guy seemed to be a competent climber. I once saw an idiot in jeans and trainers trying to climb the Breithorn
Looking towards the Dom group on the other side of the Saas Valley:
Weissmies (4017 m)Next up was Weissmies (pronounced "Vice - meez"), the most Easterly 4000er in Valais and one of the finest peaks in the Alps. There are two standard routes: (1) a glacier climb up the North flank (PD), and (2) a rock scramble up the South ridge (PD/PD+, II). Given that I was climbing solo again, the North flank was not a sensible option so I climbed from the South.
- Weissmies from Mittaghorn. The South ridge is on the right
On day 1, I took the bus to the village of Saas Grund, then climbed up through the forests to Almagelleralp and up to the Almagllerhut at 2892 m.
The next day, I had breakfast at 4.00 am, and set off from the hut at 4.30. Quite a few groups had set off before me, but I managed to overtake all but one of them before reaching the Zwischbergenpas (3242 m). From here, there are two options. Either (1) follow the South ridge in its entirety, or (2) walk up the moraine fields and glacier on the East side (see the last photo in this report). The first option was much more attractive and offered some nice scrambling, with just one awkward section that can be avoided by a short detour. The route up the glacier no longer appears to be sensible option due to the risk of rock fall. I saw numerous large rocks bouncing and cartwheeling down at high speed, especially on the descent.
- The South ridge, taken during descent later in the day
The scrambling is quite sustained at UIAA grade I and II, but nothing worse. Exposure is fairly low and most of the rock is very stable.
The gradient steepens towards the top of the rock ridge:
The final section is a famous snow arete, which is split into two parts by a short rocky scramble. The snow arete was the bit that worried me most of all. I was concerned that all the hot weather would have turned the snow to soft slush, increasing the risk of slipping and decreasing the ability to self arrest. I was shocked to discover that the snow had in fact almost entirely melted, leaving behind a ridge of very hard glacial ice:
The final section of the summit ridge was part bare ice, part very hard icy snow. I regretted bringing my old Grivel crampons, which have become seriously blunt after too much walking over rocks. Still, I was able to get enough purchase on the ice to be able to cross the arete safely and reach the summit, 3 hours and 15 minutes after setting off.
I descended the same way I came up, all the way back down to Saas Grund. As I started to down climb the rock ridge, I began to meet the other groups climbing up. Most appeared to be roped up guided parties, and were probably aiming to traverse over the North side and get the cable car down from Hohsaas.
I was starting to run low on water and was getting seriously worried about being dehydrated. I could see a good stream of meltwater coming from the snout of the glacier, so decided to climb down and refill my water bottle. The area was still threatened by rock fall, so I quickly climbed back up onto the rock ridge and continued all the way down, stopping off for a beer at the Almagellerhütte
Unless snow conditions improve (i.e. temperatures drop below freezing again) these might be the last 4000 m peaks I climb this year
. In recent weeks, the freezing level has been over 5000 m (!!), even at night. Many routes, including Mont Blanc, Matterhorn and Jungfrau, are essentially 'closed' due to risk of rock fall, serac collapse or crevasse falls. A sad state of affairs