Inspired by my father-in-law Arthur, I have recently set myself the goal of climbing every one of the fifty-one 4,000m peaks in Switzerland before I reach the age of 70. Last week I added eight new summits which means I have now completed 18. This is a brief report on those adventures.
Lagginhorn (4,010m) is regarded as one of the easiest of the Swiss peaks. I picked up Valais guide Bertrand Martinet in Martigny at 5:30am and we drove to Sass-Grund. A quick cable car ride brought us to the start of the route. It was a very simple trudge across a glacier and then hiking up over rocky terrain before arriving at the summit. What made it challenging, was that our goal was to complete the route quickly given that we had both trained for the PDG all winter. I’d spent the last two weeks on the beach however, so suddenly working hard at altitude was quite tough, especially as I have been feeling quite drained of late. That said, Bertrand was happy with our three hours to the summit.
On the way back, we had to walk down through the soft, slushy glacial snow and without crampons it was really slippery. I was trying not to slip but Bertrand said the technique was to basically “ski down” on your mountain boots and just go with it. After I landed on my arse a few times he said I should simply sit down and toboggan home on my arse. I wasn’t sure this classed as proper mountaineering technique until he told me it was all the rage in the Himalayas. I went with it, and it must have looked pretty funny – some middle-aged guy sliding down a mountain with a guide running behind holding him on a rope. It worked well though, the only issue is I had a rip in my trousers from falling off Duforspitze with Andrew and so my trousers filled up with snow. Once I got the snow out of my trousers we headed back down the lift, drove home and I was back to mess around with the kids before supper. There are not too many places where you can do that!
Day two saw a really early start, 4:30am in Martigny and a drive to Zermatt. I paid the eye-watering CHF 110 for the lift pass for the two of us (which included the discount for guides and the rail card discount). I dread to think what the Japanese tourists paid! We did however manage to blag a free coffee in the hotel next door which we were chuffed to bits about – something like CHF 14 saved!
We headed to the top of the Zermatt lift station and root marched to the foot of Pollux (4,092m) which we ascended in good time. The weather was a bit changeable, so I don’t really recall too much of the climb. Steep, mainly snow and hard work as Bertrand decided to test my fitness levels – I was found wanting. We then descended on the “other side” and that was pretty crap – muddy rocks and snow which Bertrand insisted I largely slid down on my arse again. Not pretty, but effective and safe.
We then headed over to the bottom of Castor (4,228m) and climbed up. This was pretty much all steep snow and I was suffering with the effort as we once again focused on speed. It was pretty uneventful, and we descended fast towards the cabane on the Italian side. Italian huts are famed for being more welcoming, better value and serving better food than their Swiss neighbours. I can confirm the first two, but I thought the food was only on a par. Another good solid day and to have nailed two 4,000m peaks starting from Le Chable in less time than most others took to climb one starting in a nearby hut suggested we had been moving fast.
I had no need for my 3:30am alarm the following morning as I had hardly slept which is no surprise given that the cabane, at 3,400m, is two hundred meters above Mont Fort. My splitting headache was appeased with a handful of painkillers. We set off at a steady-pace towards the start of the Breithorn Traverse. We spied two other groups ahead us who had bivyed (spelling?) near by and so we gave chase. I was working really hard up the steep, snowy slope to the first summit but we caught the others quickly which was encouraging. We were then ready for the Traverse.
The Breithorn Traverse (West 4,165m, Central 4,160m, East 4,141m, Pointe 4,106m and Roccia Nera 4,075m) was quite simply the most brilliant piece of mountaineering I have done so far. It is basically a rocky roller coaster, knife edged ridge, comprising five 4,000m peaks which you scale one after the other on the way back to the top of the Zermatt lift. The ridge is what British guide books would describe as “atmospheric” by which they mean if you fall, you die. It involved full on rock climbing in either crampon spikes or mountain boots and at one-point, stepping across a gaping void and then walking on air across a narrow ridge on a vertical wall. If I slipped I had to believe that Bertrand would jump to the other side fast enough before we both became poorly equipped base jumpers. I absolutely loved it. I loved the focus it demanded, I loved the fact that I had to face my fears and I loved having to believe in myself as I stepped out, across the void.
The exhilaration came to an end as we made our way back down to the lift. We passed glum looking Zermatt guides hauling overweight Americans and excitable Japanese up to our final summit. We passed roped up families with young children steadily making their way (I made a note to come back with Catie and the children just as soon as I can), couples, probably in their 70s, making the journey and everything in between. What a day and it was not even 11:00am!
Expeditions 