Summit Report – Lyskamm Travers – AD, W. Lyskamm 4,479m and E. Lyskamm 4,527m

 In 2004, I, along with Felix Tanguay and Ailsa Ferguson, set up Powder Extreme, a “extreme” freeride ski school based in Verbier, Switzerland. One of the first instructors to join the team was a young Italian ski instructor called Guilia Monego, an amazing skier and the winner of the Verbier Extreme in 2006. Guilia recently qualified as a Mountain Guide and I thought it would be fantastic if she were to be my guide on another summit in support of my goal of summiting every 4,000m peak in Switzerland.

We arrived in Gressoney and donned our compulsory masks to take the lift up to the snow line – from there is was just under two hours to the Quintino Sella hut. Italian huts are well known for offering fantastic food so the fairly average dinner of meat and tinned vegetables was a bit disappointing. However, this was compensated for by Covid restrictions requiring that I did not have to share a bunk with another smelly, hairy mountaineer and had three bunk beds all to myself – despite the luxury, I hardly slept.

We woke at 4:00am for an average breakfast before heading the for Eastern Lyskamm – a reasonably gentle and easy ascent entirely on snow. My usual guide, Betrand, usually beasts me on these sorts of things so I enjoyed the slower and more relaxed pace set by Guilia. From the summit we began the traverse.

I have never liked exposed narrow snowy ridges and the Lyskamm traverse is basically four to five hours of exposed snowy narrow ridges, with a few rock sections thrown in for good measure. Narrow rocky exposes ridges are even worse! I have always had big confidence issues in these situations and I have been known to crawl on my hands and knees on some ridge lines. However, I have been working on my mental game and before we had already set foot on the mountain, I had mentally rehearsed feeling confident and positive on these sections.

It was damned exposed and whilst I moved with great care, I no longer suffered from the paralysing fear that often grips me – this was a huge improvement and a continuation of improvements I made from last season. I would go as far as to say I even began to enjoy some of the exposure, although what I have yet to master is the nonchalant casual demeanour of the guides when they stroll along these ridge lines.

The only line of defence against a fall on a route like this is for the other person to jump on the other side of the ridge. I asked Guilia about the training for such an event during the guide’s course and not surprisingly they do not actually practice falling and jumping – this could damage the pass rate quite badly. So, whilst the theory is good, I have yet to climb with a guide who has actually done it in practice. I was determined not to put the theory to test.

We fortunately made it to the Western Lyskamm unscathed and the “jumping theory”, thankfully, still only a theory. From here it was a fast descent to the cable car. Incredibly, the curious weather this year meant that there were still lots of skiers on the mountain – I envied their fast and effortless descents. We celebrated in the valley with a delicious selection of cold meets before the drive back from Italy. The tally now stands at 29 of the 48 peaks, so I am well over half way and have plenty of trips planned for the remainder of the year.