I had been trying to arrange a trip to tackle the Schreckhorn – Lauteraarhorn traverse all summer with Italian Mountain Guide, Giulia Monego, but the stars never aligned. However, a weather window opened up and Giulia agreed to tackle the Schreckhorn but not the traverse as this was another step up in terms of difficulty and duration and it was a route that Giulia had not done before and we had only done one previous trip together.
We hiked the long route to the hut and Giulia warned me the guardian had a reputation for being mean and grumpy. We arrived and were met by a charming Swiss German who looked like an ageing rockstar and he was accompanied by a young and attractive blonde girl. It seems that many Swiss huts are staffed by young, attractive women and grizzly mountain men – I often wonder about the nature of the relationship!
There were no more than a dozen others in the hut and they were all planning the traverse – I sensed that Giulia was considering a potential change of plan and I tried not to get too enthusiastic. Breakfast was at 2:00am and we hiked to the foot of the mountain across moraine fields and glaciers – the pace was very comfortable for me, but we still caught the group ahead of us.
At the foot of the Schreckhorn we searched for the “red dots” which were supposed to mark the route and after a few false starts we eventually found the “entry” to the normal route. We spotted a red dot and began to climb but that was the last dot we were to see on the ascent.
Route finding was challenging and a false turn to the left allowed the groups behind us to pass and we were not to see them again. The climbing was easy but a fall would be fatal and so Giulia would belay me up to each new stance. A guide friend had told Giulia a 40m rope was sufficient and Giulia was using a half-rope which meant we doubled it up and so each pitch was 20m. The climbing was easy but continuous all the way to the summit and we arrived after about seven hours of effort from the hut. This was in line with the guidebook but too slow to allow for an assault on the traverse which was disappointing as the route to the summit had not really cost me much in terms of energy and conditions were perfect.
We spent a while shooting some photos – Giulia patiently walked up and down ridges for me and threw the rope into the void multiple times, as I tried to capture the perfect “rope throw”. Eventually, we began the descent. In daylight we easily found a series of red dots which were the ones we should have followed but were invisible in the dark. We basically abseiled down the entire mountain in 20m pitches. Unfortunately, we suspected that Giulia’s friend had mis-measured his “40m” rope as we often found ourselves a little short of rope, requiring Giuila to build another anchor literally a couple of metres from the fixed anchor – a 50m rope would have been perfect!
We finally reached the glacier and began the walk back to the hut – this seemed to go on for ever and we reached the hut after 14 and half hours of effort. Incredibly, a Swiss German called Bruno and his guide arrived at the same time having completed the full traverse in the same time. We wondered how they had managed to move so fast! They told us they had met two Polish girls who had “bivvied” on the traverse after climbing the Schreckhorn and we did not see them that evening, so they must have spent another night on the ridge – it would have taken them three days to complete the route.
After a coffee and gluten free cake, we decided to spend another night at the hut before returning home the following day. In hindsight I was glad Giulia made the call not to tackle the traverse. We were too slow and could have been forced to bivvy unexpectedly on the ridge. Without a mat and sleeping back, additional water and food it could have been a fairly unpleasant experience.
I now need to plan for the Lauteraarhorn but the approach can be made by skis and so this sounds like a potentially good option for the coming Spring. Another mountain closer to my goal of climbing every 4,000m peak in Switzerland – 37 complete and 11 more to go.
Expeditions 