Inspired by my father-in-law, my goal is to climb all 82 of the 4,000m peaks in the Alps and the first stage is to climb all the Swiss peaks. There are 48 Swiss peaks and so far I have climbed 42. A successful summit of the Lenzspitze would leave only five remaining and the hope of completing all of them this year.
Sebastian and I have twice failed to climb the Lenzspitze and on both occasions we were frustrated by the weather. The weather this summer has been appalling but as we made our way to the Mischabel Hut the conditions were finally looking good – we were feeling confident.
We left the hut at 2:30am dressed head to toe in our Stellar Equipment gear thanks to their generous sponsorship and we looked like a seriously professional mountaineering team! It was the first time we both had the chance to put the gear through its paces together. Although the weather was kind, it all worked perfectly and in the mild conditions the light shell jacket had been the perfect choice.
I was not in ideal shape for a mountaineering marathon. Ten days previously I had completed the Val D’Aran 100 mile / 162 km ultra-marathon featuring more than 10,000m of vertical ascent. I had suffered food poisoning during the event and the hardcore anti-inflammatories had left me with a suspected ulcer which was threatening to perforate. Fortunately, an emergency gastroscopy on the Monday morning under general anaesthetic had revealed only a serious case of gastritis (which explained the vomiting of blood) and the doctor casually assured me that I would be fine to go mountaineering two days later.
Despite the miles in my legs, we made good progress and we took it in turn to lead the early stages of the Lenzsptize. I have not really climbed this year so I was nervous and a little apprehensive but as mountaineering photos look so much better from above, I had no choice but to take my turn on the sharp end.
This was probably our most successful trip so far. Our communication was excellent, we were generally efficient and organised. I did however, manage to drop my ice-axe but I was lucky and we were able to retrieve it and when Sebastian dropped his belay device, once again the mountain seemed to be in a benevolent mood and we were able to retrieve this as well.
The summit of the Lenzspitze arrived relatively quickly but the traverse to the Nadelhorn seemed to go on for ever. From a distance it looks like a nice ridge walk, but up close and personal it’s a roller coaster of gendarmes guarding the route to the second summit. Without any particular reason we seemed to get slower and slower and were eventually one of the last parties on the ridge. Thankfully, the Nadelhorn summit finally appeared ahead of us and we claimed our 2nd 4,000m peak of the day (although unfortunately this was a return visit for me and therefore did not add to my tally).
On the descent back to the hut I began to feel really sick and nauseous. I have never felt this bad before and I started to panic that perhaps the doctor had missed an ulcer and it was now about to perforate – secretly I was rather hoping this might happen so I could justify calling in a helicopter to avoid the descent back from the hut to the valley floor.
When we finally reached the hut I was in a bad way and wanted to spend an extra night and descend in the morning. This was not ideal as Sebastian had an early train the following morning. I resorted to sugar and after a half litre of cake, a slice of chocolate cake and a delicious lemon drizzle cake I felt remarkably good again and we set off for the valley floor. It was a gorgeous evening and with gravity as our friend it was really rather pleasant. We then strolled back through Saas-Fe to the car and were even treated to an open-air choir filling the streets with some beautiful classical choral work. We finally made it back to the car 17 hours and 50 minutes after we set off. It was a long day, it was a good day with no major dramas and now Sebastian and I need to work on our speed and efficiency without compromising our safety.
Only five Swiss peaks left to climb!
Expeditions 