GMC Alps trip

Those of you that joined us on the Alps trip of 2014 will remember a dark grey and soggy car park somewhere in the hills of Switzerland. The trip was two weeks long as usual, but the majority stayed for the first week only and the weather was grim.

You’ll be glad to hear that this year some of us were able to make up for lost time… Matt J and I piled our kit in the back of the car at 0430 and headed south to join operation stack. After a reasonably uneventful and migrantless crossing and an easy 14 hour drive we arrived in the Mischabel campsite in Saas Grund.

Day 1 saw us head up to the Almagella hut in the morning. After making good progress to the hut we attempted the Dri Horlini in the afternoon, but unfortunately the weather forecast held true and the rain caused us to swap climbing for coffee and abseil off of one of the sport routes back to the hut.

After a very Alpine start on day 2 we donned the crampons and headed for the South ridge of the Weissmies to do the traverse. A couple of hours later and we had the summit all to ourselves with some lovely views in perfect weather (picture attached). The traverse finished with a plod down the glacier the other side and a well deserved plate of melted cheese in the cafe.

Day 3 saw us head to the Jägerhorn for a beautiful 12 pitch sport route (in the 22 deg C sunshine) that would challenge any hot rock trip. We met Kempton Cool en route and not realising who he was I tried to give him some belay tips half way up the face… turns out he’s done this mountaineering thing before.

Wanting to up the grade a bit we hiked into the Britania Hütte on day 4 ready to attempt the Rimpfischhorn. This involved a very early start, long walk in and steep snow plod followed by a 100m abseil down the grand gerndarme to gain access to the ridge which consists of a series of peaks and further gerndarmes to finally reach the (slightly higher) summit. Matt and I moved together and were very safe, but sadly safe is slow and at about the halfway point (and a heads up about an icy decent from the guide coming the other way) we decided to turn back. After a long trek back to the hut (with one or two bits of unwelcome crevasse action) and then a decent to Saas Fee due a missed gondolier, we finally crawled onto a bar stool for a beer after 19 hours of walking and climbing – a long day out!

Day 6 allowed us a well deserved rest day. I went into town and bought a toblerone.

On our last day we climbed up to the Almagella Hütte once again, before the first lift, and made a second and successful attempt of the Dri Horlini (just over 3.5hrs). This is a stunning route and in good weather is an absolute must for anyone in the area. The whole route can be seen in my final photo to the right.

All told a fantastic week with excellent weather and good mountaineering. Can’t wait until next year…