Away Dinner Meet

The day after the night before ... wet, so off to the gearshops in Betws y Coed and home.

Away Diner Meet

Gwyder hut ...  the away meet ..  I do not know what exercise we did in the wet, but as is now common practice we all (35 members attended this year) pitched in for the Spag Bog communal meal

Followed by games and challenges in the common room.

Pigne d'Arolla, Serpentine, Mauvais pas, Switzerland

Next morning, crisp and frozen we set off  around the glaciers to avoid the seracs (we would ski right through them on a later trip), and form there it was straight forward up the slope. There was no obvious track but there was not really any navigation issues in the dark.
 As the sun came up we were high on the slopes heading to the obvious col, and the hut was disappearing below us.

The summit was everything we expected. The views were fantastic and all the Valais Alps were laid out before us.
It was a marvellous place for our final summit of the trip.

From here we trekked over to L'Serpentine and Mt Blanc de Chenion. the views down to Lac Dix and the route were really clear. we were still early enough for the snow to be very frozen.
First we had to descend the steep frozen wall with a diagonal traverse.
At this point I ran out of film in the camera, but we dropped down to the lower glacier Dix. from here we could go left to the hut but we still had a long way to go, so we cut across to the base of the ladders .. 100m or so of vertical ladder, to get up to the pass. We took the solo direct route, and soon were breathlessly recovering at the top.
From the col it was straight down the track (in winter a ski trail) to the town and very welcome beer or two in a convenient bar. We would almost do the reverse of this route as a ski tour on the way to Zermatt.

From here it was home ... through Pontarllier to Calais ..

After the trip we had quite a sense of achievement, in that we had achieved a fair amount, but I wondered if we should have stayed at the Gnifetti a few days longer.

Vignettes hutte, Switzerland

The prognosis for the next few days was good.. I had seen pictures of the Vignettes hut and felt it would be worth a visit. So we came up with a plan to go direct up to the hut and then the next day we would traverse the Pigne D'Arolla to the Dix hut and back to Arolla via the Mauvais Pas.

 The normal route to the hut involves a a climb up the moraine on the left side of the valley. This rises to the Piece glacier

There is a narrow entrance to the glacier and this then rises up to the hut on the skyline ridge

 The first part of the hut you see is the helicopter landing stage, the rest is hidden on the other side of the ridge
The hut is one of the wonders of the area, because of its sheer location, looking over to l'Eveque.
The toilets are at the end of a platform, with a long drop to the glacier below, which just makes you appreciate the situation all the better.

After this ascent I vowed never to do it again ... however much later I( would repeat it on skis!!

Arolla, Switzerland

The Arolla valley was not one that I had been up before and in the grand tradition of doing some exploration on each trip it was a good opportunity. The valley does not open to the high 4000m peaks, so is less frequented, but it is just off the Haute route, and would be a frequent place to visit in the future winter trips.

This time is was all new and inviting.

The drive around from Saas Fee was fairly well travelled until we reached the end of the valley at Sion. from here we turned up a relatively big road until it split at Evolene, or better Les Hauderes. On hte way we past some pretty impressive mud structures made by the weather. The Arolla road went up the side of the valley on a narrow track (single lane in places) but once in the upper valley opened out.

Arolla, and campsite

N Face Pigne d'Arolla in the sunset

We ended up at the camp site besides the river, by fortune the same place were we would bunk when we came back in Winter. fairly rough camping, and we were almost alone

Lagginghorn, Switzerland

The next day, we knew where to go, and were soon rising up into the coombe under the south face.
From here across the small and retreating glacier to the ride on the left hand end of the coombe.
From here we rose rapidly to the ridge, and then onwards to the summit.

This section was a mix of simple rock climbing and scrambling, all the time the sun was rising and we could watch the shadows rise up the ridge behind us.

Weissmeiss from the Lagginghorn

Feischerhorn from the Lagginghorn

We were chased to the top by the shadows, but reached it at about the same time. the views all around were fantastic, and we could finally see the top from the day before.

 The descent was straight forward, back down the way we had come, and before long we were back at the hut. and time for a quick rest before continuing down to the valley by the cable car and the middle station. Yet again we had run out of money, and did not have enough for another night in the hut. We had also run out of food we had brought and so would have to purchase that as well.

Don preparing for the descent.

Feischerhorn, Switzerland

The next morning, clearing and very cold. The clouds were still around but were clustered around the peaks.
Heading out in the dark up the track towards the Lagginhorn. The guide said to go up the track to the rock band and then turn right up the slope. In the dark we could not find the track fork, and very soon we were too far around the corner and heading up the dry glacier bed to the Fiescherhorn.

Fiescherhorn in the clouds

Ridge to the col

A quick conference and a change of plan .. Fiescherhorn here we come...

The second mistake was following the track up the left hand side to the ridge ...  quite a climb up, when on the descent we would see a much clearer direct angled ascent. but the ridge proved relatively straight forward.
We were soon climbing up the head of the upper glacier to the col on the ridge.

 We got caught by a second party, here who had come up the "easy" way and we followed them up to the col .

 From here we followed the ridge up to the top hidden in the clouds.
The kind people from the other party took a group shot for us.

 The day improved as we descended and was positively hot by the time we were descending the scree into the valley.


As we were passing around the rock band we found the path we should have taken in the morning..  The moral is that however tried you are the night before do a quick recce before it gets dark so you know the general route finding.
Then we bumped into herd of Chamois just for good luck.
By the evening the skies were clear and we had a fantastic sunset.

Weissmeiss hutte, switzerland

The weather forecast was set to improve, the day cloudy, a good way to break the sequence.
We headed for the Weissmeiss hut. This went up the cable car, either to the top station and down, or the middle station and up. To save money, we chose the latter option, and walked up the valley, in the winter this is a piste, and generally just a hot flog.




The hut is a very traditional Swiss building on a fold in the valley, right under the Lagginghorn face, and what is left of the glacier.

The idea was that we would stay for two nights, and attempt the Lagginhorn and the Weissmeiss.
However what transpired would be a lesson I would not forget, and still stays with me.

Retreat to Saas Fee, Switzerland

The wind had got up in the night, and when we looked out, it was white, cloud was down below the hut.
Back to bed,  finally up around 9am, the wind still howling around, but the cloud had risen a bit, then it would drop, then up again. One of the parties that had braved the conditions, but was back, claiming navigation issues.
We only had the money for one night, so it was back to the valley. We had got the sequences wrong, sunny days in the valley and more evil up at the huts.
Back down in the valley, we discussed how to change the fortunes, and decided to give the Swiss side a try, and headed off to Saas Fee. I had "recced" the place a year before, with Bryon and Alan.
When we arrived the camp site was full, but we found a place in the garden of a guest house - not exactly Rock and Roll but it was only for one night.

Quintino Sella hutte, Italy

The following day there were a few clouds around but in general the sky was clear ad the day was turning out great.

The route takes the right hand side of the valley,  and heads up to where the ridge meets the head of the valley ridge.
Looking back to the valley on the way up, you could see where we camped and the car.

 Once we got to the top of the ridge things eased up. The route to the hut followed the loose shale with an odd bit of wire rope.

 The hut was on the plateau at the end of the glacier leading up to Castor on the skyline.
The hut was another largish hut, but just had a couple of large parties.