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Wellhorn - Miracolo/Aura (6c)

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Wellhorn is one of the areas where many stars need to align: long daylight, stable weather, preferably on a Saturday, being in sufficient shape, being  sufficiently  motivated. And of course, your partner of choice should be available, in good enough shape and committed, too. These stars aligned for me and Philipp recently and we seized the opportunity to give a shot at the Miracolo/Aura combination which climbs Miracolo in the lower part and Aura in the upper part. It's a proud objective with 25 pitches totalling 700m of demanding climbing, mostly in the 6a-6c range.  The protection is decent (xxx) with exceptions mostly in lower angle terrain and a few high first bolts. We agreed that the good protection rating in the guide books (xxxx) is not what you should expect.  For my standards, the rock is pretty  perfect all the way , except when you cross the two obvious big ledges. The climbing is quite athletic, particularly in the first 8 pitches. After that it becomes more technical

Gandschijen - Südpfeiler (S-Pfeiler)

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Der Gandschijen bietet imposante und steile Granitkletterei. Touren neueren Datums reihen sich neben Klassikern wie dem S-Pfeiler, welcher bereits 1966 begangen wurde. Man stelle sich daher trotz Sanierung mit einigen BH auf ein Erlebnis der alten Schule ein. Lohnenswerte Tour! Zustieg für uns 1:15h. Fels war trotz leichtem Regen am Vorabend einwandfrei trocken. Material: 1x Cams 0.4 - 3 L1 6a Der Originaleinstieg ist nicht markiert, daher war es im Nebel nicht ganz einfach zu identifizieren welcher der vielen BH am Wandfuss den eigentlichen Start des S-Pfeilers markiert.  Wir starten unterhalb einer klassisch anmutenden, gross abstehenden und nach links offenen Schuppe. Dieser quasi kurze Kamin befindet sich ca. auf 15m Höhe.  Die Kletterei ist nett und gut abgesichert, zwischendurch sind die Risse etwas rustikal.  Ein plattiger Schritt in die Platte nach links im oberen Teil der SL stellte für uns die Crux in dieser SL dar.  Auf gerade Linie erreicht man einen neuen Irniger-Stand, di

Un triplé légendaire: Le sud, le soleil, la plage, les palmiers (6c+) at Aguilles Dorées

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On our third day of climbing after great days in  Face au large (7a) & Et je suis le vent (6c)  we were eager to get on  Le sud, le soleil, la plage, les palmiers which scales the prominent capucin des dorées. So much in advance - the route is not an easy day on the beach as the name might suggest! Interestingly, it was established in the same year and the same people as Face au large but we found it quite a tad more challenging. However, aspirants will be rewarded with an indeed exceptional series of cracks just like the guidebook promises! We reached the base at 8:00 not quite reached by the sun yet. The actual starting point will very much depend on the height of the snow cover. For us, it was very low and yet it took a bit of effort to negotiate a few meters in steep and hard snow in approach shoes. We chose the left starting variant, because it allows to get everything ready on a big rock ledge. The right variant seemed nice, too, but probably requires a series of big cams.

Un triplé légendaire: Face au large (7a) at Aguilles Dorées

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We had already received a glimpse of Face au large during our abseil descent after climbing the beautiful  Et je suis le vent . The rock and the line looked fantastic and we were stoked to come back to  Face au large  on the next day. The start at the base is close to Et je suis le vent so that we could leave all gear up there and approach light the next morning leaving at 7:00 o'clock. Our discussions before the climb mainly revolved around the second and third pitches (6c & 7a) and we hoped it wouldn't be too much of a tough start. L1 IV Nice start in good rock along easy ramps & corners. Look out for a single glue-in ring up to the right. L2 6a+ Take a left at the layback-flake with some beefy moves and follow the widening crack. Eventually traverse left along a juggy crack with poor feet. L3 6c (55m!) Long and sustained slab pitch on a face structured with knobs, dents, edges & small cracks. I think most 50m ropes will barely be long enough to cover this pitch,

Un triplé légendaire: Et je suis le vent (6c) at Aguilles Dorées

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As with many (alpine) objectives you need several things to align: favorable precipitation & temperature forecasts, a permissive agenda, proper shape as well as a likewise capable, motivated & amiable partner (with the same permissive agenda & proper shape). Thanks to vacation the agenda was as clear as the weather which promised an exceptional streak of days with hot & sunny weather around the Orny area in south-west Switzerland (0 mm, 9-14 degrees, 5-6 km/h). After a recent decent attempt in Caminando at  Wendenstöcke  (7a+) where we managed to free-climb all crux pitches >= 6c I thought our shape was good enough for the less strenuous & more technical granite (no intention to say it can't be hard, though!) So it didn't take long to convince ourselves that we should use this window of opportunity for a stay at the remote  Bivouac de l'Envers des Dorées. Max was eager for his debut while it would mean my third visit of this beautiful spot. During pre

Teufelstalschlucht - Double: Wilde 13 & Eternal Crack

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Nach "langer" Zeit sagte Meteo wieder mal einen Tag mit stabilem Bergwetter voraus und so stand die Frage im Raum wie sich dieser Tag am besten in Klettermeter ummünzen liesse. In solchen Situationen steht man meist ein wenig vor der Qual der Wahl - vieles scheint möglich, aber was macht am meisten Sinn? Viele spannende Ziele wie zb. der Salbit sind zwar mit genügend Motivation auch als Tagestour von Zürich aus realisierbar. Aber dann bleibt doch einiges an Zeit für Zu- & Abstieg auf der Strecke, die man auch kletternd verbringen könnte. Mit den Einschränkungen: Granit, Zustieg < 1h, Routenlänge > 500m, homogene Schwierigkeiten um 6bc fiel unsere Wahl schliesslich auf die Teufelstalschlucht. Hier kann man zwar auch an kürzeren Tagen und bei weniger gutem Wetter klettern, aber ein paar trockene Tage im Vorfeld schaden nicht, sodass die möglichen Zeitfenster dann doch nicht so zahlreich sind. Bei der Länge muss man hier auch gewisse Abstriche machen, die Routen sind m