Multipitch Climbing Reports

It was during our last year's trip to the Aiguilles des Dorees that I first set eyes on the Petit Clocher du Portalet - and I was immediately fascinated by its impressive contours. A mountain to come back for! In particular, as it hosts one of the most peculiar crack climbs of Switzerland, the État de Choc ("state of shock"), a line notorious for its wide cracks. A word and a year later I returned together with Dave to embark on a memorable climbing journey... État de Choc 7a (6c obl?) 300m C. & Y. Rémy 1983 L1 6a/+ 25m 3 bolts                Easy blocks & steep boulder at the end. L2 6b   35m 2 bolts                Crack boulder, technical corner, chossy ledge. L3 6b+  25m 1 bolt                 Steep face sequence L4 6c   50m 1 "bolt"               Layback, hand/fist crack, chimne...

Motivated by the great memories from last year's Howalthlon at Handegg, I was eager to further explore the wealth of slabs at Grimselpass. In particular, the abundance of low angle routes at Gerstenegg had caught my interest. Unfortunately, the intersection of motivated, fit and available partners was empty at the time, so the idea of a solo outing came about. However, to link up 70-80 pitches in a day would require to free-solo most of the terrain - which seemed acceptable, given that the difficulties are mostly grade V or less. Nevertheless, I did not feel comfortable enough to free-solo the few 6a pitches, so a more differentiated strategy was due. Firstly, I brought along 10m of rope to daisy-solo/rope-solo any sections, which I might not feel 100% solid on. Secondly, we planned that Miriam would join me later in the day for the "tougher" routes. Eventually, on a long day in July, with a more or less promising weather forecast, we arrived at Chöenzetennlen to put our...