Thursday 9 August 2012

Alps 2012 Part 4

Today Pat and I summited the Allalinhorn (4027m), via the classic Holaubgrat route.

We hiked up to the Brittania hut yesterday and followed a trail to the Holaub Glacier. Our intention was to bivy nearer the hut but we couldn't find a decent water source. Instead we ended up perched on broken moraine on the edge of the glacier. There was nowhere flat to pitch up, so we slept with rocks digging into our backs.

At 2:30am we left the tent and started up the mountain. Finding a way through the glacier was far harder than we imagined, and we had to make several twisting detours around crevasses, and jump straight over a few more. Eventually, the glacier became a steeper snow slope, which was long and tiring. Somewhere around c3500m we crested the ridge proper. The climbing was straightforward but exposed in places, and there were large cornices to our left the whole way.

After traversing the sub peak 'Point 3837', the ridge briefly descended, before finally steepening up to the crux rock band. We climbed this moving together, ensuring there was at least one bit of fixed gear clipped at all times. The gear consisted of wobbly pegs and rusty old stakes jammed under boulders. Grade-wise, it was around 'Diff', with fixed ropes over the hardest bits. Easily the best climbing of the entire route.

After topping out onto snow again, we put our crampons back on, and Pat led through a narrow arete to the summit. We reached it around 6:45. Rather than reverse the Holaubgrat we opted to shoot down the easy North-West flank to a ski station at 3500m. The hardest bit was probably dodging all the skiers as we ran across the pistes.

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