Mont Blanc du Tacul - Contamine Grisolle

Datum:

29.06.2023

Tourcharakter:

Alpinklettern

Tourlänge:

6:45h

Entfernung:

7,5km

© Hannah Vickers I’d originally thought that Mont Blanc du Tacul could be easily tagged on the way back from doing the Kuffner Ridge on Mont Maudit, but we ended up binning that idea as I was pretty exhausted and couldn’t face any more unnecessary uphills than we needed to do... And since there are nicer ways to tag the summit than slogging up from the Col Maudit it seemed like a much better idea to come back with fresh legs after having a few days rest and climb one of the more interesting routes on the Triangle du Tacul. After two days rest I felt ready to climb a mountain again but by this time the stable summer weather we’d had for nearly a week was starting to break down, and so for the thursday we really only had until midday to climb the mountain and get back before the forecasted thunderstorms >>>

Mont Maudit - Kuffner Arete

Datum:

26.06.2023

Tourcharakter:

Alpinklettern

Tourlänge:

12:15h

Entfernung:

13,9km

© Hannah Vickers The Kuffner ridge on Mont Maudit has been sitting on my “wishlist” for a number of years; not just because Mont Maudit is also on the 4000m list, but because of what I’d heard from other people and seen cool pictures from the route. Moreover, the route description opens with “This is one of the finest ridge climbs in the Alps, combining snow aretes with interesting mixed sections and unfolds amongst scenery of the highest order....”. After a binned attempt in June 2022 (we only got as far as Cirque Maudit after a night with no decent refreeze) I was super keen to make the most of any opportunity with good weather and snow conditions this year. Since the Col de la Fourche bivouac hut got swept down off the ridge and destroyed last summer by rockfall, our only options were to start >>>

Nordend

Datum:

24.06.2023

Tourcharakter:

Hochtour

Tourlänge:

10:10h

Entfernung:

11,0km

© Hannah Vickers Nordend is one of the 50 major 4000m summits listed in Martin Moran’s guidebook to the 4000m peaks of the Alps, despite having a prominence of less than 100m, so it was on my to-do list for this summer even though given the choice I’d rather have done a ski-assisted ascent much like I’d done on the Dufourspitze a couple of years earlier. After almost an entire week of strong gales and a storm depositing new snow up high I’d originally wanted to use the new weather window to go and climb the Kuffner Arete on Mont Maudit, but since both the Torino and Cosmiques huts were full for friday and saturday night, we ended up heading to Nordend first since there was still many availabe beds in the Monte Rosa hut, which had literally just opened for the summer season. We drove over to Zermatt >>>

Le Luisin NE ridge

Datum:

21.06.2023

Aiguille Verte - Whymper Couloir

Datum:

18.06.2023

Tourcharakter:

Alpinklettern

Tourlänge:

11:00h

Entfernung:

9,0km

© Hannah Vickers After acclimatising in the Saas valley I was originally supposed to head over to Evolene on the saturday and meet up with British mountain guide Tim Neill and climb with him for a couple of weeks again. I was really looking forward to this as it had been a few years since he’d been out in the Alps for the summer season. We had been keeping in contact during the week about potential objectives, and as things turned out it looked like there would be a weather window for doing the Whymper couloir on the Aiguille Verte on the saturday/sunday after my trip up the Lagginhorn. I had hoped to have had two good nights sleep down in the valley before embarking on another 4000er like the Verte, but as most of the routes on the Aiguille Verte are a bit tricky to get in good condition this opportunity >>>

Lagginhorn

Datum:

15.06.2023

Tourcharakter:

Wanderung

Tourlänge:

6:50h

Entfernung:

8,6km

© Hannah Vickers I had planned to head up the Lagginhorn for acclimatisation quite far in advance, and so booked a place in the Weissmies hut before I'd even left Norway. It was quite lucky then that I'd struck a nice weather window this week. Had a nice relaxing walk up to the hut on the wednesday, and was welcomed by the hut guardian Roberto just as I arrived and for some reason he already seemed to know who I was. When I asked how, he replied that I was the only person booked to stay at the hut that night - a bit of a novelty! As the day went on, another group of 3 (one guide and two Swiss guests) turned up, so I wasn't eating dinner alone that evening, but I did get an entire empty dormitory for myself ;-) Had a great night's sleep until 4am the following morning, then had a relaxed breakfast. The other >>>

Jegihorn

Datum:

12.06.2023

Tourcharakter:

Wanderung

Tourlänge:

4:00h

© Hannah Vickers Første dag i Saas Grund etter en lang reise sørover fra Tromsø. Tok gondolen opp til Kreuzboden og gikk opp mot Jegihorn for å få meg en liten akklimatiseringstur. Var fint vær og godt å se et ordentlig snødekke på de fleste fjellene! For en gangs skyld så Lagginhorn ganske spennende ut, mesteparten av vestryggen var snødekt og det var et pent spor som strakk seg langs hele vestryggen :-) Fulgte blå/hvit skilting oppover og tok mange pauser underveis. Kroppen kjente på at den hadde blitt transportert ganske raskt fra havnivå til over 3000 moh! Det lå en del snø på ruten som gjorde det litt mer tidkrevende men den var stort sett fast and fint å gå på, ihvertfall i 10-11 tiden (var betydelig bløtere på turen ned). Angret litt på at jeg tok gåstavene opp til toppen da de >>>

Sørtinden & Brosmetinden

Datum:

10.06.2023

Brattfjellet

Datum:

09.06.2023

Finnlandsfjellet

Datum:

06.06.2023