Breithorn

Datum:

08.08.2015

Tourcharakter:

Wanderung

Tourlänge:

1:30h

© Hannah Vickers Etter en latterlig varm fredag var jeg klar for en liten tur igjen. Varmen gjør meg raskt sliten og denne lørdagen skulle bli like varm som fredagen så det var kjekt å starte litt tidlig. Rocio skulle tilbringe helgen i Chamonix da de neste par dagene hadde fått en dårlig værmelding så planen var å vente til etter helgen og ta en prat om hvor vi skulle dra på siste turen da. Fikk høre med Boris og Ed siden de skulle overnatte på samme hotellet i Zermatt som meg og fant ut at de hadde planlagt å gå en liten morgentur til Breithorn. Spurte om jeg kunne bli med og heldigvis svarte de med ja, så plutselig så lørdagen min ikke så kjedelig ut. Vi tok frokost kl.7 og gikk opp til heisen like etter kl.7.30 for å kunne rekke den første som skulle opp til Klein Matterhorn kl.8. Føltes >>>

Matterhorn

Datum:

06.08.2015

Tourcharakter:

Hochtour

Tourlänge:

8:30h

© Hannah Vickers Having come down from the Eiger we now needed a new objective since the updated weather forecast seemed to be pretty promising for the next couple of days. Rocio had mentioned she had thought about doing a traverse of the Matterhorn, starting in Italy and finishing on the Swiss side but as a result of the hot temperatures this summer the Italian side of the mountain was recently closed because of rockfall risk. Fortunately the Hörnli ridge on the Swiss side was not. I have to admit that despite knowing about this famous Toblerone mountain since before I was even a teenager it has never been on my to-do list. I’ve heard a lot about how popular the ascent of the mountain is from the Hörnli ridge so anyone wanting to climb it must be able to move more or less continuously from start to finish >>>

Portjengrat traverse

Datum:

22.08.2014

Tourcharakter:

Alpinklettern

Tourlänge:

10:30h

© Hannah Vickers Final day of the climbing week. Objective: Portjengrat. This is a ca. 1km long ridge route at alpine AD/AD+ and according to the guidebook, required in the region of 9 hours to complete from the Almageller hut. Originally Terry had proposed that we have breakfast at 3.30am again to leave by 4am, but since the hut wardens weren’t serving breakfast earlier than 5am, it meant that we would aim to leave by 5.30am. Luxury alpine start?(!). I slept incredibly well, despite sharing a small dormitory with approx. 8 or 9 other guys. This has to be the first time EVER I have stayed in an alpine hut with so many guys who DON’T snore! Unbelievable. In a good way :) The atmosphere round our table at breakfast was somewhat quiet, in contrast to some of the other groups who seemed un-normally chatty for >>>

Dri Hörnli

Datum:

21.08.2014

Tourcharakter:

Alpinklettern

Tourlänge:

6:00h

© Hannah Vickers After some heavy rain showers during the previous evening, we all woke up to a surprisingly sunny morning in Saas Grund. Turns out the weather was proving to be better than what we’d expected from the forecast. Anyway, we had a decent, laid-back breakfast and got ready to leave at around 10am. The plan for today was to walk up to the Almageller hut, leave behind stuff we didn’t need and then do an afternoon climb on the Dri Horlini (or Dri Hörnli), which is graded at around 4/4+. It was great to be wearing lighter and more flexible boots today too! I had only tested out a pair of Scarpa Rebel Lite goretex boots on one or two hikes before leaving Tromsø, so I hoped they would be equally as comfortable now. The walk up to the hut starts from Saas Almagell. We saved ourselves one or two hundred >>>

Allalinhorn ENE ridge

Datum:

20.08.2014

Tourcharakter:

Hochtour

Tourlänge:

5:00h

© Hannah Vickers After our ascent of the Gran Paradiso North Face we descended back down to the valley from the Chabod hut in fog and rain showers and took a coffee break at the cafe at Pont. While here we had a browse through the guide books, got an updated weather forecast and thought over our options for the rest of the week. There seemed to be a bit of unstable weather until thursday, but friday looked to be a good day. After much discussion and suggestions, we made a plan to drive to Saas Grund and have a base there for the next two nights, and one night at the Almageller hut, which was more or less within the same area. So we made the long(ish) drive back from Italy over the St. Bernards Pass into Switzerland again and eastwards along the Rhone valley towards the Saas valley. To break up the journey a bit we stopped at a Coop >>>

Weissmies

Datum:

14.07.2009

Tourcharakter:

Hochtour

© Hannah Vickers Having a day trip to the Weissmies meant that we could carry relatively light rucksacks and there wasn’t too many things to have to think about packing. So at 6am, we bundled back into Anthony’s Audi and drove down to the Tamoil garage at Sion to meet Hannah, our other guide and also split up into 2 cars which would be a lot more comfortable for the journey up to Saas Grund. It was a dry, slightly overcast morning, which was getting gradually sunnier as we progressed further east and up the valley again. Saas Grund wasn’t particularly high up, and we were going to take the Hohe Saas gondolas up to the station at about 3100m, which would place us quite nicely for the ascent to the top of the Weissmies at 4027m. We left the Hohe Saas station about 20 minutes after jumping on at Saas Grund, >>>

Pigne d'Arolla

Datum:

13.07.2009

Tourcharakter:

Hochtour

© Hannah Vickers Sunday, 12th July 2009 It was a nice, fresh morning we woke up to but it looked like it was gradually becoming more overcast as the morning drew on. Anthony, our guide, pulled up at the chalet at about 9.50am and our first stop was a gear hire shop in Les Hauderes, a couple of km down the road. Tobbe needed some proper boots and crampons, and Dan also needed to hire crampons. My chesty cough was still giving me much hassle, so I waited outside while they sorted out all the bits they needed. Once we'd driven to Arolla and parked up we began the walk in to the Dix hut. Mont Collon dominated the views at the top end of the valley, which stayed pretty much to our left. The air was warm but not too intense. At about halfway to the hut we reached a nice grassy plateau and stopped for some lunch. It >>>

Mont Blanc de Cheilon

Datum:

08.08.2005

Tourcharakter:

Hochtour

© Hannah Vickers Monday 8th August 2005: Leysin – Arolla – Dix Hut The ascent of Mont Blanc de Cheilon was the first peak of a week-long student mountaineering course. Unusually we were a group of five girls (we didn’t know each other before the course started) with a Swedish alpine guide named Dick. Our preparations for the week kicked off on the first day when the five of us – Lucy, Rosie, Gabie, Anna and me - went on a grocery shopping expedition in the local Coop in Leysin having been handed 200 swiss francs by Dick. Our basket was quickly filled up with cereal bars, chocolate, dried meat and fruits, cheese and bread and some fresh fruit for the journey over to Arolla. After the shopping efforts, we eventually drove out of Leysin and down the winding road into Aigle at the bottom of the valley. The >>>

Monte Rosa traverse

Datum:

24.07.2003

Nose of Lyskamm/Piramide Vincent

Datum:

22.07.2003

© Hannah Vickers Second day of the Monte Rosa traverse. Started from the Quintino Sella hut. Didn't go over Liskamm for some reason or another (either snow conditions or too much wind, I forget now). Finished at the Gnifetti Hut.