Gastlosen traverse (12.08.2018)
| Start point | Oberberg |
|---|---|
| Characteristic | Alpine trip |
| Duration | 6h 00min |
The start of the second week in the Alps started off sunny and warm again and initially the plan had been to drive over to Zermatt, climb Pollux and sleep at the Ayas hut, then do the Breithorn traverse the next morning if the weather was good enough. Unfortunately the weather forecast changed and now there was only going to be good weather on the Sunday, so it seemed a bit pointless to spend 100 Swiss francs on the Klein Matterhorn lift just for a day trip to Pollux. So the backup plan was to drive to the north side of the Rhone valley and do the Gastlosen traverse, which is an impressive row of jagged limestone peaks that seem to jump out of the green rolling hillside from nowhere. This week I was climbing with John, another British mountain guide and keen rock climber originally from Ireland but now living in North Wales.
The nearest town to the starting place at Oberberg is Jaun and it took around 2 hours to drive from Evolene, so we had an early(ish) start leaving Evolene at 7.15am and starting the walk in at around 9.30am. I, having not done any reading up on the route, had only had time to take a quick glance at the route description in the guidebook before we started. Apparently it was supposed to take between 7 to 9 hours, and that didn’t include the walk in I don’t think! The approach to the Col d’Oberberg was pretty short and direct, and also felt like hard work in the hot sun, but after perhaps ½ hour we had arrived at the start of the first pitch, a nice 4b with juggy holds and climbing on the shady northwest side of the ridge. The next short pitch was graded 4c – and started off with a small traverse out to a tree which then led steeply up to the crest of the ridge again, taking us to the foot of a rather strenuous pitch (5c+ if climbed free, 4c if you pull on gear….). Here we had to wait for a while since we’d caught up with a pair of climbers that were going somewhat slower, but it was useful to observe where the difficulties potentially were. Anyway, needless to say I’m glad I wasn’t doing the leading on that pitch! It was surprisingly fun to climb – though having said that I did make use of the opportunity to pull on the quickdraws before unclipping them, not sure I’d have gotten up otherwise! ;)
Another straightforward 4b pitch took us to the summit of the Eggturm and a short and steep grassy descent down the south facing side got us to a col where we crossed over to the shady side again and skirted round a rather cool looking pinnacle known as the Katze which I think was an optional climb. Two more 4a/4b followed to the next minor summit, then a straightforward downclimb which took us to the start of a loose gully. Easy scrambling up here then a slabby but really pleasant 4b pitch to the top of the Marchzähne where we stopped for a lunch break. By this time I was actually starting to enjoy this alternative non-4000m climbing day :) From here there was just one more summit to climb on the traverse, the Glattewandspitze and to get there from the Marchzähne there was a bit of downclimbing, abseiling and easy but exposed scrambling to overcome first. We left the summit before the other group of climbers we’d caught up with on the summit, which was definitely an advantage and we made pretty swift progress across to the Glattewandspitze. Here we found there was not only a cross with a book to sign, but we also discovered a welsh flag inside the box which John found quite amusing. Whilst signing the book a golden eagle flew overhead which was apparently not a common occurrence and provided another good excuse to hang around and take photos before we embarked on the descent.
Two 20m abseils got us down to the grass at the bottom and we continued on a sort of vague trail first on the north side of the ridge and involving a couple of steep gullies and traverses, then finally coming back into the south facing side which was surprisingly loose – probably the first bit of loose rock we’d encountered during the entire traverse. The final part of the descent went down a lightly-trodden path, and though steep it was mainly grass and OK to walk on. It was ace to finish off the walk back to the car by passing under the ridgeline, which looked like a long row of amazing spikes from where we were. A bit more forest walking ensued before we finally arrived back at the car, 6 hours after starting. I guess we’d been a bit more efficient than the guidebook estimate! I have to admit that even though we hadn’t ended up on a high snowy peak, the quality of the rock and the route itself was far better than I’d expected. So now I’ve decided that I like climbing limestone and Chamonix granite. The list is growing!
User comments
Nice!
Written by kobbenes 01.09.2018 07:17Really enjoy your reports, Hannah. Lots of nice pics and good reading!
Re: Nice!
Written by hmsv1 01.09.2018 07:32Thanks! That's nice to hear :)