Dufourspitze (10.05.2019)
Written by hmsv1 (Hannah Vickers)
| Start point | Monte Rosa hut (2,854m) |
|---|---|
| Characteristic | Randonnée/Telemark |
| Duration | 9h 00min |
| Distance | 24.0km |
| Vertical meters | 3,160m |
| GPS |
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| Ascents | Dufourspitze (4,634m) | 10.05.2019 |
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I first climbed the Dufourspitze in 2003 as a novice mountaineer with the late female British guide Brede Arkless as the final peak on a 4-day long trip around the Italian side of the Monte Rosa massif. Due to my camera betteries dying at the Gnifetti hut I never did get any photos to remember the spectacular ridge traverse over the Zumsteinspitze and Dufourspitze from the Margherita hut, but had not forgotten that it was a peak to return to and do again! Sixteen years later, and after having a one day break following our ascent of the Gran Paradiso we had a few options for finishing off the week given that the weather in the Zermatt valley was forecasted to be awesome on the Friday. With the exception of the Dom and Bishorn there aren’t actually that many peaks in the Zermatt valley that really are worth ascending with skis that I hadn’t already been to. Alphubel was also an option, but since I’ve already been there twice via different routes it didn’t seem much point revisiting it with skis. Simon’s only request was for good skiing, he wasn’t as focused as me on ticking off the big peaks…… In the end my case for the Dufourspitze won, since climbing it from the Monte Rosa hut is one long slog up the glacier when done by foot and the PD+ west ridge would provide an interesting finish for us both. I was really looking forward to revisiting Switzerland’s highest peak and also hoping that MeteoSwiss had not fooled us with its forecast of wall-to-wall sunshine on Friday.
We took an early 6am start from Chamonix to drive to Zermatt, with the aim of getting the lift up to Klein Matterhorn as early as possible. It wasn’t great weather in Chamonix and it stayed pretty gloomy as we drove eastwards along the Rhone valley, but fortunately it started to brighten up as we turned south for the Zermatt valley. We could even see the Breithorn temporarily above the clouds as we were passing through Randa. Took some time to drive, then park up in Tasch and get the train into Zermatt. By the time we’d walked across town to the lift it was well after 9am. The lift gave us some good overview of the snow conditions from above – and our possible way of descent back into Zermatt after descending the Dufourspitze. It had snowed a bit overnight and winds were high when we got off at the Klein Matterhorn, so there was a fair amount of wind deposited snow in places, but it turned out to be less than we’d first expected. The only problem was poor visibility, so we tried to wait in the cafe in the hope that the visibility would improve toward the afternoon. Alternative plans were discussed and we eventually decided to ski down the piste toward the Theodulgletscher and see how visibility and snow conditions were as we descended. Waiting around turned out to be a good plan and as we inched our way down the glacier visibility did actually improve and gradually more and more sun made its way through cracks in the cloud cover, giving us reasonable conditions for the descent. The snow conditions did deteriorate though as it got warmer and warmer. Now it had transformed from cold, dry snow up at the Klein Matterhorn (3800m) to really soggy, wet snow down at the Grenzgletscher at 2200m. But after all the uncertainty over whether we’d actually make it down to the Grenzgletcher in bad vis or not, we were pretty satisfied to have gotten this far and now all there was to do was to skin about 600m back up the glacier to reach the Monte Rosa hut.
Clothes came off and ski goggles got swapped for sun cream and sunglasses before we started the long and gradual skin up the Grenz gletscher. It was baking hot now in the middle of the day and under a mix of clouds and sunshine. My rucksack was pretty heavy since I had about 5 jackets in it instead of wearing them (!) and a load of other gear for the following day’s ascent. I had feared that Rob would set a fast pace up the glacier but fortunately we moved roped up very very slowly. I suspect both Rob and Simon were struggling with the heat more than me since they both had jackets on. I felt rather sensible by opting to skin in my t-shirt! After an hour or so of skinning in somewhat rotten snow we approached the crevassed upper section of the glacier where there were existing tracks and firmer snow. The surroundings were pretty immense with the snowy north sides of Breithorn, Castor and Lyskamm dropping steeply down on our right side. Despite having walked past all of this when we descended the Dufourspitze and passed the old Monte Rosa hut to then og back up to the Gornergrat in 2003, I didn’t recognize any of the surroundings at all. I couldn’t even remember that we encountered many crevasses on the way down from the Monte Rosa hut – nor that it had been perched so high up above the glacier. Maybe the whole glacier had changed a lot in the last 16 years…?
By the time we reached the hut it was just before 4pm and we were all very thirsty! I was very much looking forward to staying there having heard it is one of the more luxurious Swiss huts and after having wandered into the dining room it definitely seemed to live up to its reputation. The dining room was spacious, with big windows overlooking the Grenzgletscher and giving some great views of the Matterhorn, and the toilets were modern and even smelled nice :) Even the dormitories were arranged so the bunk beds followed the walls of the room and you didn’t actually have to sleep next to anyone! Both dinner and breakfast at 4am the following morning were top notch considering we were staying at a mountain hut, so I definitely give this place a thumbs up, its well worth the 78 swiss francs I think we paid per person for half board! And even better at this time of the year was that the hut was less than half full, much nicer than when they are usually packed with climbers in the height of the summer…….
After a decent sleep we were up at 4am for breakfast and enjoyed a chilled out start to the day; it was about 5am by the time were ready to leave and quite a few groups had already left before us. It was -6C when we left so I expected it to be a fair bit chillier at the summit of the Dufourspitze which was some 1800m higher than the hut.. Fortunately there was no wind down here and with the cloud cover still looming over us it never really felt that cold. The snowpack was fairly solid and we had a steep section to ascend not far after leaving the hut, so ski crampons got put on at the hut and stayed on until we hit the wonderful powder snow higher up :) Once the relatively short, steep slope had been ascended, all that was remaining was about 1000m of powder skinning up the easy angled glacier to reach the ski depot on the ridge; then we would have a few hundred metres more to climb the west ridge up to the summit. By the time we took our first break at 3300m I was feeling in good shape and very pleased that my legs weren’t feeling nearly as heavy as they were at this altitude on the Gran Paradiso a few days earlier. Probably helped that I’d slept better here I guess, but I suspect acclimatisation makes the most difference. Another 300m more passed by and still the cloud base was low and the visibility wasn’t getting any better. We were all starting to wonder whether MeteoSwiss had got it wrong and we’d been fooled into thinking that this was going to be a mega sunny day. It certainly didn’t seem like there was any hint of sunshine close by at that point. Next stop at 3800m and I checked the latest weather forecast again in the MeteoSwiss app which hinted that the sun would be coming at 10am in Zermatt. Well, it was now about 8.30am so there was still hope of seeing the sun higher up I guess…. Maybe we were going to pop out of the fog and into uninterrupted sunshine? And so we plodded on, up into zero visibility but with decent tracks and no wind or snow to speak of – so we kept going. As we continued there was an ever so small hint of improving visibility and even a rare glimpse of sunlight. Then very quickly the fog disintegrated and immediately we were greeted by the awesome sight of the Dufourspitze sitting under a crystal clear sky and a big plume of wind! But nevertheless, it seemed like we’d been suddenly transported into a completely different world altogether. It was a stunning morning as MeteoSwiss had promised and now we had a clear view across pristine powder covered glacier, up to the col where we would be making a ski depot.
By now we were over 4000m and at around the same height as the Gran Paradiso which we’d summited a few days ago so I fully expected my legs and lungs to be working hard from this point since we were now going higher than we’d been previously acclimatized to. I was not wrong either – it was hard work (for me at least) and a long, slow plod, with the final ascent to the ridge steepening to around 30-35 degrees. Thankfully it was all in nice, gentle powder tracks though and with the incredible views around us it hardly felt like suffering. But as we got closer and closer to the ridge, the wind picked up significantly and looking up at the spindrift above the ridge it was all about pyschologically preparing ourselves to be blasted once we were up there!
Taking off the skis and getting crampons and jackets on in a strong gale is not easy; but it had to be done and we didn’t hang about once we had transitioned from skis to crampons. By now I was wearing all my clothes – 4 jackets and a base layer. I don’t think I’ve even worn so much on a 6000m peak in the Himalayas! But I was a bit concerned about my toes getting cold so I had to switch the heated socks up to the middle temperature setting. Nice to feel immediate warmth in the feet :) The initial part of the west ridge consisted of a steep, icy snow slope which led us eventually onto a more rocky ridge. It was good conditions for cramponing even if the wind was constantly buffeting us from the side. Definitely felt more secure with crampons on our feet than with skis when it was so windy! The mixed, rockier part of the ridge was straightforward with easy scrambling and it was surprisingly well sheltered from the wind. With somewhat calmer conditions here it was nice to take the opportunity to gaze at the terrific view we had all around us. Lyskamm’s huge north face was pretty eye catching – and an amazing backdrop for photos looking back down the ridge. I always remember the view from the Dufourspitze being pretty amazing, but seeing it again was a really great experience. And now I had a camera that worked, so I made sure to take plenty of pictures where I could!
From the short mixed section of the ridge we got a view of the final steep snow slope, and since so many people had already made tracks here it was pretty easy cramponing up, though not I needed to take several breathers along the way. The altitude was definitely not the easy part! But once that was over, there was another section of mixed, snow covered rock ridge to negotiate. This section was much longer than the first, and gave more interesting scrambling and easy climbing (it can’t have been that hard since I was climbing the whole time with mitts on). The only difficulty here really was the fact that we had climbers both in front and behind us and some coming back down from the summit, so there was a bit of careful people-dodging to be done to either pass others or let others pass us. Just below the summit is a couple of metres of fixed rope in a sort of chimney feature, so this was also a natural bottleneck for climbers going both ways. Fortunately we only ever encountered cheerful, polite climbers on the mountain, so it was never really an unpleasant situation.
Finally on the top after many hours after leaving the hut, it was a great feeling to be back here and admire the view - it was stunning and I think we deserved it! But we didn’t stop for long since it was still cold and it wasn’t particularly early in the day. We’d decided we’d go all the way back down to Zermatt so skiing back down the Grenzgletscher late in the afternoon wasn’t ideal since the snow would be like treacle again. So there was a bit of time pressure to get back down to the hut at least. After having retraced our steps all the way back along and down the ridge we arrived once more at the windy ski depot, did an efficient transition out of crampons and then got into skiing mode for what was going to be kilometres of mega powder skiing back down the glacier to the Monte Rosa hut. Cold dry fluffy snow greeted us to within a few hundred metres above the hut; after that it was nice spring snow. My guess is that we didn’t use more than 1 hour to descend from the ridge down to the hut – it went fast, though by this time my legs were a bit tired and pretty glad to be back at the hut for a cold bottle of Coke before the final descent to Zermatt.
Well we were all very pleased with the day’s adventures so far and now it seemed like all we had to do was ski out via the Grenzgletscher, then descend a bit by foot down the gorge and get outselves down to the pistes between Trockenersteg and Furi to ski as far down as possible. When Rob described it to us it all seemed so straightforward…. As things turned out, skiing the Grenzgletscher was simple, but hot and with dwindling snow cover on the slopes just above the river, it seemed a bit sketchy and the risk of hitting rocks seemed pretty high. Nevertheless once we were down to where the snow stopped, it was a matter of packing the skis onto the rucksack and scrambling up to high point above the gorge. It didn’t seem so far, but when your legs are already a bit tired, you’re hot and thirsty and have to scramble with a heavy rucksack and ski boots on your feet, a simple re-ascent of 100-150m began to feel like a proper expedition…. When we finally reached the top we were met with the view down the valley; the pistes were miles away at the far end of the valley and it turned out to be a much longer walk in ski boots than I’d first anticipated. I thought we’d be walking straight onto the pistes after getting to the top of the gorge!
It was a bit deomralising discovery that we’d be descending a stony path for several kilometres in ski boots, but with no other options it was going to be a matter of getting on with it. By the time we reached the pistes it was about 5pm, so we’d missed any possibility of getting the last lift down from Furi to Zermatt too, so that added another 200m descent and a few more kilometres of walking onto the our already slightly epic ski boot hike down the gorge. On the other hand, despite my feet absolutely killing me by the time we got down to Zermatt, it was a really gorgeous evening and very pleasant to stroll back into town alongside the river. At the time it felt like a bit of a rubbish way to end an amazing ascent of the Dufourspitze, but after a day or two of reflection the whole adventure seemed a bit amusing. It’s always the epic long days that stay in my memory for years and years and I doubt this will ever be forgotten! It was a top day and a good journey after all :)
| Start date | 10.05.2019 05:04 (UTC+01:00 DST) |
| End date | 10.05.2019 14:05 (UTC+01:00 DST) |
| Total Time | 9h 00min |
| Moving Time | 6h 35min |
| Stopped Time | 2h 25min |
| Overall Average | 2.7km/h |
| Moving Average | 3.6km/h |
| Distance | 24.0km |
| Vertical meters | 3,160m |
User comments
Utrolig flott
Written by Olepetter 26.06.2019 09:32å lese og se bildene! Glad du deler dette med oss!
Re: Utrolig flott
Written by hmsv1 26.06.2019 11:32Takk! Hyggelig å høre :)
Nydelig!
Written by Fjellsamleren 25.06.2019 08:52Dette må virkelig ha vært en vill opplevelse! Flotte bilder av et spektakulært område!
Re: Nydelig!
Written by hmsv1 25.06.2019 09:53Takk Endre! Det var til tider litt slitsomt, men en artig tur og veldig kult å kunne bestige denne toppen med ski :)