Lyskamm traverse (02.07.2021)
Written by hmsv1 (Hannah Vickers)
| Start point | Quintino Sella hut (3,583m) |
|---|---|
| Endpoint | Rotenboden (2,801m) |
| Characteristic | Alpine trip |
| Duration | 11h 28min |
| Distance | 26.7km |
| Vertical meters | 1,418m |
| GPS |
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| Ascents | Liskamm Ostgipfel (4,527m) | 02.07.2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Liskamm Westgipfel (4,479m) | 02.07.2021 |
I first came to know about the traverse of Lyskamm during a trip to the Alps in July 2003. The original itinerary for the week had been to climb Castor, Pollux, Lyskamm and the Dufourspitze via the Margherita hut and Zumsteinspitze. In the end the traverse of Lyskamm never happened because the guide I was then climbing with decided it was too windy that day, and we ended up ascending Il Naso (the Nose of Lyskamm) and Vincent Pyramid instead. In hindsight I don’t think I had sufficient alpine mountaineering experience to do the traverse, which is basically a 2km narrow and exposed snow ridge so it was perhaps just a well that we didn’t do it that day. However, since then it has been high on my wishlist of routes to do in the Alps but for some reason or another there has never been the right timing to do it in previous years. Until now :-)
With summer in the Alps having been unseasonably cool and snowy this year, conditions were near-perfect for more or less all snow routes, and after having come back from Piz Bernina it looked like a two-day weather window would be coming up, which would be just enough time to squeeze in a quick round trip from Zermatt to include a west to east traverse of Lyskamm from the Sella hut. On our approach to the Quintino Sella hut we made a quick trip over Castor to make the most of the nice afternoon weather before having a good dinner at 7pm, ready for a 4am breakfast the following morning. I can also highly recommend a stay at the hut – the staff are nice, the dining room is spacious and the food is excellent!
As usual I didn’t get much sleep despite the dormitory having been fairly quiet in the night. But since this is a recurring theme I think I kind of half expect to get out of bed feeling pretty terrible now. On the other hand I was really looking forward to finally doing this well-known ridge traverse which I’d been waiting 18 years to do! By the time we’d packed rucksacks and put on glacier travel gear there were already the first signs of dawn and headtorches weren’t really needed for all that long. The sky was clear, the air was crisp and the snow was very well frozen. As we made our way slowly up the Felik glacier there was a cold breeze which kept the temperature feeling rather fresh. After having taken off my insulated jacket just after leaving the hut, I decided I needed to put it back on again, plus a pair of mitts. The sun had already risen by the time we began the short steep slope up to the Felikjoch, but it would be a long time before we’d see any of it on the southwest facing slopes we were on. After reaching the Felikjoch, where we’d descended from Castor the previous day, we continued across a small plateau to the southwest ridge of the west peak of Lyskamm. The breeze was now no longer a breeze and the wind was starting to feel pretty bitter, so I put on a spare insulated vest when we next took a quick stop. However, as we progressed further up the steepening snow ridge the wind got stronger and both I and Graham were beginning to feel desperately cold. I regretted having brought an ultra thin, ultra breathable pair of Dynafit running pants instead of something warmer. I definitely didn’t need trousers with superb ventilation properties at that point!! It was the kind of coldness that made my leg muscles feel so stiff that they were practically screaming at me all the way up, as if I’d got some sort of lactic acid build up or something. Finally, after cramponing up to the rocks at the right edge of the snow we found a more sheltered spot in the sunshine to regain a bit of warmth again before making our way up the final snow slopes to the western summit. The suffering was all worthwhile though with the reward being an incredible 360-degree view filled with pristine snowy summits and big open glaciers.
We found some respite from the wind just below the western summit, so we took a very brief break here to have a drink and something to eat before embarking on the traverse proper. After all these years of anticipation I was very much looking forward to finding out how exciting the ridge traverse between the two summits really was. With the excellent snow conditions and the track which had already been made, the ridge itself wasn’t so intimidating as I was expecting it to be. Narrow in places, yes and with a short fun rock section to negotiate along the way. But it was basically a very nice walk along a very fine snow ridge with spectacular views :-) The final slopes up to the eastern summit from the low point on the ridge were somewhat broader but still gave really terrific views on both sides; toward the Dufourspitzer and Signalkuppe above the Grenzgletscher to the left and down into sunny snow-free Italy on the right. We reached the eastern summit just under 4.5 hours after leaving the Sella hut and as a bonus, the wind had also stopped blowing by this point and other teams were sat on the summit eating what was probably a second breakfast. Many photos were taken and many minutes were spent absorbing the views and the warm sunshine. Reluctantly we began the descent via the East ridge to the Lisjoch, which was also a very elegant and steeper snow arete. Snow conditions were optimal! We passed a few teams who seemed to be taking their time, and it took around an hour to reach the Lisjoch from the east summit where we took a new break to take off several jackets, which had now become too warm. In the space of about 3 hours the temperature felt like it had increased by about 30 degrees or something. The contrast was huge!
The descent from the Lisjoch involved a bit more uphill, skirting around the Parrotspitze to join the main tracks between the Margherita and Gnifetti huts. There were a lot of folk around now and it was actually a bit of a relief to come off the track to start descending the Grenzgletscher which felt quite deserted in comparison. From where we left the main track it was a good 6-7km to the Monte Rosa hut, and straight down the glacier. Outside of the tracks the snow was pretty crusty and not particularly fun to walk down in with crampons on, but once we joined the well trodden track going up toward the Margherita hut from the Monte Rosa hut, progress escalated and we were plodding down at an efficient pace again. The descent route gave some pretty awesome views of the northeast face of Lyskamm, as well as head-on views of the east face of the Matterhorn. Concentration was needed though as there were still some massive gaping crevasses to walk around and some smaller ones to hop across. Now approaching the middle of the day the snow had softened appreciably and as we got to within a few kilometers of the Monte Rosa hut, a couple of holes started to jump out of nowhere and produced a few surprises. But the conditions were otherwise pretty good in comparison to the rotten snow we’d encountered on Piz Bernina at the start of the week.
After some 14 km of walking in crampons we were finally able to enjoy 45 minutes of crampon free walking down to the Monte Rosa hut, which we reached shortly after midday. We hadn’t planned to sleep here overnight, but it was a good place to get a cold drink, sit down for an hour and rehydrate before continuing on our way back to the train station at Rotenboden. I changed into shorts and vest top for the walk out but kept the winter boots on since I didn’t have any trainers to wear. Probably not an outfit combination that’s likely to take off in the next few years but it was at least practical for keeping cool in the hot sunshine ;-) I’d never done the approach walk to the Monte Rosa hut from Rotenboden before, and I was mostly expecting to walk straight down to the Gornergletscher on a nice Swiss path. It wasn’t like that. The “path” which was still largely covered in snow, didn’t really descend at all until we’d reached the dry part of the Gornergletscher at around 2900m. Instead it was very much an undulating route which traversed around the rocky lower part of the Monte Rosa glacier for what seemed like an eternity. After some time spent amongst the snow covered boulders we eventually arrived on the half decent path which I had imagined we’d walk down on, and this took us across to the dry glacier where we put the crampons back on for the descent down to the start of the path going back up to Rotenboden. I have to admit I was starting to lose interest in this walk out, though I couldn’t fault the weather. Plus it made the whole day feel like a proper journey with a lot of varied views. It was a relief to reach the edge of the hillside beneath the Gornergrat and know that all we had left to do was walk up a very gently sloping path for a few more kilometers. It took probably another 1.5 hours to slog up the path, and it was pretty cool to look back at the journey we’d made – it was a pretty long way..... but finally at around 4.30pm we had made it to Rotenboden, and had about 5 minutes to spare for buying tickets before the next departiure to Zermatt. Talk about good timing! It was a great feeling to plonk ourselves down on the train seats and relax after a long walk :-) Thanks to Graham for another brilliant outing on an equally brilliant 4000m peak!
| Start date | 02.07.2021 04:56 (UTC+01:00 DST) |
| End date | 02.07.2021 16:24 (UTC+01:00 DST) |
| Total Time | 11h 28min |
| Moving Time | 10h 43min |
| Stopped Time | 0h 45min |
| Overall Average | 2.3km/h |
| Moving Average | 2.5km/h |
| Distance | 26.7km |
| Vertical meters | 1,418m |
User comments
Looks magical!
Written by Skippy 05.08.2021 22:39Sounds and looks like our Senja trip in Jan, just 50 x more epic mountains and 50 x more sun! Maybe shorts would have given you more insulation? :)
Re: Looks magical!
Written by hmsv1 06.08.2021 06:01Yeah, it was probably just as cold as the Senja trip in january but I wasn't wearing warm skimo trousers, 7000m boots with heated socks and a huge down jacket this time :-) The ridge here was about 50 times longer and 50 times narrower than Stormoa though! Would definitely had said yes to a pair of shorts for extra insulation ;-)