Weissmies (25.06.2022)
Written by hmsv1 (Hannah Vickers)
| Start point | Almageller hut (2,894m) |
|---|---|
| Endpoint | Saas-Almagell (1,688m) |
| Characteristic | Alpine trip |
| Duration | 8h 49min |
| Distance | 14.0km |
| Vertical meters | 1,385m |
| GPS |
|
| Ascents | Weissmies (4,017m) | 25.06.2022 |
|---|
I've been wanting to do a "proper" alpine route solo for a few years and the south ridge of the Weissmies seemed to be a friendly option for a first solo route. I'd done it a couple of years earlier when it was plastered in new snow, but after last weekend's heatwave most ridges were now dry and clear of snow so it appeared to be an ideal opportunity to do it again. I booked a night at the Almageller hut and half expected to be the only British person there, but I ended up meeting quite a few other British guys there and had a much more social afternoon than expected chatting with them in the dining room.
Had breakfast at 4am the following morning and thought I would end up behind queues of other climbers on the approach to the Zwichbergenpass, but they were taking so long to get ready that I was the first to leave. I hadn't checked out the path beforehand, so somehow managed to miss the correct route in the dark and went up too high at first, so I had to downclimb from the high point back down to the trail below where I eventually saw some other people coming up in the distance. But after the first slight navigational error of the day I somehow managed to stay on route for the rest.
Usually the route goes up in the southeast flank on snow before meeting the south ridge at about 3700m, but since there was so little snow to walk on I eventually crossed back over to the south ridge at around 3400m and then followed the ridge, scrambling on really nice rock all the way up to the end of the ridge at just over 3900m. It was a really beautiful morning and already at 6.30am when the sun was shining on the ridge I got so warm I had to take off my thin fleece jacket and climb in a t-shirt! The best part of the ridge was probably the upper 200-300m which offered really nice scrambling and I was really happy to experience it this time in completely snow free conditions. Would have liked to not have had such heavy legs for the whole time, but it seems to be a common feature of all my summit days this summer....
The final 100m on snow up to the summit was pretty easy although there was about 50m or so along the ridge where there was no snow cover and the rock was pretty loose. Good thing there weren't any people above or below me here. I met a German speaking couple on the summit just as they were about to leave, and a British guide and his client came up about 10 minutes after I arrived, otherwise I had the summit to myself for a little while, which was pretty unusal for the Weissmies! For the descent I went back down the same way until I spotted an obvious "path" in a gully leading down to the snow in the southeast flank. Followed the snow as far as possible until it turned into a field of rubble - then headed back down and up to the Zwichbergenpass again in some mid-mountain fog. In total it took just under 4 hours up and about 2h 15 down to the Almageller hut. Had a half hour break here before continuing down to Saas Almagell (1h 40) to get a bus/train back to Evolene.
Very happy with my first solo alpine outing!
User comments