Alpine Mountaineering Conditions Summer 2011
Topping out on the Gran Paradiso North Face.
Excellent Conditions in early summer 2011
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14th August, Matterhorn North Face Guided
Mat Helliker and Steve Potter are just down from climbing the North Face of the Matterhorn in about 9 hours, in August! Read more details on the BMG website here.
20th July Blowing Snow on the Matterhorn & Wintery throughout the Swiss Alps
Aborted our attempt to climb the Matterhorn this week and the gaurdian at the Hornli Hut confirmed they had plenty of snow and strong winds at hut level today and the chance of climbing the mountain this week was close to nil. In an attempt to get something done in the cold, snowy and cloudy weather currently spread across the Swiss Alps we visited the Moiry Hut (Val d'Anniviers) and climbed the Pigne de la Lé. This is a relatively good choice in snowy conditions and poor visibility as the main crevassed section of the Moiry Glacier is totally avoided and some good snowed up PD rock ridge sport can be had going up and down the North Ridge. With the snow line down to about 2600m even the relatively low rock ridges of the Aiguille de la Lé & Courronne de Breona were plastered in fresh snow that will take a day of warm sunny weather to strip clear.
11th July, Weissmies Traverse (4017m), Swiss Alps
A decent freeze on the North Flank glacier, despite the overnight mist and drizzle, gave good snow conditions for the ascent. The steep, crevassed section is quite complicated this year but currently has a good track and was ok in frozen conditions. The descent on the South side was swift due to warm dry rock and complete snow cover from the base of the South Ridge to the col used for access from the Almageller Hut.
8th July, Gran Paradiso (4061m), Italian Alps
Still decent snowy conditions on the Vittorio Emanuelle route. Made the round trip from the hut in less than 6 hours due to snow still hanging on in the base of the approach valley. A busy summit day due to an inclement forecast for Mont Blanc and lots of folk here as a Plan B. Avoided the bun fight on the return from the summit by making the traverse of the summit block via the in-situ bolts and chain just beneath the summit on the North side.
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