Chasing the weather – an Alpine road trip

Photos & Story: Phil Behan

January 29^th, 2018

A brief flashback

Clare and I tried something new last year: rather than hiring a car we hired a van for our road trip to the Alps. As with many such things the idea came from necessity. We were simply looking at carrying too much luggage to afford flying out because we wanted to carry a range of gear that would let us do whatever route or climb we fancied on any given day. A long story made short: as a foot passenger on P&O there is no luggage limit and you can hire a van at the ferry terminal in Calais. Neither of our small cars seemed right for the job and a van gave us the option of emergency shelter. So we set off across Europe following the weather forecast in a Renault Trafic. We crossed the Alps east-to-west over the narrow passes in our van and it proved to work out really well.

Another day another bivi (Gran paradiso)

Itchy feet

After spending a month of our previous year in the Alps, Clare and I couldn’t quite manage on just a long weekend in Chamonix this year, although it did prove fun. We quickly settled on a van-based road trip being needed again as we wanted a cheap trip where we could get more committing routes done, but also have the flexibility to follow the weather. And so started the planning, guide book trawling, UKC stalking, questioning people at walls, guide interrogating, map examining and all the general excited prep of such things.

One country stood out for us - Switzerland. We’d driven through it the year before and fell in love with a couple of areas. That year the weather had limited us to cragging from the Furka Pass and in Saas Fee. It wasn’t hard to find guides who agreed with us about the places to go, either, which added to the feeling of unfinished business!

Furka what?

After the best part of three days behind the wheel of, mostly this time in a giant Iveco Daily, we were somewhere useful. The Furka Pass forms something of an east-west divide in Southern Switzerland, while also forming a steep wall at the end of the Rhône Valley. There’s also some decent climbing to be had here. The nearby Grimsel Pass gets a little more British footfall, but we were the only Brits we saw over a few days.

Our first route was the SE Grat of Galenstock: a lovely AD+ route approached from the road or Sidelen Hut. It proved to have better climbing than billed across online forums - the much complained-about choss was easily avoided in favour of good solid rock. There was a great measure of exposure on the rock that contrasted well with the snowy summit ridge. Descending down the ‘normal route’ is definitely pretty, if much longer than the alternative abseils, but mostly gave us the chance to get up close and personal with the labyrinth-like Rhône Glacier.

After thirteen hours on our feet the day before, we took a more relaxed approach the following day, sport climbing near Gletsch at the base of the pass. Good rock and fine routes taken at a very leisurely pace proved just the antidote to sore legs and renal failure from the day before.

Fancying ourselves as proper fast and light types, our next target was the Gross Furkahorn ESE Grat (IV). After a depressingly early start we made our way back up onto the glacier and up to the route. Sadly, as the alpenglow faded so did Clare’s will to fight the bug she’d been harbouring since the start of our trip. We abseiled off and headed for the van. It was shaping up to be another great route but it seemed better to retreat and look after ourselves. Sadly the weather was on the turn as we got back to the van, so we decided to drive for several hours across Switzerland….as you do.

Bregaglia to Italia

The next day started with views of Piz Bernina and the famous Biancograt from the Julier Pass in the far est of Switzerland. This wasn’t something that went unnoticed, as we had Piz Bernina on the list of 4000ers to tick off on the road trip. We took the opportunity to go and explore a new area and went to have a look at Albigna and it turns out half of the NMC have climbed here. We enjoyed Lewis’s write-up. For those that haven’t, the area is accessed by a cable car from the valley floor leading up to a dam with some stunning views. The climbing is made up of a good mix of long bolted multi-pitch routes with a great atmosphere - it also catches the weather well so you can get no lovely views at all! We managed to get the complete spectrum of weather conditions, which was starting to become a theme. In fact it was enough of an issue that we decided it was best not to have an epic at 4000m in the coming days. Having put aside three days to do the Biancograt there was one obvious alternative in the area to take its place - Piz Bernina.

After a night over the border eating far more than is reasonable (and for next-to-no expenditure) we squeezed (a little too literally) our van up the little road to the car park for the north side of Piz Badile. If this road is still accessible and hasn’t been destroyed by the recent landslide, the walks from the Val Bondasca would be highly recommended as the area is stunning. If you believe the guide book, the Sciora Hut gives access to a wealth of nice routes (we heard the approaches were iffy with loose rock at the time). We chose to walk in to the Sasc Furä Hut (our base) more directly giving access to our target without putting ourselves in the way of potential rockfall - our target being the Nordkante (3305m, D), which also turns out to have been done by half of the NMC!

The climb got off to an inauspicious start. Rain was pouring down as we dragged ourselves into the breakfast room for a 4am start. Thankfully things settled by 5am and with a delayed departure we headed for the route. Despite this we were rapidly upon the teams that had suffered the last of the rain. Clare gets a special mention at this point for impressively rapid changeovers and impeccable belay organisation. The issue with starting late is that you’re at the back of the queue and this impacted us in two ways: we were slowed by the other groups and victim to the guides following up with clients that tied us in knots. All said and done the climbing was great. The ridge is brilliantly exposed and the rock lovely. The only rubbish bit is the 10+ abseils to get back down the other side to our chosen bivvy site... don’t worry there’s another very nice hut you can use instead and carry far less gear too!

The following morning we made an unconventional decision. We chose to descend into northern Italy and take 2 buses and 2 trains back around the mountain. The normal way is to go over a pass to the west, back to the Sasc Furä Hut, or take a tortuous abseil back down the Nordkante. Our choice descended a pleasant valley to a popular tourist trap and picnic spot for Italians and did not require us to carry the ice axe and crampons we’d have needed for the pass. We also skipped the pass because reports were that it was in bad condition and that there’d been a recent fatality because of this. I’d say our choice was a good one (only to be improved upon by having a car at each side like one Italian group or by getting a helicopter home like another - this actually happened).

Gran paradiso initially good weather climbing up the glacier

Oops

OK, so the next bit was a bit of a booboo - we mistook the weather forecast in western Switzerland as being good for a couple of days. Keen to tick off a couple of routes at the top of the Klein Matterhorn lift in Zermatt we set off through northern Italy and over yet more alpine passes back to Switzerland. In actual fact the French, Swiss, Austrian and most of the Italian Alps had a chance stormy weather. As we approached Sion the inevitable happened. Thankfully a quick check showed that the Aosta Valley was clear so we hot footed it there over the St-Bernard Pass (the tunnel is €75 for a van). The huts on Gran Paradiso were full on the night of our planned attempt, which was an opportunity of sorts: this is the only circumstance in which you can camp or bivvy in the Parco Nazionale Gran Paradiso... bring on another chilly night under the tarp half way up an alp!

The day started colder than expected, but after coffee and porridge the overnight gear was stashed before the first headtorches appeared. We met the first party from the Chabod Hut on the path, and walked with them to the glacier under torchlight. This year the glaciers have been pretty open and there has been talk from guides about avoiding some routes. This was evident for us with some pretty awkward crevasses to cross and circumvent as we climbed, but there were no major difficulties underfoot.

The weather had other ideas - the temperature dropped quite markedly and the wind gradually built, with the odd flurry of snow. It’s at times like this that the tourist industry surrounding these routes becomes most obvious. Approximately 200m from the top we were in weather and visibility that was at best poor. Some of the clients with the guides had clearly little or no experience with their kit and were suffering. To continue in the snake to the rocky top would have been easy, but had we lost them the navigation would have become exceptionally challenging. Paid to do so, the guides we were around in the line pressed on, but remarking how rubbish it was and how this was a day they wished they could be at home (especially the one with hot aches!).

We decided to call it quits - this was not a day to be at 4000m unless someone was paying you a substantial sum to do so. Sitting in the Chabod Hut drinking coffee and hot chocolate neither of us regretted our decision as we watched the clouds and wind pummel the summit. And so we happily trotted down yet another alpine path back to the valley floor and our now beloved van for another long drive.

Piz Badile one of many abseils down Italian side

Gran paradiso - another day another bivi

Back over the St Bernard

Recognising that the time remaining for our trip was limited, and the cost of the Zermatt lifts required a multi-day expedition - eg. 100 CHF for the Klein Matterhorn! - our Zermatt plans were shelved for another year. Instead we headed for Saas Fee and a better forecast than Italy. More importantly, it took us a step closer to Calais!

Having been either climbing or driving every day of our trip we thought it time for more of a rest in Saas. Our first day started after a well-earned lie-in. The via ferrata on the Jegihorn fitted the bill for a stretch of the legs and a bit of interest nicely, especially the rather high suspension bridge that seemed to freak out some climbers behind us. We also encountered a first for me: one or two places had pieces of rock bolted to the cliff face to make holds. A useful note: staying in Saas allows you a tourist pass that gets you on all but a couple of lifts for free, including the one to the route mentioned here. For our last day we didn’t feel like just jumping straight in the van so we stayed in Saas and played on a local sport crag tucking off a few nice routes. Clare even upped her lead grade!