Climbing Brüggler, Hiking Speer (1950m) and Chüemettler (1703m)

My brother Torsten's girlfriend, Sarah, diagnosed him as being "adventure deprived". She sent him to me for treatment. I got a whole weekend to cure this gravely serious infliction and I think in the end we've been successful ;-)

We started with an easy warm-up, climbing in the gym Friday evening. While having some prior experience Torsten isn't actually into climbing. So I gave him a quick refresher on belay safety, clipping on leads and general climbing technique.

Me in the first lead (please ignore the twisty ropes ;-)).

I picked up a rental car Saturday morning and headed for Brüggler with Torsten, Andrey, Ivan and Sasa. Brüggler is a 270m slab of limestone. It is well bolted and features climbing routes in a wide range of difficulties. Using 60m half ropes Torsten, Sasa and me made a three person rope team while Andrey and Ivan constituted "the Russians" climbing party.

Since the idea was to challenge them a bit the three of us started on via Priska. Rated at 6a+ (mandatory 6a) it is well beyond what you'd normally consider an entry level beginners route. I was leading, allowing the others to follow on top rope and climb simultaneously. We made good progress and sent the initial 5a, 5c and 5c+ pitches. However, at that point the route Andrey and Ivan were climbing traversed, cutting across ours. Andrey was belaying from an anchor just a few meters above us.

Torsten and Sasa

Not willing to waste time just "hanging around" (please excuse the pun) I decided to try and circle around him. Climbing with two ropes I figured it should be possible to minimize rope drag while doing so. However, since I was now no longer on a proper route the bolts were few and far between. I climbed a crazy zig zag line crossing several routes and through 6b terrain. Once I reached what I thought to be top I discovered that the anchor had been dismantled and only two naked screws were sticking out of the rock.

Torsten

I kept climbing and traversed far away from my last clip. By now rope drag was insane and I had to pull on the ropes with force to have them follow me. While the terrain got easier a fall would not have been a good idea with about 7 meters of diagonal run-out.

"The Russians" - Andrey and Ivan

Just when I had finally found and set up a new station and Torsten was starting to follow me, we heard growling thunder and clouds started rolling into the valley. Soon after the first rain fell, making it just so much harder to climb on wet rock. We decided to retreat and I rappelled back down to Torsten and Sasa. Of course by now the sun was shining again and the rock on this south facing wall dried within mere minutes. We still continued our retreat all the way down.

The Wall in its entirety.

We met up with the Russians again and had some lunch. At this point Izabela and Rafał joined us. They had followed the planning email thread and had decided to come without telling anyone ;-) Apparently they had been climbing a few routes over from us and even shouted across, but we didn't hear. It didn't take long for the rain to return and this time it wasn't just a warning shot. We reached the car dripping wet.

Sunday

Speer north face. Our trail is crossing the snow field and heading up the left(-ish) ridge.

On Sunday we picked up Ben and went to hike the Speer (1950m), Europe's largest Nagelfluh mountain. This is a weird type of rock, some sort of molasse conglomerate that looks as if someone had cemented lots of pebbles together. We chose the Kletterweg route, leading up the steep north face. It is almost a via ferrata, featuring lots of steel cables and metal pins as climbing aids. They were much appreciated as it was still quite muddy and wet from the rain on the day prior. Muddy round pebbles are slippery ;-)

Climbing family.

We overtook a family of four on the way up. Mom, dad and brother and sister. The kids were quite young and dad was belaying them by tying them into some sort of leash. Looked funny and quite daring as the route was exposed and not easy at all. In fact, I wouldn't want to climb it in rain or ice. We had to cross some small patches of snow as it was.

Torsten.

Ben.

The summit is a bit anti-climatic as the approach from the other side is easy and popular and lots of people crowd around the summit cross. We still enjoyed nice vistas and my traditional summit Wasabi nuts. For our return trip we decided to hike the ridge leading to Chüemettler (1703m). While not as high we enjoyed that summit all to ourselves and consequently liked it much better. We found another via ferrata type trail leading back into the valley where we parked our car. At some point we deviated from the trail proper and scrambled down a very steep slope for some extra excitement.

Summit crowd.

Back on the gravel road towards the parking lot we stopped for a quick bath in a beautiful pool below a waterfall that had already caught our attention on the way up. Cold but very nice and refreshing on a hot day - washing off all the sweat and sunscreen.

"Winter is coming" - the wall ;-)

We were home quickly enough that Torsten and I could still enjoy a barbecue and beer for dinner on my terrace before I dropped him off at the train station for the return to Germany. Fantastic weekend!

Ben.

Only for "Bergtüchtige", no kidding.

950m elevation gain, 10.2km

The Great Rigi Traverse

The weather forecast predicted frequent thunderstorms and rain. So what better thing to do than go hiking? Andreas, Ralf and I set out to climb the Rigi Hochflue (1698m) followed by the Rigi Scheidegg (1656m). We were lucky and the weather turned out to be fairly stable. It was overcast, but we only had a slight drizzle for rain. More importantly, no thunderstorms and no lightning. That would have been bad because a lot of the route is almost like a via ferrata, featuring lots of metal rungs, ladders and steel cables. You don't want to be caught in a lightning storm high on an exposed ridge hanging from what amounts to a lightning rod...

Lake Lucerne.

It was the first tour for the three of us together. Ralf and me knew each other from work and had been following each others exploits for a while. Andreas participated in many of the same SAC trips Ralf did. This made for quite a strong group. We set a fast pace and beat the posted time to the summit by 45 minutes. I was the first to turn around the final corner and catch a glimpse of the summit cross. The sight was a bit, how shall I put it?, unusual. Directly underneath the cross was a couple fornicating in the grass. Fucking with a view ;-)

Andreas.

Ralf.

My sudden stunned stop had the others bumping into me and we discreetly waited behind some bushes, chuckling and talking loudly. Another hiker arrived on the scene, first looking at us, bewildered why we didn't continue for the last couple of meters to the summit proper and then, realizing what was going on, laughing and joining us. The startled couple shuffled to get their clothes on and practically teleported of the mountain without a word or looking back. Funnily enough they had signed the summit book and praised the solitude of the place. Not so lonely after all.

This is the "crime scene".

Going down.

We had a short rest on the summit and continued down a metal ladder towards the Rigi Scheidegg. This is a tiny village of vacation houses on a ridge. We had some cake and drinks and parted ways. Andreas and Ralf wanted to go down by cable car as planned. I decided to take advantage of the surprisingly good weather conditions and continue hiking the remaining summits of the Rigi ridge.

Ralf.

Andreas.

The most exciting part of the trail behind me it was mostly burning kilometers by now. The area gets more and more touristi, culminating in the Rigi Kulm (1798m) with a big Hotel and restaurant on top. I earned some surprised stares when I opened an almost invisible gate in the fencing around the observation area and walked off what looks like a vertical cliff from above. In reality it's just a regular white-red-white hiking trail and not even particularly steep.

View from Rigi Kulm towards the two Mythen in the background. The train station in the center of the image is my destination.

When we separated we had climbed ~1800m. By the time I reached the train station in Arth-Goldau I totaled ~2500m up and down again, covering a distance of ~27km. We started walking at 09:00 in the morning and I arrived at 18:30 in the evening. My step counter for the GCC read 45.000. Long day!

The track in Google Earth...

...and real life.

Climbing Gaswerk, Ponte Brolla and Arcegno

My old friend from University, Volker, visited me from Germany for last week's long Corpus Christi weekend. We had planned to go climbing, hiking and on a via ferrata. Unfortunately the weather was abysmal. It was pouring rain non-stop. In fact, we had as much rain in two days as we usually get in the entire month. This lead to severe flooding, mud slides blocking train tracks and freak avalanches. So our original plans would not only have been uncomfortable but also dangerous.

Ponte Brolla main area.

Thus we spent Friday climbing indoors in the Gaswerk gym. We climbed non-stop for 4.5 hours for a thorough workout. Quite successful too. Both of us flashed a 7a and I came within an inch of top-roping my first ever 7b (slipped off once, but climbed through that section on second attempt).

Through Volker's crotch.

Lots of caves and cooling chambers (?) in the area.

For Saturday we met up with a bunch of Google climbers and fled from the bad weather to the southern side of the alps. Rafał and Izabela were nice enough to give Volker and me a ride in their car (thanks!). Driving through the Gotthard Tunnel had an almost surreal effect. On one side we had gray skies and rain as far as you could see. Coming out on the other side the sun was shining in a clear blue sky. I have witnessed people on the train burst out in spontaneous applause when experiencing the same effect. Still it surprises me.

Zandone campground.

Resting...

...while Andrey, Volodymyr and Iljya are rocking it.

Our group totaled about 10 people so we split up into multiple rope teams. With such large a group preferences and skills are all over the map so everyone spent the day climbing in different areas. Volker and me started hiking up to the main sector of Ponte Brolla but somehow lost our way and ended up scrambling to the top, rather than the base, of a climb. The area was crawling with climbers. Luckily for us, we were interested in the harder climbs and soon had a wide choice of routes to ourselves. We had quite a successful day sending several routes in the 6b+ difficulty range.

Organizing gear and studying the guidebook.

Me enjoying strong winds.

We met up with the rest of the gang for beers and dinner afterwards. Sitting outside in the mild mediterranean night. Volker and I walked, while the others drove, to the nearby Zandone campground.

Of course none of us (modulo Rafał and Izabela) had been smart enough to bring food for breakfast so we got thoroughly ripped off by the campground selling us their last bunch of sad buns. Forget trying to buy anything in a tiny Swiss village on a Sunday!

Rafał pulling some moves.

Ivan in a slabby 6a+.

Since the sun was burning hot on the south facing walls of Ponte Brolla we decided to go up the other way to Arcegno this time. Gorgeous area with lots of creeks, forests and small lakes. Great climbing too. Unfortunately the largest and most exciting climbing wall is on private property and has been closed for the public. My brand new guide book still lists it as accessible but people spray canned "private" all over the place and dismantled most of the bolts. Ah well. On the way down we discovered a smaller climbing area with big overhanging roofs. Iljya and Rafał tried their hands climbing them. I think Rafał put in the strongest climb of the day attempting a 6b roof. Didn't make it all the way, but it looked quite impressive. Downclimbed it too to rescue his gear ;-)

Volker.

Andrey striking his Putin-Pose.

On the way back there was a ten kilometer traffic jam for the Gotthard Tunnel so we decided to try the Great St Bernard Tunnel instead. Obviously that was completely clogged too. It took us 5.5 hours to get home. 3 hours longer than what the GPS estimated and much too late for Volker to catch his connecting train back to Germany. So he spent another night at our place. Being stuck in the traffic jam we cursed not having put Volker on the train back in Locarno. However, as we later learned from the others who did take the train, they didn't fare much better. Due to mud slides several tracks were blocked and trains were cancelled. So they got home at the same time we did and had to stand in a crowded train all the way.

Some people were even more annoyed by the rain than us.

While it was a bit annoying, especially for Volker who traveled long and far to get here, that our original plans didn't work out due to bad weather, I think in the end it turned out to be a fun and enjoyable weekend.