My First Alpine Trip by Claire Antrobus
Many budding alpinists choose the Breithorn from Klein Matterhorn lift station as their first 4000m ascent, as on a clear day it’s a straightforward stroll over the glacier and only 281 metre climb. But if you’re not yet properly acclimatised, setting off several hours later than planned and 350 m lower down as the lifts are not running properly, and low cloud means you can’t see where you’re heading, it certainly doesn’t feel quite so easy as the book had suggested it would be… Telling myself we could always turn back if we couldn’t find the summit, I put on my crampons and harness, tied-in and set off with my old friend Alison and newer friend Mandy behind me.
I met Mandy via WAAC when we both attended the alpine week in Saas Grund in July 2023 where we had hatched the plan to climb the Monte Rosa massif together. I’d just done the 5-day Introduction to Mountaineering Course and had summitted two 4000m peaks – the Allalinhorn and Lagginhorn - as well as learning some basic alpinism skills. We’d come away from that trip feeling keen to do more alpine mountaineering and confident we could manage some similar graded ascents (F+ and PD) without a guide.
Claire and Mandy on top of Naso de Liskamm, with Monte Rosa massif behind them
Planning and preparation
We pencilled in a date – the first week of July 2024 - and started to read the guidebooks. Conscious that a group of three is ideal for most alpine routes, I invited my hiking buddy Alison to join us. Between the three of us we had a good mix of skills and experience: Mandy is a climber, Alison has done winter climbing and fieldwork on glaciers (she’s a geographer) and I’ve done lots of alpine hut tours, as well as being a qualified ML.
We arranged a meet-up in the Peak District so Alison and Mandy could get to know one another and so we could finalise our route over mugs of tea and plates of chips in the café above Outside outdoor shop in Hathersage. We split the planning tasks between us: Alison and Mandy researched route options and I looked into travel logistics as we wanted to avoid flying. We decided to do a variation of the Spaghetti Tour which is a high-level hut-to-hut alpine route taking in multiple 4000m peaks in the Monte Rosa Group. We adapted it to avoid sections above PD+ and to start and finish on the Italian side as we’d been advised that glacier conditions on the Zermatt side of the Monte Rosa hut were tricky by a former guide we met whilst buying maps for the route in Keswick. We built in two acclimatisation and skills-practice days at the start, although we later reduced this to one-day due to issues with hut availability (NB we hadn’t realised how popular this route was – there were lots of guided groups who’d booked out the huts which meant availability was limited even months in advance).
Mandy researched acclimatisation and created a reassuring graph of the levels we’d climb to and sleep at and consequently we opted to start our trip by staying in some of the lower huts. For example, at the start of the trip we opted for Rifugio Mezzalama over the more comfortable but higher Guide d’Ayas hut. This meant we could sleep for our first two nights in the hills at just below 3000m before continuing to the higher huts later in the week.
Conscious I’d done very little rope-work since the summer before (ie none) I arranged a one-day advanced scrambling refresher in April with Lou Tully. She also encouraged me to email our proposed route to alpine guide Lou Reynolds who kindly reviewed it so we knew we were not planning anything too daft. Lou warned us about a potentially dangerous section on the Paso del Naso which often requires ice screw belays, so we borrowed some extra screws just in case. When we reached Monte Rosa we also checked with local guides we met at dinner in the huts about the current conditions before attempting that section – they were very friendly and happy to offer advice, as were the hut guardians.
Alpinism involves a lot of different skills and techniques, not all of which are easy to practice in the UK. The more you can practice before you get to the alps the better so you can focus on the skills that need snow – such as building a buried ice axe anchor as part of crevasse rescue. We had planned a weekend in the Lakes in January to practice skills of moving on snow, but the weather was wet and mild. I managed to get a few winter days using my crampons in Glencoe with WAAC and I also practised taking in coils, tying-in the middle of a rope and some stages of crevasse rescue at home. I also a made a checklist of skills to practice together on our acclimatisation and preparation day at the start of the trip, so we could be confident we had the basic safety techniques under our belt before we set off.
We arranged another meet-up to discuss final plans and practice scrambling (on Sharp Edge, Blencathra) and a few weeks before departure day we had a final video call to go through the group kit lost and discuss packing and preparation. We did field trials of the smallest deodorant stick we could find, and I cut my toothbrush in half to save 2g. We used our WhatsApp group to debate how many pairs of knickers and socks to take (answer: three), and how many pairs of gloves we would need given the forecast was looking so shaky (answer: three, one thick, one thin and some over-mitts). Space was tight so we wondered about not taking gaiters, but were very glad that we did given how much soft snow we encountered. I weighed all my kit meticulously, but then packed too much anyway. We didn’t need the powerbanks we’d carried all week as the huts had plenty of plug sockets. Alison had managed to find us some budget accommodation in the valley at the start which had a spa, so we were probably the only people in the huts carrying a bikini as well as crampons!
The trip
We travelled to the alps by train and buses – arriving in Aosta valley late Saturday during a tremendous storm. The week before Zermatt had been cut off and people had been killed by floods. The weekend we arrived Switzerland suffered more flooding and roads around Gran Paradiso were washed away lower down Aosta Valley. We woke in Breuil-Cervinia on Sunday aiming to take a cable car to 3300m to acclimatise and practise snow and glacier skills but found the storm had badly flooded the town, left a metre thick silty mud everywhere, created a new river down the middle of the high street and knocked out the cable car system. No-one knew when the lift system could re-open so we hiked up to 2800m to practice crevasse rescue best we could before another storm rolled in and we spent the afternoon back at out hotel making a Plan B and C in case we had to hike into the hut without mechanical uplift. Thank goodness we could relax in the spa!
Fortunately the following morning the weather settled and the lifts re-opened partially albeit later than usual which was not ideal for a summit day. As a consequence our first full day was quite a bit longer and much tougher than expected as we trudged slowly through deep, soft snow melted in the afternoon sun, not yet acclimatised to the thin air. It’s amazing how much harder and slower it is to walk in knee-deep afternoon soft snow, than on the firm snow in the morning.
By the end of the day I developed mild symptoms of altitude sickness – a bad headache and swollen lips – but I felt much better after drinking plenty of fluids, a hearty dinner and a good night’s sleep. Mandy however was still struggling with altitude sickness the next day, sleeping badly and waking up with a swollen face. We attempted Pollux but decided to turn back just before the technical section of the SW ridge as Mandy started shivering uncontrollably due to altitude sickness and severe windchill.
Mandy and Alison outside Rifugio Mezzalama
The following day we descended from Mezzalama hut to the valley, following the glacial moraine crest, to then take a ridge route up to Quintino Sella hut, avoiding a section on the Spaghetti Tour that was not advised for beginners. It was a tough walk-in due to the deep snow still blanketing the upper slopes of the Bettaforce ridge but there was a really exposed via ferrata section up a rocky arrête the hut which was good fun and made a welcome contrast to the rest of the week which was mainly glaciated. We arrived to a roaring fire at Quintino Sella Hut and enjoyed warming bowls of minestrone soup. QS hut was very well organised and comfortable, and very different to the more basic but friendly Mezzalama where we all slept in one jam-packed dormitory.
Claire and Mandy on the exposed approach to QS hut
Next morning, after another alpine start, we started the climb towards Castor and were treated the watching the sun rise over the ridge, silhouetting the groups ahead of us. A steady plod onto the col then revealed a dramatic corniced ridge with views over the glacier to the mighty Liskamm. Castor’s summit ridge is a fantastic long snow crest which I would have enjoyed even more if wind had not been quite so blustery, especially when the track reached a huge bergschrund with mighty drops to both sides of the narrow path. After surviving that exhilarating section twice (out and back to the summit) we were euphoric – enjoying the panoramic views from the Matterhorn and Mischabel range across Monte Rosa and as far as Mont Blanc and the Ecrins to the south.
The start of the summit ridge on Castor
The next day had been billed as the potentially trickiest section – as the ascent of the Paso del Naso is very steep and is often dangerously icy because it faces south so thaws and freezes frequently. But there was so much fresh snow we were in luck and whilst steep it was not slippy and a steady axe-step-step, axe-step-step got us safely to the top. However we saw avalanche debris caused by a recent serac collapse covering the main path on the Lys Glacier, a timely reminder of the potential dangers on this section of the route. After dropping down the other side of Paso de Naso a long glacial traverse under bluebird skies brought us eventually to the base of Piramide Vincente, a grade F ascent in this direction. We left our bags and unroped at the col and climbed this peak unencumbered. We roped up again before descending the heavily crevassed Lys glacier to the spectacularly perched Gnifetti hut, sitting high on a rocky outcrop. The setting was truly superb – and the views from the bathroom window distracted us from the smell of the drop toilets, as there is no running water at 3600m. It even has a sun-terrace – although it was not quite bikini weather at that height! We recovered from a long day with hearty portions of cheesecake, soaking up warmth on the hut’s roof surrounded by snowy peaks.
Mandy and Alison next to a mega crevasse under Piramide Vincente
The next morning was to be our final day in the hills and we visited a bivouac hut on Balmenhorn, accessed by a short via ferrata section, before heading to our highest peak of the trip Ludwigshöhe at just over 4300m. We had been planning on taking in another summit – Corno Nero – but the cloud set in. Having checked the forecasts we were expecting a deterioration, but the bad weather came in quicker than expected. Fortunately our route retraced our steps because the trails can disappear very quickly when the wind fills them with fresh snow and when the cloud comes down on the glacier it creates a white-out which can be very disorienting. We’d been conscious the cloud was building and so had already memorised where the huge crevasses were that we needed to avoid.
Inside the bivouac hut on Balmenhorn summit
On a clear day navigation is simple – you can just follow the trails in the snow, but you need to be prepared for that to change quickly. Even equipped with paper maps, and good compass skills, navigation can be tricky in this featureless glacial terrain, and mistakes could be very consequential. I was grateful for the altimeter on my Garmin Instinct watch to help find the huts and path junctions during the whiteouts and it was useful. For future trips I’d also consider taking maps on my phone that I could use without phone signal in the same way I use OS maps on my phone as a back-up in the UK.
There are many other easy summit options from Gnifetti hut in good weather, including Europe’s highest staffed refuge the Margherita Hut at over 4500m on Signalkuppe and Dufourspitze, the 2nd highest peak in the alps. Low cloud meant we had to call it a day early – but at least this gives us a good reason to come back another time!
We enjoyed an amazing trip exploring stunning high glaciated terrain and consolidating our alpine skills. Over the week we became slicker with the core skills of taking crampons on and off, roping-up and taking-in coils and making good decisions about when it’s quicker to un-rope or take crampons off etc. We also got into a routine of drying out our wet clothes and equipment as soon as we arrived at a hut, rehydrating and refuelling and then grabbing a cold wash (if lucky) or freshening up with wet wipes before changing into slightly less smelly dry clothes. Packing sleep masks and ear plugs helped us get more sleep and we got into the ritual of leaving out our bottles to be filled with ‘hut tea’ rather than paying 5 euro for bottled water. Some huts had huge dorms but in other newer huts we were lucky to get smaller rooms. As women we were definitely in the minority in the huts – and we were the only all-female group we saw although when we did bump into other women in the hills (with guides) we did try and sign a few up for WAAC!
Claire, Mandy and Alison celebrate on the summit of Castor
Trip summary:
¨ Dates: 29 June-8 July (7 walking days plus travel)
¨ Route: starting Breuil-Cervinia via lift to Testa Grigia then part of the ‘Spaghetti Tour’ finishing Gressoney St Jean (via lift descent from Punta Indren) – including a detour into valley from Mezzalama to QS hut to avoid tricky section on Castor SW ridge.
¨ Peaks: Breithorn W Summit (F, 4165m), Pollux SW Ridge (PD+, 4091m), Castor SE ridge (F+, 4225m), Felikhorn (F, 4063m), Naso de Lyskamm S Ridge (PD, 4272m), Piramide Vincente NNW Face (F, 4215m), Balmenhorn NE Ridge (PD-, 4167m), Ludswighöhe SW Ridge (F, 4341m).
¨ Mountain huts: Mezzalama, Quintino Sella, Gnifetti – hotels in Breuil and Gressoney (plus stopover in Paris on way out, and Geneva on return).
¨ Guidebooks: –Martin Moran’s classic guidebook and Bruce Goodlad’s Alpine Mountaineering manual – which is highly recommended.
¨ Transport: from York/Macclesfield to London and onto Paris then Geneva by train, then Flixbus to Aosta and local buses to/ from start/finish.
¨ Kit: 40 litre rucksack, a PD rack (half a set of wires, 2 cams, 4 quick draws, extra slings); crevasse rescue kit: (50m rope, 2 ice screws, 2 slings, 2 prussiks, microtraxion) and extra ice screws for Paso del Naso.
¨ Total cost pp: £968 inc travel from UK and all meals