The spaghetti tour

The Spaghetti TourPhil Behan

Standing with the great and the good of the European ski racing circuit Clare and I were

waiting for the Glacier Paradise lift up to the Klein Matterhorn. It wasn’t the middle of winter though: this was August in Switzerland. This probably wasn’t the oddest thingabout Zermatt. That award goes to the town itself; it’s a cross between a normal Swiss townand Disneyland, complete with droves of sight-seeing tourists from all over the world, electriccars and inflated prices. The Klein Matterhorn happens to be one of the few places with yearroundskiing in Europe and also the dropping-off point for the Breithorn and the real beginningof our holiday.

We quickly found out that getting on the first lift is as much of a fight as the Midi lift: only for 100CHF return! Many skiers in Lycra, with multiple sets of skis and huge bags, took the first couple, but eventually we found our way up to the top of the Klein Matterhorn. After kitting up and with a coffee and croissant in hand we were fit to set off on our adventure: a traverse of the Monte Rosa aka ‘The Spaghetti Tour.’

52

Photo: The Breithorn Traverse

Day 1 - Breithorn half traverse Setting off from the Klein Matterhorn is as simple as walking through a gate; you’re simple deposited out onto the relatively flat pistes. A quick trot over the glacier then lands you onto the easy western slopes of the Breithorn. The only difficulty making your way up to the summit from this side is the altitude; the snow angle is pretty easy and there are few crevasses to fall in (although people manage every year). It’s not to be taken lightly though; ranking 39th among Europe’s tallest, this is still an undertaking and a popular acclimatisation route for Mont Blanc. The views on a good day like ours are spectacular! Especially along the Monte Rosa towards Lyskhamm and along the Gorner Glacier.

A traverse of the ridge would normally go E-to-W, descending the slopes we had slogged up. However as our intention was to carry on away from the lifts towards our hut for the night we took on a partial traverse in the opposite direction, W-to-E. At a solid AD the ridge is a fun mix of narrow snowy arêtes and rocky buttresses. There is definitely a requirement for a good level of experience on this ground - as with many routes, the rock is not the difficulty, but more the time to get the route done.

A rocky part of the traverse

Moving together and relatively unprotected climbing and scrambling are a big part of the day; as is significant, excellent exposure. It all adds up to a fine traverse and the rewarding feeling that comes with using a multitude of skills in a relatively short day. It would be a shame to go up the Breithorn on a day trip without adding in a trot over the rest of the ridge, because it much changes the character of the day.

Breithorn summit

Dropping off the icy southern slopes and back down to the glacier below gives the first section of steep ground on the white stuff. You’d not be criticised for breaking out the screws to cross what was a reasonable bergschrund under our condi-

54

tions. Getting from the descent down to our first hut did not prove simple. The unsettled weather that was to plague our trip set in for the early afternoon and so much of the next 5km was spent negotiating steep sections of glacier, seracs and cliffs in near-whiteout conditions. By the end of this we’d seen a guy fall in a crevasse, heard very close serac collapses and had enough of iffy snow conditions that Clare actually had a tear in her eye when the hut loomed up out of the murk in front of us.

The Rifugio Guide d’Ayas is a lovely little hut and was absolutely heaving when we arrived - normally this would be a bad sign, but the atmosphere was, in fact, great and we had a lovely time over dinner after a nap. The night was punctuated by ongoing thunderstorms and serac collapses big enough to shudder the building; this rocked me off to sleep, but very much had the opposite effect for Clare!

Day 2 - Pollux & Castor After a night of some of the best sleep (for some of us!) we awoke to the early start of the guides and their clients. The Spaghetti Tour is very popular with guided European parties; sadly their briefings don’t include etiquette and how to avoid destroying the sleep of others. In these busy huts don’t expect much of a slumber after 3-4am. Thankfully we’d struck up a pretty good relationship with the guardian the night before and he’d told us to sleep in and avoid the crowds later in the day, so we dozed a little longer. The theme continued at breakfast with an easygoing chat with the guardian that lasted well over an hour longer - oops! This may have made us late, but it also meant he comped our extras. And so started another day on a late start with a forecast that necessitated a reasonable finish with evening storms - eek!

Trudging back up the glacier above the hut in the morning light revealed a lot of the views we’d missed the night before and the precarious perch that our hut for the night occupied. It turns out that the climb up the glacier at well over 3000m above sea level is much harder than in descent, but we solidly made time up to the base of Pollux and its SW ridge.

Day 2 Above left: Leaving the hut on Day 2 Above: Summit ridge Left: Summit views, Castor Below: The Ayas Hut

56

Pollux is one of those tops on which you have to enjoy the style of climbing on or it will just seem a chore. Rock hoping amongst choss is a big part of the climb, as is picking a quick line up the ridge. Worryingly, we seemed better at this than the guide trailing us with a client. The chains at the top help make short work of the main section of climbing and, in contrast to the day before, little is needed beyond a couple of quick draws. Don’t arrive at these feeling too knackered, though, as you’re arms won’t thank you. This is a route of contrasts; the 4092m summit of Pollux is reached along a snowy arête from the chains onwards, which was lead admirably by Clare. The summit gives good views of the day before and the lump that lies in the way from here: Castor.

After retreating down the same line and passing groups still heading up (and we thought we were late?!) we retrieved our bags from their stash. We also bumped into our first group of Brits doing a two day acclimatisation route back to the Klein Matterhorn: an undertaking that would be very rewarding if you were more stretched for time. This is also one of the few opportunities for retreat back to Zermatt. We headed across the col (Zwillingsjoch) to Castor’s broad west face; unrelenting and steep, this is a trudge that requires a bit of stubbornness to keep yourself in the game. The top rewarded these efforts as the climb over the bergschrund and onto the summit ridge was a fun challenge, with iffy snow and a pleasantly exposed feel on steep snow and ice. The same goes for the summit and its traversing ridge; just wide enough for a

Pollux summit

pair of feet, it felt quite “out there” as the cloud closed in for the second afternoon in a row.

And so started another trot down from a four-thousander in the cloud over several kilometres, this time urged on by the drone of the next hut’s generators and the breathtaking views that occasionally appeared from the gloom ahead. Once again our arrival at a hut was greeted by a storm breaking as we removed our kit and congratulated ourselves on a fun day. Another theme started to develop; we’d had better than average food so far and there seemed to be a gradually increasing quality between huts. This night’s meal included braised beef and chocolate mousse after a pasta starter - really rather good!

Day 3 - Lyskamm or down? Our third day was what had brought my attention to the area: a planned traverse of Lyskamm, a highly committing 4km route on a very narrow ridge. Two things changed this and prompted the need to examine Plan B: higher than expected winds, with worse storms forecast for 2pm onwards, and Clare being unwell. Breakfast was sombre it was clear Clare wasn’t in the right shape to race the weather over a route well known for its objective hazards and reasonable accident rate. It has even attracted the name “Menschenfresser” (man-eater) with good reason. Staying up high the alternative was a traverse along the Lys glacier around to the Gnifetti Hut, our next bed for the night. Plan C was to drop to the valley and approach our next hut by cable car and easy footpaths; this seemed an overreaction.

As dawn started to break we stepped out onto a glacier for the third morning in a row. Il naso del Lyskamm is a top that reaches a respectable 4274m below the main eastern summit of Lyskamm (4527m). The approach took us over the Lys Glacier, an easy walk with beautiful views out over the Aosta Valley, as the sun started to appear over the massif. This route is the one used by the guides to miss the Lyskamm traverse too. They tend not to do these summits on a Spaghetti Tour and we had thought it would be a pretty pedestrian day. The fun scrambling and 50-60’ ice up on the upper slopes were therefore a very pleasant surprise. The narrow summit and final ridge are hidden gems

Clare on the Lys Glacier worth seeing. The descent down to the glaciers below and the Gnifetti Hut proved less exciting, thanks in part to steep screes above cliffs and poor snow conditions leaving the top. Once down we found ourselves approaching the Biv. Giordano and a veritable playground for guides and their parties; this area is surrounded by easily gained four thousanders and is heavily used by French and German speaking groups. The huge numbers of crevasses in the area and large number of inexperienced climbers made for a few eyebrow-raising moments as we ambled down to our next bed

58

for the night ...just as the next storm came into give yet another layer of fresh snow for thefollowing morning.

After a huge lunch and a nap we chose to sit around drinking litres of fruit tea for the afternoon, something we’d become accustomed to. The afternoons in these huts are pretty chilled and give a lot of time for reading and people watching. Dinner that night confirmed our prejudices as we ate really rather nice carbonara and steak. The food ante was definitely getting upped! The conversation at our table centred around our being the only Brits and how we were mad for not having a guide. There really were quite few self-supported groups around and so we stuck out for this fact. This part of

On the top looking back to Castor the Monte Rosa is used quite widely for courses and by guides with complete beginners. Another night’s sleep was accompanied by winds and snow flurries sure to hide a couple of the less obvious crevasses we’d navigated that day.

Day 4 - Europe’s highest hutThe next day was an early start and also the best breakfastof the trip. Despite the food, Gnifetti Hut didn’t comeclose to being our favourite; it lacked the feel of the Ayas,but also my helmet and expensive head torch had vanishedfrom my box (and because of how I’d packed it notby mistake!). Little interest in helping from the hut orguides meant relying on a spare torch and a tweak of theplans: we decided to miss out the Pyramid Vincent whichwe’d intended doing by a rock route and instead bypass itto continue along the rest of our route for the day over theclassic ‘Three Peaks Route.’

View from the loo in a break in the weather

After getting out into the dark and onto the snow it didn’t take long to get over a rather foul mood - we even offered a guy to join our rope as he walked up solo to meet his friends who had camped up at the 4000m mark. The route we followed took us past the Biv. Giordano as the dawn broke and gave some more awesome views to ease the mood further. By the time we were at the col below Corno Nero

Day 4 Top left: Ludwigshöhe (left), Corno Nero (middle), Lyskamm (right) Top right: Parrotspitze summit Middle left: Descending from the Parrotspitze Above: The Margherita Hut Left: View from the Margherita Hut (4554m)

60

we were back to squeaking about the pretty views and taking photos every five steps - we were both back to being in good spirits and firing on all cylinders. This was a point highlighted by us overtaking three or four groups on this small, but relatively technical top. At 4321m it requires some skill on steep snow and a wee scramble to reach the summit. The guides with their clients struggle to push past one and other over this ground and so we opted for a hybrid lower-off / abseil directly from the summit that was scarily slick - who were these climbing gods?

Buoyed on by our mountaineering prowess we set off for the similarly modest exertion of tackling Ludwigshöhe, a small, extremely narrow top and number two of the Three Peaks. I say modest, but at 4342m it proved to be an undertaking worthy of the stunning vistas that welcome those who top out. Traversing down the steep slopes below we set off for our next target: Parrotspitze. At 4434m this top is formed by a steep-sided knife-edge arête approximately one kilometre long. As the cloud set in this became somewhat menacing and a real test of our heads for height, especially with Europe’s highest face below us! A highlight was passing a guide with his pole mounted horizontally on his bag and fully extended as he explained that he was on a solo reccy of the hills for a client. This top was one of the less well trodden of the trip and so coming off the back side on the fresh snow definitely added to the awesome exposure - a brilliant outing.

Unlike our previous days our hut was not below us. In fact this night’s hut lay atop Europe’s sixth highest mountain: Signalkuppe. There’s no nice way to put this; slogging up to 4554m in direct sun on a deteriorating glacier isn’t fun. Despite the dorky sun hat being donned it was impossible not to feel the heat. Given the effort of the trudge and the heat the top needed to be special - and it was! Breathless more than any other time on the trip we reached the summit, capped by the Margherita Hut.

The Margherita Hut had to be our favourite of the trip for a combination of the great food, coffee, music and most of all the staff who were amongst the most welcoming; after dinner they sat with us and offered us their odd local liquor - dangerous stuff. We sat with a group of very funny French lads and an English guy out with his guide, the former turned out not only to have boundless enthusiasm for Northumberland sandstone, but was also from Whitley Bay!

Day 5 - back to Mountain Disney That night the biggest storm of the trip set in and was only noticed when Clare found a snowdrift in the toilets! Half cut at four and a half thousand metres, this didn’t really sink in until the morning when we looked out of our bedroom window to see a full-on white-out; back to bed then! Eating what was only our second breakfast in the light since landing five days earlier was almost a luxury, but meant that, like previous days, the weather had altered our plans and we wouldn’t be ticking off more tops. Instead we crept out into the clouds and a heavily rimed-up world to start the slow process of navigating down the Grenz Glacier to the Monte Rosa Hut. This turned out to be pretty technical glacial terrain with rabbit warrens of crevasses, big enough to hide a family home and improbable-looking bridges; in other words us weirdos loved it! Clare especially showed a knack for finding the way on some of the worse ‘dry’ areas even with no track.

Guidebooks make the Monte Rosa Hut sound like the end of your journey. It’s anything but! It is however the first time we’d seen a flushing loo in five days and sold awesome coffee. The deck proved an irresistible stopping point. The hut itself is worth a mention - it is a new building that resembles a spaceship perched on the hillside looking out to the Matterhorn.

Top: Waking up to winter at 4500m! Bottom: Negotiating the crevasses

Our first marked path of the tripwas meant to get us quickly backto Zermatt. Nature had other plansthough; this was not the end of ouradventure. The path takes a smalldetour onto a dry section of thestunning Gorner Glacier, but this sadly had also collapsed into a giant mess of seracand crevasse. An alternative was found after a significant amount of trial and error

through the crevasses and moraine though and soon we were hunting for the laddersup to the Gornergrat and a four kilometre walk back to the train into Zermatt(Mountain Disney).

62

Day 5 Top left: Finding a path #1 Top right: The Monte Rosa Hut Left: The Matterhorn Bottom left: The Matterhorn from Zermatt Below: Finding a path #2

Logistics It’s tempting to think that huts are an unnecessary expense when there are bivouacs past on the route, but carrying a light rack for the first day and then not using it again made it very clear in our minds: any weight that isn’t one hundred percent necessary really is too much. The huts add distances that a bivouac or tent would cut, but the weight saving of kit and food is invaluable over a distance like this and at these altitudes. The huts are busy, though, and pre-booking by weeks if not months seems sensible; this also lets you spread the cost with a deposit. Beware of your kit! These are not quiet huts with the usual climbing crowd, there are large numbers of day-trippers visiting them and inexperienced guided parties, this means that you need to take a bit more care than in others. The food and mountains made up for the negatives though!

Acclimatisation is a must. These may be mountains people use to acclimatise, but getting much done will require you to already have your body up for the task: Clare ran the Tour du Mont Blanc and I spent two weeks fancying around the Alps with Joe after hiking a week in Arizona. It made a difference!

Getting to Zermatt should be easy: there are multiple train options from the North and West as well as apparent road access. Looking into public transport options turned out to be surprisingly expensive as did flying into Geneva in high season. Instead it turned out more frugal to fly to Basel and drive (beware parking in Täsch remains expensive!). More frugal, but slightly harder is to approach from the south and Aosta - we chose the north as we’d not been to Zermatt and love Switzerland, but both have their merits.

Day 1 - The Breithorn Traverse

64