Hiking, Scrambling, Mountaineering, and Climbing

Well done. I mean, absolutely fuck. that. shit. but well done.

Stonking achievement, well done. It’s weird, I’m down for cliffs no questions asked, but peaks, ridges and actual mountaineering scares the piss out of me.

I get a bit wobbly on summit ridges sometimes. I don't blame you for being a bit nervous about the idea of it! Itd be weirder if it didn't have an effect on you.

One for the gram that. Mega

Came here to post this photo of me having some fun after work today but feel a bit self conscious about it after that spire photo!

You might have to zoom a bit.

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Actual mountaineering is also a no for me but this still fell firmly in the rock climbing category :)

We took the lift up to the glacier lake skipping a 3h walk, from there a 30 minute hike up to the base, and six pitches of regular rock climbing on sparsely bolted 5b to the ridge. The ridge was a little sketch as we had to improvise having no experience with running belays or actual mountaineering technique. Basically I let Saskia lead the traverse/downclimb on 'top rope'(-ish) and then I followed scrambling somewhat solo. The six pitches took us 2h, then 1 hour for the traverse and another hour or so at the Fiamma, leading it, hanging in a top rope and letting four other people use the top rope. From the top it was an easy scramble/hike down with one 15m abseil.

I'll have to learn some ridge climbing techniques for the next one!

Found you! That's a big piece of rock. Are you training in D shoes for mountaineering?

Got it in one. Most of the peaks I'm hoping to do when the weather cools off are steep glacier hikes with a smattering of easy grade II climbing here and there.

I'm comfortable with the icy bits but really not experienced even with easy climbing in boots. I also need to figure out a way to get used to crampons on rock I think. Always feels super sketchy to me...like wearing platform shoes.

Lovely shot! And we’ll done on your first alpine route!

That rock is 87m from bottom to top. It's a grade C/D klettersteig so absolutely perfect for an after work blast to get used to moving quickly on easy but vertical terrain given that on the summit days I'll be on a leash attached to a guide and not having to think for myself too much.

Just next to it there's a "climbing garden"with 21 easy to moderate routes with bolts and it's only ten minute from the front door too. I'm like a dog with two tails at the moment.

The tougher klettersteigs in this valley are awesome though. No need for a partner and just the ticket to give those forearms a bit of a burn.

Heading to Wildspitze on Saturday afternoon now. Temps not dropping so we're going to ditch the normal route and go by the much longer Vernagthutte route at night which avoids the nasty rockfall hazards.

It's a bit more of a steep glacier hike than a climb now but that's just the reality of alpine mountaineering...the weather is king.

And just to hammer home how "easy" this 2000m route is, our guide is bringing his 74 year old Mum 😂

Anyone want Aron Ralston book, or either of the Beck Weather everest accounts? Cover the postage via forum donation and they're yours.

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Just crawled back from a day on Wildspitze.

We ended up on the following route:

Vernagthutte > Vernagtferner > Mitteljarjoch > Tasachferner > South Summit > Traverse to North Summit > Descent over Rofenferner to Vent.

12 hours of type 2 fun. Knife edge ridges. Easy grade 2 climbing doesnt feel so easy when there's a 700m drop below you! Monstrous crevasses to negotiate...some of which we did by lowering in to a snow bridge and then climbing out.

Not sure I've had a better day in the mountains. Might also be the toughest thing I've ever done.

The icing on the cake is that my fitness held up so will be doing some more adventurous things with our guide in the next few weeks. He also invited me back next year to climb my first north wall next year if the snow conditions allow. Basking in a warm glow of achievement and hurt 👍

Will post some photos when i've had some sleep.

In sad news the permafrost and glacier melt is horrific. We spent about twety minutes watching boulders thundering down near the normal route. Vernagtferner is 100m further back than it was this time last year too. Really sad times.

Yes please! Will pm.

A few Wildzpitze photos if anybody is interested.

https://www.instagram.com/p/ChRRm0kMTe3/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

My legs feel fine today but I'm so tired I've got the shakes.

Did a 52k overnight trip to the Sierra on Friday/Saturday. Deserted and really beautiful. Though, going from sea level to 3000m in the space of three hours really fucked with me. More than I thought it would. Got maybe 90 mins of sleep and even that was a struggle.

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Spiderman, that you?

Though, going from sea level to 3000m in the space of three hours really fucked with me. More than I thought it would. Got maybe 90 mins of sleep and even that was a struggle.

I've been sleeping at 2000m for three weeks and I still struggled to sleep at 2800m on Saturday night...not surprised you found it hard too!

Looks big! awesome

Thanks mate.

I'm proper fatigued. Just took a look at my Garmin and I have run, hiked and climbed 290km in the last 3 weeks with about 13km of up and 13km of down. Rhat is massive for me.

Went for a run this morning and I just felt nauseous and could barely move. Few days with my feet up I think. Perhaps time to sample one of Austria's famous saunas.

This looks so scary ha

Yeah, it was really bad. Just lying there, eyes closed but just nothing happened. Surprisingly, wasn't that sleepy the next day though - just a bit short of breath when I got to about 3200m. Would've liked a day to acclimatize before hiking but didn't have time.

Are you sure you weren't actually asleep? I sometimes have what I can only describe as lucid sleep at altitude. I feel like I'm thinking about stuff but actually it's just super vivid and realistic mundane dreams...

Whenever I sleep a I've 3000m I tend to wake up a few times gasping for air during the night. I'm obviously not actually suffocating but somehow my brain decides that I am in its sleep state.

I sometimes have what I can only describe as lucid sleep at altitude. I feel like I'm thinking about stuff but actually it's just super vivid and realistic mundane dreams...

5,000m is the highest I have slept for a few nights and 3,650m for 10ish days and it seemed common people were having lucid dreams, some of them pretty wild, I didn't suffer but funny how it affects different people so much. One of the people said it was far worse than when he took high doses of Larium and he thought that was bad

Don't think so. It didn't help that there was a full moon that was like a spotlight shining down on me. Was just staring at the stars for what felt like hours. Definitely got to sleep at about 3am but I crawled into my bivy at 9pm, so it just felt like forever. But maybe I was asleep. Who knows.