After the best night's sleep at altitude so far, the 3am wake up call was surprisingly easy to respond to. I forced heavy bread smeared with some sort of plastic cheese into my belly and headed off into the dark...
From the Britannia Hut a marked track led steeply down to the rubble strewn Hohlaub Glacier. We then traversed the glacier and popped over a rock shoulder to join the Allalin Glacier. Ascending the glacier on the right hand side took us under the cliffs of the Hohlaubgrat and the Rimpfischhorn. We then weaved a route through the crevasse fields to reach the Alderpass (3789m).
From the col, we climbed the rounded snow ridge before continuing in the searing heat of the sun on more open slopes. One final steep section, one final push - we reached the horizontal summit rock ridge (4190m) and peered over... The view down the other side made my knees go wobbly. The face was almost vertical and over 600m high.
We were fortunate to have this small exposed rock ridge to ourselves, so we took the obligatory photos before descending...
For me the descent is always the trickiest bit. You are tired. The heat from the sun is melting the snowbridges across the crevasses. Your knees hurt. Rocks are falling from the cliffs... I could go on :)
That said, the plod back to the hut went without any major incidents.
After 11hrs and 20mins on the route, we arrived back at the Britannia Hut for a well deserved rest.
From the Britannia Hut a marked track led steeply down to the rubble strewn Hohlaub Glacier. We then traversed the glacier and popped over a rock shoulder to join the Allalin Glacier. Ascending the glacier on the right hand side took us under the cliffs of the Hohlaubgrat and the Rimpfischhorn. We then weaved a route through the crevasse fields to reach the Alderpass (3789m).
From the col, we climbed the rounded snow ridge before continuing in the searing heat of the sun on more open slopes. One final steep section, one final push - we reached the horizontal summit rock ridge (4190m) and peered over... The view down the other side made my knees go wobbly. The face was almost vertical and over 600m high.
We were fortunate to have this small exposed rock ridge to ourselves, so we took the obligatory photos before descending...
For me the descent is always the trickiest bit. You are tired. The heat from the sun is melting the snowbridges across the crevasses. Your knees hurt. Rocks are falling from the cliffs... I could go on :)
That said, the plod back to the hut went without any major incidents.
After 11hrs and 20mins on the route, we arrived back at the Britannia Hut for a well deserved rest.
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