Carrel Hut

 

I made it down to the hut, doing some simu-down climbing with a group of nice Germans, and watched the beautiful sunset over the Alps.  I had already reserved a bunk next to the wall, prime space, bedding down next to a stranger. The bathroom was outside, around the corner.  They provided nice wool blankets, but unfortunately no food.  I had underestimated how much food to bring.  The hut provided gas to cook, but no food.  I was soaking wet, from the rappels through the snowy traverse that I was able to avoid on my way up.   My rope was also wet.  So I went to bed, cold, wet, and hungry, with only half a granola bar left.  I listened to the symphony of snorers through the night, and people getting up at 3:30 or 4:00 to start the ascent.  Even the guide who was stocking the hut said, wait until it is light before you climb.  But everyone was setting off before dawn.  And it was cold and very windy, the verglass had returned.  I could not see how I could climb the mountain again with no food, and I was not that keen on climbing in boots and crampons by myself, in the cold wind. So I made my way down to the Abruzzi.  I could tell I was tired from the day before, and from the long night with little sleep.  It was a good choice.  I had enjoyed a beautiful 14 hour day of climbing the Matterhorn. And I had really climbed it.

 Sunset from the Carrel Hut

Afternoon climbing the Matterhorn

 

So I decided to climb up as far as I could, nd check things out. I climbed up past another set of fixed lines, around narrow ledges, up steep rock that in some cases had long chains hanging down for aid or protection. It was a warm and beautiful day and I was moving fast.  At one point there was a long slightly upward traverse, protected by a cable, which was buried in snow.  I had to do a traverse on the rocks above the snow, since I did not want to get my approach climbing shoes wet.  There was a narrow path on the top of the snow, next to the rock, made by previous climbers, but the snow was very steep. One slip, and I would be on this steep snow.  No danger of injuring an ankle here, the incline was so steep that a fall meant you were gone, thousands of feet down, certain death. I passed a group of Hungarian climbers, who were belaying each other, as was customary on all parts of the mountain.  Even the parts that were not steep climbing were on narrow ledges or ridges where a slip would mean you would never be seen again.  I climbed on over slabs, up the ridge, skirting snow here and there.  It was a beautiful day, I was in the zone, and very happy to be  on the mountain.  

I had set a time to get back, because I did not want to descend the mountain, find the rappel anchors in the dark, by myself, on unfamiliar terrain.   I went pass that time, thinking, maybe I could make it to the summit, then I encountered a large ridge covered in snow,  just below the summit, on the Pic Tyndall, a large subpeak 4241 M (13, 914), about 300-400 meters below the summit.  I did not want to get on this icy snow ridge without boots, and I especially did not want to down climb it later when it might be even more icy. So I decided to head down, and try the whole thing tomorrow, starting earlier.

I made it down to the hut, doing some simu-down climbing with a group of nice

Germans, and watched the beautiful sunset over the Alps.  

 Massive bolts set into the rock, and long hanging chains. 

 The view looking back toward the west.

Last view of the summit before turning back down.

the first climb: Carrel hut

 

I woke up at 4:39, looked out the tent and could see the dance of the headlamps heading up the mountain from the Carrel Hut, at 3830 M.  (12, 565),  which would be my first destination.  I packed my smaller pack to bare essentials, leaving the tent and other items.  I was on the trail by 6:00, and walked slowly, to make sure I did not get lost.  At the saddle between the large massive Testa de Leone and the rest of Il Cervino, I caught some wind from the north, but otherwise it was a beautiful calm day. After the saddle, I put on my approach shoes and climbed slabs, steep rock with huge fixed lines, that people used to pull themselves up the hard parts.  My goal, of course, was to climb without using these lines.  They were much too wide diameter to attach an ascender or self belay device, although they did have interludes where a sling could be clipped to protect a fall.  I arrived at the Carrel Hut just before noon.    I decided to check out the route, so I packed the rope, left my boots, crampons, ice axe, since I thought I could make it up without stepping on snow, and the warm weather had melted all the verglass, a thin sheet of ice that often covers portions of the climb.  The warm weather also melts the snow, which makes the possibility of more verglass if the weather gets cold at night.

 Along the way there were little monuments to famous lost climbers, little shrines, and a small shelter made out of stone.

 This line is about 2.5 inches in diameter.  Very thick, and slippery, too, as I found on the descent.

 The bunks inside the hut where climbers can sleep.  I left my axe etc, on a prime spot next to the wall.  The climb to the hut was quite steep, and offered some more difficult options if you chose.

Duca egli Abruzzi hut

 

Amazingly, I found the camp Glair, the campground, about 10 k down the road. I slept 10 hours, the sun hitting the yellow tent, did a little climbing at the local crag on a self belay, then packed for a few hours. I had a lot of gear to take up, including a rope, a tent,  boots, crampons, climbing gear and so on.  I used my 85 liter pack, and still I had to attach some things to the side of it. I started up the trail on the very hot afternoon, with the pack that I could barely lift, about 80 lbs.  I could barely walk under the weight, I was jet lagged.  I went for a ways, then came back down.  I knew there was a jeep taxi somewhere that could take me to Duca egli Abruzzi hut, and after all, I had already covered that ground the day before. I found the jeep, and at 6:00 PM he drove me up, the price was 100 Euro, but he must have felt sorry for me and charged me only 90. At the hut, I tried to get some information about the climb, a Swiss man who spoke a little English just pointed to the poster on the door of the Abruzzi, and his girlfriend scoffed at my intention to climb the mountain alone. She scoffed!  Well, I was feeling a little lonely, no one to talk to, I set up my tent in the meadow, scouted the next morning’s trail  and then went to sleep.

This is the Duca egli Abruzzi "hut".  And my yellow tent, below Il Cervino 4478 M ((14, 691 feet).

Breuil-Cervinia Italy

 I wandered around after I arrived, in the little village, up the trails, no one spoke English, trying to figure out the way up the mountain. I had picked up a hitchhiker, he looked like a robust fellow, maybe a climber who could help me out, but he spoke no English, and only informed me through his phone that it had snowed the night before on the mountain.  The woman in the guide center, in the same building as the tourist office, told me that guides were not taking people up the mountain yet because conditions were still too icy and snowy, and I had heard the Italian guides were so much more daring than their Swiss counterparts. But it didn’t matter, I was not going to hire a guide anyway. On my hike, in the beautiful alpine valley, I made it up to where the Duca egli Abruuzzi hut is, which is not a hut at all, but a large building that serves food to tourists and where you can sleep if you have a sleeping bag. I met a few climbers on my walk, either going up or down, getting ready to climb the mountain, none of them seemed terribly concerned, although none of them were climbing solo.

Salt Lake to JFK to Malpensa, Milan to Breuil Cervinia to Il Cervino, the Matterhorn

 To climb Il Cervino, the Matterhorn.  I landed in Malpensa at 6:40 AM an airport I have visited before several times on my way to Bologna, with Josh and with Jakob.  The pink paint job on the engines glowed beautifully in the sunrise in front of the green plains of Italy. As an airport, it was  a disappointment. I found the car easily, found the roads easily to Breuil Cervinia, the last little town in the Alps, in the Aosta Valley. 

The little village Breuill Cervinia, and the mountain