Zinal Rothorn – Rotgrat

1. Zinal Rothorn – Rotgrat 4221 meters 20-21 July 2010 Guides: Ugi Zumtaugwald and Rütschi Pollinger

2. Zinal Rothorn is a sharp, tilted peak that is remote by Valaisian standards. It’s hard to get a decent view of it from the Zermatt side. The peak is obscured for most of the hut climb – or strangely foreshortened. The familiar views are all from a distance. This shot – probably taken from Wellenkuppe, 4 km south of the mountain – succeeds in conveying its beauty. The ridge we climbed is at the center and lit by the morning sun.

3. ridge line profiled on the left. From the summit we follow the normal route down past the ‘Gabel’ notch, abseil 5-6 rope lengths through a hazardous couloir of loose rock, then traverse the snow ridge and continue (toward the right edge of the photo) on mixed rock and snow to our pick-up point. (More later on the pick-up!) This shot (from the web, taken in winter conditions) shows our route. Starting at the hut, circled, we ascend snow fields and alternating loose rock, and slopes with big, solid boulders. Instead of taking the normal route up the snow ridge (red dots) we turn sharply left, descend steeply to the Trift glacier, and cross it to gain the

4. Here we are just a half hour into the hut climb. J is raring to go, while M wonders if her knee bandage will do any good … The climb to Rothornhütte (1600 meters up) is one of the few hut climbs in the Zermatt region with no ski lifts to make the ascent easier. The day is hot, and there are big crowds at Täsch train station and in town. The trail up the Triftbach is unrelentingly steep but beautiful. Hotel du Trift, a Victorian-era mountain inn, is ours and everybody else’s favorite refueling station.

5. The inn sits among alpine roses and rocky pastures where sheep sometimes graze. Owner Hugo knows us from way back. (Some tourist asks: “Sind Sie Hugo Biner?” –”Ja, immer noch…”) We join the many hikers at the sunny veranda tables, and split an order of delicious Rösti. An American asks for French fries and Hugo scolds her that this isn’t MacDonald’s. the Biners

6. Rothornhütte perches high above the valley among rock of the same color….Very hard to see with bare eyes, but easier using the camera zoom.

7. As we approach the hut, we have spectacular views of Horu/Matterhorn, behind the corniced ridges of Unter- and Mittelgabelhorn. Luckily, the afternoon thunder clouds stay at a good distance from us!

8. It’s warm and bright when we arrive at the hut. Rütschi (below left) is already there, looking very sun burnt after his tour today on Obergabelhorn and Wellenkuppe. Ugi arrives an hour after we do, with only a fanny pack. He has made a deal with the Air Zermatt folks to transport his heavy gear up in the helicopter—never one to waste energy! We haven’t seen Ugi since 2008 (the tour is pictured at right). M immediately rediscovers his sparkling blue eyes!

9. Dinner is a jovial affair. At a table for six we are joined by Heiri Julen, a mountain guide from Zermatt, and his German client. They also plan to do the Rotgrat ridge tomorrow. The hut staff is very nice. The young German guy who registers guests at the service window has been to Vancouver, and the Hüttenwärtin is a youthful woman. We learn from our guides that her father ran the hut for at least 30 years. After dinner, we and many other climbers head outdoors for an evening photo session.

10. A slightly nervous Martha, trying not to think of tomorrow’s tour ….

11. …and a totally cool Jeff, behind him Gornergrat and in the distance, Monte Rosa (in the clouds) and Liskamm (far right). After a second dessert of Chocoly, we snuggle under fleece blankets and listen to a light rain outside. J has a restless night, while M is able to abandon her jitters – for once! – and sleep.

12. Breakfast the next day is at 3:30, and we are on our way at 4 am, Ugi and Martha as one team, and Rütschi and Jeff as the other. Two more teams turn off with us for the ridge route, while the rest of the climbers take the Normalweg. There is enough light for photos by the time we reach the middle of Triftgletscher, after a short steep descent. Time for a quick drink of water and snack (a Mars bar, of course!), and a boot- and Steigeisen check. There is a cool wind blowing, as you can see from the way Ugi is dressed. The summit block above us is still partly shrouded in cloud …

13. ... But then, way high up, the sun begins to do its magic. Below is old Horu (Matterhorn) in morning sun at 6 am.

14. We take divergent paths from the glacier to gain the ridge line. J & R race ahead and snap this shot. Rütschi chooses to head toward the ridge line from a higher point on the glacier. The advantage is getting to the ridge quicker, but the disadvantage is having to contend with major Bergschrund. J compares the crevasse with that we crossed in 2008 on Triftjigrat. It’s just as wide, but here the snow is a bit harder. Rütschi feels his way, jamming his upside-down pole into the snow each step to test its firmness. J’s instructions are to yell as soon as he is across the crumbling snow bridge, so R can pull the rope hard. Ugi & M head up from Triftgletscher to the ridge from a lower point—a longer climb, but the transition off the ice is easier.

15. J reaps repeated praise for his speed and technique, and M enjoys that ‘zone’ of balance, lightness and motion. M suffers occasional karabiner woes – those little hands in awkward gloves aren’t good at unclipping, especially when the karabiner is above her head. Heiri, the Zermatt guide who shared our dinner table, gives her some belay help on occasion. More important, he complements her on her climbing style. The guidebooks were right: Rotgrat is mostly granite and gneiss - a pure pleasure to climb! It’s obvious there are several passages of IV and IV+, but we feel inspired, not daunted. Today is a good day for both of us.

16. It’s now 6:50am, and we take our first break on the ridge. This shot looks south, back at Wellenkuppe (left) and Obergabelhorn, with its amazing gendarme. The North face on Bup (our name for Obergabelhorn) and the snow cornices look shrunken in comparison to our memory of it. (We had climbed Gabelhorn way back in 1998.) About two hours later, we would look back at Obergabelhorn with trepidation, as an Air Zermatt rescue operation played out near its summit …

17. Looking southwest, here’s a zoom shot of the twin peaks of Besso (3668 m) and Blanc de Moming in front.

18. And a beautiful zoom shot across the expanse of the Triftgletscher, back to the snow ridge, where we can see two stragglers on the normal route.

19. As we climb, the vistas get ever more spectacular. Here’s mighty Liskamm (4527 m) gleaming in the distance, with the Grenzgletscher in partial shadow to its left, and Castor (4230 m) to the right. We have been high above the surrounding terrain for several hours now, and start to lose count of the pinnacles we’ve scaled!

20. Ugi and Rütschi confer on our progress. R fears we have been slow on the ridge, but it turns out he has mis-remembered the guidebook’s suggested time from hut to summit; it’s not 5 but 7 hours! Ugi, who was recently on the route, guarantees we’ll be at the Gabel in 20 minutes. M overhears this exchange and this warms her heart. Hooray! The summit is in range….

21. On the last stretch of the ridge, J’s energy begins to flag. And then come those freaky hand cramps, with his fingers curling uncontrollably. Spooky! In contrast, M feels a rush of energy for the last 45 minutes of the ridge climb, starting just before we reach the Gabel. The picture shows R descending from the two-headed gendarme just before the Gabel, where the normal route joins Rotgrat. We are happy to see there is no ice here ….

22. …. nor on the infamous Biner Slab, which is actually a series of severely tilted surfaces with the only good holds in a large crack. The slab is the crux pitch of the normal route, and a strategically placed peg makes the belay easier both coming and going. Here are Rütschi, Jeff and Ugi making their way up the crack, finding it quite easy to avoid the few remaining patches of icy snow.

23. We summit at 1030 am. Hooray!! The clouds are welling up and around us, so the views aren’t ideal. But this keeps the temperatures a bit warmer. We hang out for a half hour. Even M is relaxed and able to eat—for a change. J’s hand cramps ease, and of course the magic Cola-mischung hits the spot.

24. Gazing west from the summit, Dente Blanch seems almost as close as Obergabelhorn, although it is not. The nearly vertical Viereselsgrat in the middle is partly covered by cloud. We enjoy Rütschi’s tale of his grandfather, who led the first party up that route and had to bear the teasing for taking on such a foolhardy tour. Mont Blanc seems suspended in the distance, a mound of whipped cream or meringue. Jeff also checks out the northwest ridge of Zinalrothorn, which you can climb from Mountet hut.

25. On the way down, we notice that we are climbing much better than many of those taking the Normalweg! Here is a view back up to the summit block and Gipfelkreuz – tiny and barely visible -- from just below the Biner slab and its snow.

26. Descending the couloir from the Gabel is not easy going – it’s hard to orient, hard to find belays, and all of us worry about the deadly loose rock above. R and J lead the whole way down, abseiling 5 or 6 times in quick succession. J is back in top form, abseiling quickly, usually with no guidance about where he is headed, just instructions to look for the bolt/ring – and figure out where to stop! Ugi tells M she has it easier, since she can simply target the places where R had recently stood to secure J. In theory, that is! In reality, it is very hard to identify a particular point in terrain that looks so uniform – and from the perspective of hanging on a rope and looking back over your hip or between your legs!

27. At the bottom of the last abseil, M slips on the scree in the steep chute and knocks loose a large rock, which slides and rolls on to her left knee and boot. She wrenches it free in panic and can instantly feel the pain. At this point, J and R are ahead and out of sight. They wonder what the delay is … Here is a view of the couloir from below. It starts at the obvious notch of the Gabel. The summit block is on the far right.

28. Ugi tells M she must keep moving fast until we are out of the dangerous terrain. Jeff takes this shot of M giving the OK sign as she emerges onto safer slopes, at just about noon. Ugi and M are dwarfed on this enormous slope of shattered rock ….

29. It is a hot trudge across the snow ridge before we reach the juncture with the track that leads back down to the hut. It is here that we must decide whether to take a ‘Spezialangebot’ our guides have hinted at earlier in the day – to skip the long climb down to Zermatt and take the helicopter instead. This requires a traverse on a rocky, slabby spine to Obere Äschhorn, which is one of the few legal copter landing spots. M knows her knee would love a rest. So, we say yes. The route to Äschhorn is great downclimbing practice but the 45 minutes feel endless. This shows what the terrain looks like – with Liskamm and Monte Rosa as a backdrop.

30. On the Äschigrat, Jeff revels in his top form, both technique and speed. What a difference from just 2 years ago! We are both rightly satisfied as we arrive at the agreed pick-up spot. Behind J, the day’s object of conquest. Look closely and you can see the Gabel and the grey rock of the couloir.

31. M is also in a great mood – “Mission accomplished!” – as the guides pack up their gear in preparation for our heli pick-up.

32. Here it comes – our aerial tour is about to begin! Once on board, we swoop around our favorite lookout point on Mettelhorn, crossing in front of the south face of massive Weisshorn, and glide down into the ‘back yards’ of Zermatt. Cool!

33. Tour Stats. Zinal Rothorn summit: 4221 meters * * * Ascent from Zermatt (1600 m) to hut at 3200 m (5.5 km from Zermatt, 4 ½ hrs) Hut to Bergschrund at 3800 meters: 2 ½ hrs Climb to Gabel at 4150 meters: 3 ¼ hrs Gabel to summit at 4221 meters: 45 mins Summit to base of couloir at 3900 meters: 1 ¼ hrs Descent to Obere Äschhornjoch (heli pick-up) at 3622 meters: 45 mins Hut to summit: approx. 3 km Summit to heli pick-up: 2.4 km Total tour distance: approx. 11 km, incl hut climb * * * Ascent from hut to summit: 1021 meters Total ascent from Zermatt: 2600 meters Total descent: 600 meters Total tour time: 9 hours (hut to summit: 6 ½ hrs)