[nic mullin]

Anyone know of any other Fairly Long, Moderately Hard and Mostly Free warm up routes in the area - E2/E3ish and very, very fun?

The Cassin on the Cima Ovest is very, very good - massive exposure, great climbing, lot of history - felt about E2/3 with a couple of peg pulls on the traverse. The UKC database suggests that it's only a smidge easier than the BH, but I know people who've done both and reckoned the BH was considerably harder.

[Johnny Brown]

Me an El Mocho are hitting the Bugaboos in July. Anyone been? Any tips/ recs?

[SA Chris]

Beyonce and co liked it enough to write a song.

[duncan]

...and his take on the rock quality was? Stu portrays it as a teetering choss pile but other members of the trip suggest it "wasn't that bad"... 

The rock on the harder pitches was like the better parts of Swanage or not-so-good parts of Pembroke.  It gets a bit worse and is often wet in the top chimneys.  E2/3 is about right: the hard bits were not as hard as we anticipated (though the second pitch is a bit rude at 7am) but the easier bits were not as easy as we hoped and it keeps on coming at you.

Finlandia on the Cinque Torri (5 pitches, about E1/2 5c) makes a good warm-up for the Comici.  There are probably other possibilities here: it's a good, easy access, non-committing crag to get a feel for the area.  Lots of people seem to enjoy the Spigolo Gallo (E1 ish) and it is a great line in magnificent surroundings.  The actual climbing is pretty mediocre though.

Tre Cima webcam




 

[duncan]

Quick summary of climbing the in Bernese Oberland: it's amazing! Up to 700m long routes on Verdon-quality rock with Dolomite-quality (and then some) scenery. The Englehorn, Wellhorn, Titlis and Wendenstock all look fabulous. Hintisberg has some fine 4-6 pitch routes, from 6a (feels like E2) to about 7c with great views of the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau. Then there are the sport routes on the N.Face of the Eiger...

There are plenty of wet-weather alternatives around Meiringen and Interlaken if the big routes are not in.  In particular, Neuhaus and Lehn are great little crags and a good change from generic Euro-lime (are you reading Fiend?)

It is expensive: this is the land of the £600 goretex jacket. Camping just outside Meiringen at £15 a night for two people and a car was as good as we found. Camping next to Lehn was £30 for two. Some places refused to even talk to us! There is potential for discreet biviing if you keep away from the valleys. Further details on application.


Hintisberg


Climbing on Hintisberg


Eiger alpenglow from Hintisberg


Wendenstock in the mist

[Paul B]

This looks good but fails spectacularly to meet with the original criteria:

http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=67333

...but surely there are other routes nearby that do?

[Muenchener]

...but surely there are other routes nearby that do?

Indeed there are. Loads.

Wassersymphonie, mentioned early on in this thread, is a bit further along on the same escarpment. On the Feüerhorndl itsef there are two lots of easier routes including two, Sternschnuppe and Astrofant, that get mentions in guidebooks as easy (UIAA VII-) multiplitch sport classics. I did Sternschnuppe last year though and thought it was v. overrated .

[Paul B]

what time of year is best for a visit?

[Muenchener]

The escarpment is north facing, so probably not too desperate in summer unless it's really hot, but not that high (a little over 2,000m at the top) so also ok in spring & autumn. Any time from about May to October should be feasible.

Not far away on the other side of Berchtesgaden is the cold weather alternative: Untersberg / Salzburger Hochthron also has mid-grade multipitch sport climbing but is south facing.

[Paul B]

...and how about Rocher du Midi?

http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=67339

and the Vercors region... any suggestions for either?

[Fultonius]

Quick summary of climbing the in Bernese Oberland: it's amazing!

There is potential for discreet biviing if you keep away from the valleys. Further details on application.

Duncan, a mate and I have about 6 days off in 2 weeks. Plan A is NW Scotland / Wales. No planning required - follow the blue patches in the Skye!

Buuut, if it's a total write-off we're considering a last minute fly/drive/camp trip somewhere.  Do you reckon the logistics are feasible for a wnedestock/Bernese Oberland type trip?  Where do you fly to?

[duncan]

We flew to Zurich and rented a car there (neither cheap).  It's about an hour and a half drive to the climbing areas.  Berne would be a little closer but didn't have suitable flights. 

An alternative suggested to us was flying to Milan, which is about about 3 hours drive.  Flights and car hire tend to be cheaper but you need to factor in the cost of a carnet  (40 SF) to drive in Switzerland.  This puts you on the south side where you could divert to Mello etc., the south Swiss crags, or even the Dolomites depending on weather.  Amazingly, the St Gotthard tunnel is free so you could switch sides of the Alps by the day.  I might try this next trip.


The camp site at Gadmen looks decent and as cheap as it gets. Camping at Meiringen was very good and reasonably priced by local standards.

Wild camping is about as welcome as in North Wales.  Be discreet and stay away from built-up areas. 



...



.  We, erm, didn't pay too much attention to this and were only challenged once ... shamelessly and successfully playing the dumb foreigner card (comes naturally to me). 




Guidebooks: The Schweiz Plasir series covers climbing to about F6b. The new 'best of the best of' looks excellent and has most of the relevant information in English.  The Extrem west, mostly F6b and above, covers this area.  This is what we took.  It's mostly in German but the approach information and topos are very clear.  We wished we had had some information on the Grimsel granite (it's covered in the Plasir guides) or the south side crags. 



Webcam 1

Webcam 2

Swiss meteo

Yr.no forecast

Currently looking better than one we had back in July:




Bring your Walshes or proper hiking boots for the approach to Wendenstock:

[Fultonius]

Riglos is great.  It's a rather attractive part of Spain and a popular weekend destination with more than just climbers.  The birdlife is amazing, especially the Lammergeiers.  There is convenience store, bar and refugio.  The latter was full of noisy teenagers when we were there.  We bivied discretely which seemed to be tolerated.  It might be getting chilly in November, it seemed like a September-October or April-May venue on the basis of a single visit in late April. 

Ok folks,

The weather for the whole of the UK looks gash for next week and a mate and I are off from Tuesday to Sunday (possibly Monday).

We had thought Grindelwald,  but the forecast there isn't great either. So, one final option in Riglos.

The long term forecast is sun, sun, sun and sun. 29c on Tuesday but the wind is due to swing Northerly and cool down to 23c, then 21c by a week on Sat (likelihood of accuracy poor I know!).

Do you reckon this will be too hot to climb?


 

[Paul B]

Hmmm, difficult one.

I certainly wouldn't want to be halfway up anything (or climbing all day) in those upper temps but if you're willing to climb early and/or late you'll probably get away with it. As the climbing is quite obvious and heavily chalked you can move fast.

There are plenty of other (single pitch) options nearby (ish) that would offer respite from the full sun if its just too hot.

Temperatures for the Gorges du Verdon at the same time are ~24'c but there's a lot more shade on offer (the duc for starters). You'll just about get away with staying in the nice camping and eating pizza before it all shuts for the winter (Oct 1) too.

[duncan]

Do you reckon this will be too hot to climb?

Next week's forecast for Riglos:



Seriously, it's south facing and it'll be hot after mid morning.  However, you do FDLB or the Murciana in 3-4 hours and if you got up early enough you could be down in time to swim in the river all afternoon.

Verdon has more shade options and is not quite as hot. Picos and NW Scotland have similarly mixed forecasts.  Cortina looks a much better bet than Grindenwald.  You've just been there but you've still got the Hasse-Brandler to do IIRC...

[ghisino]

Verdon has more shade options

talking of Verdon and shade, i strongly reccommend Alix Punk de Vergons.

-300 meters
-in the shade until 4pm
-80% of it is brilliant steep juggy climbing on tufas and big pockets. Two nice but nasty slabby 7a's. Surprisingly comfy belays for such a steep wall.
-Although well-bolted, abseiling mid-route past the 3rd pitch is not a good idea. Too overhung and traversing...
-Sustained @ 6c/7a with a couple of harder (7b/+), yet aidable pitches. Very enjoyable for the regular 7a onsighter... Freeclimbing every pitch on your 1st visit should be a nice challenge if you regularly onsight 7b/c.
-single rope and haul line should work a treat.

[Paul B]

Série limitée too.

[Fultonius]

So we got pretty lucky!

Arrived in Barcelona and the car said 38c.... SCORCHIO. The forecast was for cooler weather though, so we were hopeful.

Day 1 we got up early and started easy with Moskitos - 180m and about F6b+ (with a pokey crux). Good intro.


Andy below the crux of Moskitos.

Day 2 and after a bit of overnight rain and a cool electric storm we decided to do something in the shade, so went round to the West face of the Pison and did a generally fun and straightforward F6c+ called Tiempos Nuevos, Tiempos Salvajes. The two hard pitches had some tricky cruxes! Andy tried them both first but had to rest. I pulled the ropes and managed to Flash both pitches (just) probably some of the hardest moves we actually did all week. High quality route, 5 pitches with abb-descent (fine with 70m single)


Andy on the 6c+ pitch.


Wild abbing!

Day 3 - finally time to let the guns have their party!

Cold start (17c, almost too cold for shorts and t-shirt in the strong winds that were swirling about), but  warmed up later on. Outstanding route. Built to be climbed. Quite varied too with the techy 6c+ pitch low down (but not particularly strenuous) and the the monster jug-pulling 6c+/7a pitch near the top. I got both of this and was pretty spent! Managed to onsight the full bifter though, chuffed!

Oh yeah. LUDICROUS. Hmm. Can't think of much else to say!


Andy seconding the lower crux. F6c+ or F7a depending on who you ask/which guide you read.


Somewhere steep and high on FDLB.

Day 4. Another early alarm (6am) and another cold start (us pasty Scots don't like climbing in the sun for too long) and we trudged up to have a look at Chinatown (after the previous night's beer fuelled bravado of thinking El Zulu Demente would be a good idea had quickly evaporated with the realisation of stiff shoulders and forearms). We did Pitch 1 -3 as per the guide then got a bit lost-confused-offroute. Probably did some of pitch 4 of Naturaleza Salvajes (Wild Nature) and some of Chinatown, then did Pitch 5+6 of Nat Salv (Fr 6c+ into Fr7a and even steeper than anything Fiesta!) After that we found a way of going straight up and not doing the F7b pitch of Nat Salv. A magical mystery tour of PUMP!


Andy escaping from the 7b pitch of Naturaleza Salvajes via something around 6c+. By this point we were in "escape mode" as forearms were shot an we didn't really know what route we were on so this was the only pitch of the week that one of us didn't onsight/flash. Still, 90%+ onsighted! Nice.

[SA Chris]

Good work boys. Shame your partner is such a punter Ali.

[Paul B]

you needn't have worried about Zulu, its like the jug hauling pitches of Fiesta all the way from the Moskito ledge to the change in angle beneath the top, then there are about 3 moves that bumps it from (probably) 6c to 7b and then you're at the top.

You're right about the angle though, ludicrously steep.

[Fultonius]

Good work boys. Shame your partner is such a punter Ali.

I know, I know - I'll need to put in for an upgrade soon.

Joking aside, the harder routes were all together a proper team effort. I think I would've struggled on the crux of Tiempos without the beta he figured out.

[jwi]

A friend did Perestroika Crack in Kyrgyzstan's Ak-Su valley this summer.  800 m of perfect crack climbing of all sizes from rattly fingers to off width on pristine rock, never harder than 7b and most of the pitches in the 6th grade.  Must fit the original bill  perfect?

I googled for some pics and it doesn't look shit.  The political situations seems, on the other hand, seems to be far from perfect.


Perestroika Crack by Štrankl, on Flickr


Perestroika Crack by mammutphoto, on Flickr

[Johnny Brown]

Grimer went with a British crew about ten years ago, looked like a great place with lots of cultural 'interest'.

In other news, I can happily confirm the Bugaboos fit the criteria of this thread better than anywhere else I've been: brilliant place. Everything from Diff to E4+, 6-30 pitches on immaculate granite. Mellow approaches by alpine standards, most cross glaciers but we never felt the need top rope up and they can be done in approach shoes if necessary, although light walking boots are more enjoyable.

~5 hours drive from Calgary, ~10 hours from Vancouver. Walk-in to the campsite is about 3 hours heavily laden, less if you stay at the hut. From the campsite the base of the routes are between 20 mins and 4 hours away, with other camping/ bivvy options under the furthest.

[jwi]

Everyone seems to love Bugaboos,  must go there sometime!

(Utah desert legend Alf told me not to bring any food up there, just take left-overs from w/e-warriors)

[Paul B]

any web-worthy snap shots Johnny?