Adventure @ Lyskamm…

The Lyskamm Northeastface with a length of more than 700 meters and a steepness between 50-55 degrees is one of the really big North faces in the western Alps. One week ago it had perfect conditions to ski it. Usually then you have to get out and do it but unfortunately I didn’t have time then… It was a 50/50 chance that one week after it was still skiable, so a friend of mine and me decided to give it a go…
We got the information from a mountainguide that the face is in a very good shape, that there are still visible ski tracks and also at the bottleneck where usually ice is sticking out, there was none to see … So we trusted him…

On a mission…

Instead of taking the Gornergrat railway in Zermatt that would just have been a couple of km’s away, we drove over to Gressoney, start from there, take up the cable car that brings you up to the starting point of 3200 meters. This alternative meant that we could save some altitude meters with heavy packs and sleep at Rifugio Gnifetti at 3625m.
From the top of Punta Indren at 3200 m we could put on our skins and hike up to Rifugio Gnifetti without taking off the skis…

The hut was quite crowded but thank goodness we got a separate room. So at least no other snorring people in the room. But sleeping at this altitude, especially when you didn’t have any acclimatization means that you hardly sleep anyway. Drinking is very important, so that means going to toilet is also very important 😉 And the toilet was at the complete opposite part of the hut where our room was ;-)… Went to bed at ten and maybe slept in summary for an hour before the alarm clock rang again at 2.45 a.m. in the morning. At 2 a.m. you could hear already other mountaineering people packing their stuff and walking around in the hut… There was hardly any breakfast left due to the fact that other people ate our breakfast, so I was lucky to eat at least one energy bar that I brought by myself and get some tea for the way… Some energy for the day…

We started in the dark and were the only ones with skis. So we were much faster than the others and could enjoy the silence…

Got to Lisjoch where it was still quite cold, took of our skins and skied down the “Grenzglacier”. We stopped to get an overall impression of the face. It looked good, except the “bottleneck” where we could see the ice sticking out. Was this it? Those faces are just rideable when there is no ice, otherwise you’re playing with your life and that’s not worth it! Climbing and riding such steep faces means that anything can happen, at any time and if you’re gone, you’re gone. So you’re extremely focused in every step you do, no mistakes allowed. Mum and Dad, if you read this: PLEASE DON’T WORRY! I know what I’m doing and I’m keeping it safe!

We skied a bit closer to the face to get a better impression. Still no good news. Ice in the wall. My friend wanted to turn around, so we put up our skins again… Then the sun was rising, the face got light. Now it looked different, so we turned around again and skied down to the entrance of the face. We gave it a go. You will never know it, if you haven’t tried it… It’s better to try than to give up before you try…

We put up the crampons and had to climb over the lateral crevasse. Light movement, everything stable, good. That went well and we could go on. My friend was much faster than I was, so we decided to climb up without rope. Step by step, up the face.

He climbed up to the bottleneck. There was the other rope-team and they were working with ice screws. Not good. They had ice contact. Now it was 100% clear that this part was not rideable, so he climbed back where I was and we decided to ski down from where we where.

What a challenge to put on your skis in that steepness. Fixed a good standing position. No mistake allowed again. Took off one crampon, than put on one ski, than the other crampon, then the other ski.

Now ready for skiing down… It felt good to make some turns…

What a pitty that the circumstances where against us at that day… But that’s nature. That’s life in the mountains… It all happens for a reason 😉
Still, it was a beautiful day, up in this wonderful mountain area. First time up with skis in this region. Wow, stunning!

Skinning up again to Lisjoch was the hardest challenge in my ski mountaineering life so far. Never felt so exhaused… 10 steps, stop and catch breath again. On and on. Fighting up the mountain. Never felt so worn out. The sun, the heat, 14 days of working non-stop, without any day-off, less sleep, I paid my dues…

We were happy to ski all the way down to the top station of the cable car, overtaking all the mountaineering people – a good ride down…

Thanks my friend for the adventure!!!! I have soooo much respect on what you’re doing!!!
And – we’ll be back! Riding the Lyskamm! Sometime, someday…