4000m Alps

Has anyone any climbed or have suggestions for "easy" 4000m peaks in the alps, which would fall into
the same category of difficult winter walking in the uk.

Shaun Woodward wrote
> Has anyone any climbed or have suggestions for "easy" 4000m peaks in the alps, which would fall
> into the same category of difficult winter walking
in
> the uk.
>
There are quite a few relatively easy ones which involve no difficult glacier work and could almost
be classed as winter walks. Gran Paradiso 4061m, Val Savrenche, Italy - not much more than a snowy
walk with only a couple of tiny crevasses and an 'airy' scramble at the very end. Breithorn 4264m,
Zermatt valley, Switz. - easy snow walk from the top station of the Kleine Matterhorn cable car.
More difficult if you go along the ridge for any distance. Castor 4226m and Pollux 4092m, Zermatt -
again accessible from the KM cable car station but a longer walk across a fairly safe glacier. Some
steep slopes and a bit of exposure in places on the hills. Dom 4545m, Zermatt - a long day up to the
hut and another long day to the summit but nothing technically difficult, just hard work. There is
an unpleasant scramble on loose rock to gain the Hohberg glacier then tracks through the glacier and
a *long* slog to the top. Bishorn 4153m, Zinal valley, Switz. - very easy from the Tracuit hut, just
a big easy snow slope. Weissmies 4023m, Saas valley, Switz. - a bit of zig-zagging required through
a broken ice slope but usually a good track and not technically hard. Allalinhorn 4027m and Alphubel
4206m, Saas - reputedly easy from Mittelallalin ski station, we tried the Hohlaubgrat and turned
back as we did not think we had a long enough rope for the rock step. Monch 4099m,
Grindelwald/Lauterbrunnen, Switz. - fairly straightforward from the hut with a short snow arrete and
a couple of short scrambles. and ... Mont Blanc is not technically difficult from the Gouter Hut
just big and breathless with some narrow snow ridges high up.

Enough to keep you going for a couple of seasons?

Graham

In article <3fcaea8a.32284796@news.cis.dfn.de>, one of infinite monkeys
at the keyboard of despam.c.street@ntlworld.com (Chris Street) wrote:

>>Allalinhorn 4027m and Alphubel 4206m, Saas - reputedly easy from Mittelallalin ski station,
>
> Easy day trip from the ski station. You can hire guides in Saas Fee and also have a go at the Dom.

Both easy. The first is just a trudge throough the snow, the second has some interest (especially
when the glacier is visibly melting away under you on the way down:-) Other side of Saas valley
there's Weissmies, which is likewise straightforward.

One gotcha: don't expect your German to communicate with the natives. Not even if you speak "normal"
Schweizer Deutsch. The Walise dialect is unique, and different. I went up the two peaks you named
with two germans, and they could no more understand the locals than I could.

--
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(3) A member of parliament (4) A government policy
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In article <3fcaea8a.32284796@news.cis.dfn.de>, Chris Street <despam.c.street@ntlworld.com> writes
>On Tue, 18 Nov 2003 10:42:54 -0000, "Graham Benny" <cnbs96@ccsun.strath.ac.uk> wrote:
>
>>Shaun Woodward wrote
>>> Has anyone any climbed or have suggestions for "easy" 4000m peaks in the alps, which would fall
>>> into the same category of difficult winter walking
>
>>Allalinhorn 4027m and Alphubel 4206m, Saas - reputedly easy from Mittelallalin ski station,
>
>Easy day trip from the ski station. You can hire guides in Saas Fee and also have a go at the Dom.
>
>From the Mittelallalin the Allininhorn is only about another 600m ascent IIRC.
>
>Mont Blanc from the Aguille Midi is also an easy technical peak - just physically hard work.

Bit tricky from l'Aiguille du Midi - far easier from the Plan de l’Aiguille about half way up.
However it is one hell of a slog and exposed to some huge seracs. I have descended twice that way
having ascended via the Gouter and despite the danger of the Grand Couloir and the crowded hut I
still feel the Gouter is the way to go.

--

http://www.dscs.demon.co.uk/

On Tue, 18 Nov 2003 10:42:54 -0000, "Graham Benny"
<cnbs96@ccsun.strath.ac.uk> wrote:

>Shaun Woodward wrote
>> Has anyone any climbed or have suggestions for "easy" 4000m peaks in the alps, which would fall
>> into the same category of difficult winter walking

>Allalinhorn 4027m and Alphubel 4206m, Saas - reputedly easy from Mittelallalin ski station,

Easy day trip from the ski station. You can hire guides in Saas Fee and also have a go at the Dom.

From the Mittelallalin the Allininhorn is only about another 600m ascent IIRC.

Mont Blanc from the Aguille Midi is also an easy technical peak - just physically hard work.
--
79.84% of all statistics are made up on the spot. The other 42% are made up later on. In Warwick -
looking at flat fields and that includes the castle.

On Sat, 29 Nov 2003 19:28:26 +0000, nick@fenris.webthing.com (Nick Kew)
wrote:

>In article <3fcaea8a.32284796@news.cis.dfn.de>, one of infinite monkeys at the keyboard of
>despam.c.street@ntlworld.com (Chris Street) wrote:
>
>>>Allalinhorn 4027m and Alphubel 4206m, Saas - reputedly easy from Mittelallalin ski station,
>>
>> Easy day trip from the ski station. You can hire guides in Saas Fee and also have a go at
>> the Dom.
>
>Both easy. The first is just a trudge throough the snow, the second has some interest (especially
>when the glacier is visibly melting away under you on the way down:-) Other side of Saas valley
>there's Weissmies, which is likewise straightforward.
>
>One gotcha: don't expect your German to communicate with the natives. Not even if you speak
>"normal" Schweizer Deutsch. The Walise dialect is unique, and different. I went up the two peaks
>you named with two germans, and they could no more understand the locals than I could.

Ummm. I didn't have much problems though with the local dialect. Mind you I was discussing the
meaning of life with them.... It's worth noting that the Saas valley doesn't have a rail line so it
doesn't often cater to American/british air tourists unlike Zermatt. The result is that the locals
tend to speak Italian, German, Romansch and a little French, unlike the Zermatt valley where they
usually also speak some English as well.
--
79.84% of all statistics are made up on the spot. The other 42% are made up later on. In Warwick -
looking at flat fields and that includes the castle.

Nick Kew wrote:
> In article <3fcaea8a.32284796@news.cis.dfn.de>, one of infinite monkeys at the keyboard of
> despam.c.street@ntlworld.com (Chris Street) wrote:
>
>
>
> One gotcha: don't expect your German to communicate with the natives. Not even if you speak
> "normal" Schweizer Deutsch. The Walise dialect is unique, and different. I went up the two peaks
> you named with two germans, and they could no more understand the locals than I could.
>

I have extracted the following linguistic rule through my walking experience : for English,
incomprehensibility is an increasing function of latitude while for German, it is an increasing
function of altitude.

In article <3fcaea8a.32284796@news.cis.dfn.de>, Chris Street
<URL:mailto:despam.c.street@ntlworld.com> wrote:
> On Tue, 18 Nov 2003 10:42:54 -0000, "Graham Benny" <cnbs96@ccsun.strath.ac.uk> wrote:
>
> >Shaun Woodward wrote
> >> Has anyone any climbed or have suggestions for "easy" 4000m peaks in the alps, which would fall
> >> into the same category of difficult winter walking
>
> > Allalinhorn 4027m and Alphubel 4206m, Saas - reputedly easy from Mittelallalin ski station,
>
> Easy day trip from the ski station. You can hire guides in Saas Fee and also have a go at the Dom.
>
> From the Mittelallalin the Allininhorn is only about another 600m ascent IIRC.
>

I did the Allalinhorn as a traverse from the Britannia Hut about two summers ago, and then repeated
it as a one day ski-mountaineering ascent from the Mittelallalin ski station in early April this
year. What I can say is that the glacier had changed considerably in that short time. There were
serious crevasses to cross, and one section required a short piece of technical climbing, probably
of no more than Scottish grade I or II, but I certainly wouldn't have considered it as the same
cateory as difficult Winter Scottish winter walking.

The glacial changes have been dramatic in the Alps in the last couple of seasons and even some easy
peaks are more difficult than usual.

Mike <URL:http://www.path.cam.ac.uk/~mrc7/>
--
o/ \\ // |\ ,_ o Mike Clark <\__,\\ // __o | \ / /\, "A mountain climbing, cycling, skiing, "> ||
_`\<,_ |__\ \> | immunology lecturer, antibody engineer and ` || (_)/ (_) | \corn computer user"

In article <q0saqb.h11.ln@jarl.webthing.com>, Nick Kew
<URL:mailto:nick@fenris.webthing.com> wrote:
> In article <3fcaea8a.32284796@news.cis.dfn.de>, one of infinite monkeys at the keyboard of
> despam.c.street@ntlworld.com (Chris Street) wrote:
>
> >>Allalinhorn 4027m and Alphubel 4206m, Saas - reputedly easy from Mittelallalin ski station,
> >
> > Easy day trip from the ski station. You can hire guides in Saas Fee and also have a go at
> > the Dom.
>
> Both easy. The first is just a trudge throough the snow, the second has some interest (especially
> when the glacier is visibly melting away under you on the way down:-) Other side of Saas valley
> there's Weissmies, which is likewise straightforward.
>

One note of caution I would add is that whilst these routes are normally very straightforward and
easy, there have been big changes in the glaciers this last couple of years and they may not be as
easy as they once were. Certainly in April of this year I did the Allalinhorn as ski-summit but had
to do some technical climbing for one short section. I it also made for an ineresting descent with
some choosing to ski this section and others to down climb. The situation was helped by big open
crevasses just above and just below this section of the route. It was a lot harder than two years
ago when I crossed it as a traverse from the Britannia Hut under summer conditions.

Mike <URL:http://www.path.cam.ac.uk/~mrc7/>
--
o/ \\ // |\ ,_ o Mike Clark <\__,\\ // __o | \ / /\, "A mountain climbing, cycling, skiing, "> ||
_`\<,_ |__\ \> | immunology lecturer, antibody engineer and ` || (_)/ (_) | \corn computer user"