Early afternoon down at the Weissmies Hütte (2,726m) following a successful traverse of the Weissmies (4017m) we were allowed the chance to relax with cold drinks (i.e. a couple of beers) and size up the challenge for the next day, the Lagginhorn (4,010m). After a mainly snow route the first thing that hit home looking up at the Lagginhorn was the amount of exposed rock, in particular the ridge we intended to ascend via showed only minimal snow cover toward the top. A PD ascent of the WSW ridge would give us more time on a glacier (albeit one considered dead or as good as, meaning it’s stopped moving and danger posed by crevasses is far lower), plenty of scrambling and then a steep snow plod to the rocky summit.

Lagginhorn from Weissmies hut garden, WSW ridge going up left flank

Still tired from the ascent of the Weissmies, we spent the day lazing around at the hut, glancing up from out drinks/books from time to time to the Lagginhorn and the clouds that swirled quickly over the summit. After another huge hut dinner we ventured back outside to savour the spectacular views, as the last rays of sun hit the huge peaks of the Mischabel chain.

View over Mischabel and the Weissmies hut

Waking up felt particularly hard, and the stale bread coupled with bad coffee increased the feeling of early morning nausea. Yet feeling a little worse for wear I thought was normal, so I busied myself getting ready and outside by quarter past 5 as had been agreed. The 45 minute or so walk up to the glacier felt fine, with only some steep sections and a pace that I found made me breathe hard but not enough to leave me breathless. After crossing a couple of snow fields we were looking at the glacier, shades of red appearing over the peaks/ridges surrounding us.

We split into the rope teams as per the day before, with us moving on ahead as a 4 and the second team on a rope of 2 following at a slightly slower pace behind us on the glacier. The slope began gradually and then steadily increasing in steepness, until a traverse over to the ridge toward the top of the glacier. By now the nausea I’d felt earlier was back and getting worse, so I asked if it would be possible to hold on for the second rope and go up the ridge slower.

The rocky WSW ridge of the Lagginhorn from the top of the glacier

On the slower rope and heading up the ridge we got stuck into the first scrambling of the day, which was pretty simple at first as we kept mostly to the crest. Occasionally it felt as though things got considerably more exposed and tricky all at once but this may have been as we lost the best line, overall there was nothing really tricky and we moved steadily upward. Despite things being pretty simple, the ridge felt particularly long and takes up a considerable portion of the overall ascent time. It felt technically on par with the Weissmies scrambling although lengthier and at times our line made it feel ever so slightly more difficult, so it was a decent progression from the day before.

With about 200m left of ascent we came across snow again, so we stopped briefly to put on crampons and grab a drink. At this point I was very much relieved to have completed what appeared to be the largest part of the ascent and able to see what was left; a steep snow plod for the most part. The next 50m of the slope was awful though, with the nausea I’d coped with earlier becoming a lot worse, the slope being quite icey in places as well as steep and finally the real sucker punch was losing my sense of balance. I stopped the team and asked for a quick breather to compose myself, saying if I needed to call it again we’d need to descend. Within a minute I’d had to really plunge the ice ax into the slope to keep my balance and called it off as my footwork was awful. I’d never experienced AMS quite like this; it was shocking how quickly how things went from bearable to quite scarily not. I’m still at a bit of a loss to explain why on this climb it hit so hard, after all I’d gone higher the day before and felt hydrated on the ascent.

Despite being a bit tired and my big toes hurting (school boy error: I didn’t trim them right back. Yes, they’re black and soon to fall off. Don’t fret no photos below!) started to enjoy myself on the descent. There were a couple of points where it made sense to turn into the slope and down climb but nothing tricky, just a case of following the painted red marks over the rocks. After what seemed a long rock descent we were back at the glacier and the other rope team soon with us to talk about a (loose in places) rocky exposed summit after a progressively harder/icier final section.

From the ridge to the glacier on our descent

I guess this article is as much about my experience as the route. It’s been a real pain to write as I’m naturally competitive with myself, so having to call off an ascent due to how I felt physically was really hard and continues to frustrate me (even now almost a month later). But getting back down I was happy that despite struggling with the altitude I was capable of making the right decision for the safety of all of us on the rope. It was a tough day and a hard call, but sat in the cable car on the way down to Saas Grund looking back up at the Lagginhorn I was able to smile briefly and tell myself “I’ll be back up there soon enough”.

Back down in the valley my big toes looked an absolute state and fears I’d over done it with exercise prior and turned up tired started to really get to me. Yet it’s amazing what a beer, decent night sleep in a hotel and then rock climbing in the morning sun (wearing big B3 boots) can do. Next up was the Allalinhorn (4,027m), my final chance to get above 4000m before heading to Chamonix for Mont Blanc.