Weissmies summit ridge arête

After acclimatizing on the Jegihorn via ferrata and a night down in Saas Grund to relax, we made our way to Saas Almagell (1672m) on the bus, where we began our walk up to the Almageller hut (2894m). The approach route we took was fairly pleasant, with the first section through a wooded area that opened up to a valley with the old hut (now turned into a bar/hotel) about half way serving us cold soft drinks that we greatly appreciated on a break from the scorching heat of the midday sun.

Steady trail between wooded area and traverse up to Almageller hut

Up the valley and traversing North East the trail whilst not exactly steep, soon gains ground and the group rope was passed around (I’d had enough after the middle couple of hours hauling it… it was my birthday!). After about 4hrs walking from Saas Almagell we were at the hut, looking up to SSE ridge of the Weissmies and back behind us to the absolutely stunning Mischabel chain.

View toward the Weissmies’ SSE ridge from the Almageller hut

With a storm set to roll over the range in the late evening we set about eating plenty of the good hut food (amazing what they’re capable of with supplies that need bringing up via helicopter!) and trying in vain to get some sleep in the dorms (they’re not the quietest of places) before our 4:30am breakfast. The storm came and whilst not big by standards for the area, when coupled with some loose shutters and constant rumbling/flashes of thunder, was enough to make sure we only had minimal rest that night.

Bleary eyed we sat at breakfast, with awful (but turned about to be the best of all hut) coffee, muesli (again this turned out to be a luxury) and stale bread (the bread was always stale). Just a quick observation, but has anyone ever seen anyone looking remotely happy/excited to be up at 4:30am (or earlier!) to go out in the cold/dark to climb? I know I’d rather have had another 15mins in bed!

Yet by about 5:10am we were all outside, and after 10mins fiddling with kit and blinding each other with head torches, we were ready to get cracking. “You’re taking turns with the rope, yeah? Okay well you take it at first”, so I had the rope again to help wake me up even quicker. We shot off, eager to cover the first section and get onto the ridge proper before the other teams preparing by the hut, and soon found ourselves lost in a huge boulder field in the dark, sliding all over the place. Thankfully we were soon out of the boulders and onto a fairly gentle slope of snow up toward the col (Zwischbergenpass, 3268m) and the ridge we were after.

After some walking over rocky terrain we popped up over the top of the lower ridge and looked down onto the snow slopes on the Northern side as the sun really started to come up and spread light over the range. A quick stop to pop crampons on and rope up, and we were off, now as a rope of 4, with 2 of the team turning back with 1 person struggling with the altitude and feeling generally unwell.

The snow slope wasn’t too eventful, although a couple of sections of steeper gradient had me even more out of breath and thankful when things became more shallow. As we reached the top of the slope and the rocks at around 3700m the altitude really started to kick in with a headache growing and with my breathing struggling to keep up with the less thin air, dehydration kicked in again as it had done on the previous climb. Yet the stop to take crampons off for the rock scramble meant a quick pause and chance to take on liquid, that helped clear my head and focus on the next task.

I’d wondered what PD translated to and found to my relief that on the Weissmies it was nice simple scrambling, easier than some of the longer sections on for example Tryfan’s North Ridge (grade 1). However, whilst fairly simple stuff, the altitude makes things more tiring and a couple of moves did feel quite airy as we went close to the sides of the main crest. After around an hour and a half of climbing we reached a plateau at just short of 4000m and with it we were back onto snow again. After speedily devouring a sandwich I’d bought the day before in Saas Grund and taking on copious amounts of water we were up again and plodding carefully to the summit.

The short snow arête that leads to the top whilst not difficult is worth taking time over, not just because of the seriousness of a fall here but because of the amazing setting and means to the summit. Within a minute we were on top, celebrating our first 4000er of the trip with an absolutely fantastic view over the tops of the other large peaks around us and the clouds that lay around their mid-sections, down in the valley between.

On the summit of the Weissmies

Looking West from the summit of the Weissmies

We descended at decent pace and as we went my head cleared, allowing me to think clearer and concentrate easier on the terrain which by now was snow of varying degrees of steepness. About half way down, our guide asked how were doing with layers and if with the sun up we wanted to lose some clothes to our packs before we had to get past the objective danger posed by seracs. After this quick stop the pace increased considerably as we raced past the towers of ice looming above the trail and down onto the glacier to deal with a smattering of crevasses on much shallower terrain.

View back up the glacier toward the Weissmies. Summit peaking over the middle left

This final part of the walk was soon over, and by midday we were at the Hohsaas cable car station, able to enjoy a cold drink and ice cream over discussion of what had been an enjoyable climb and then onto what lay ahead for us. Finishing off and with the day still ahead we then made our way down toward the Weissmies hut where we’d stay the night, with our goal for the next day, the Lagginhorn, looming behind us to the East.

The altitude hurt going up but I absolutely loved the Weissmies traverse and of all the routes I completed during the trip, it’d be the first I’d go back to do again. The scramble was fun and made me work hard enough at altitude to feel I was really putting in a decent shift as I made my way over 4000m for the first time on the trip. And that final snow arete to the summit is just fantastic, a really great way to lead up to the top.