During the last days of winter, climbers and skiers have brought off some remarkable traverses, super-sized ski tours, the last remaining ice climbs, and even a huge mixed route in the Swiss Alps.
Zebu
Silvan Schupbach, Filippo Sala, and Olivier Kolly have opened a new 1,100m line up the northwest face of the Klein Fiescherhorn, between Switzerland’s Bern and Valais cantons. They named it Zebu and graded its overall difficulty as M8/+. The team did the route in winter conditions, since the loose rock on its upper part makes it a poor choice in summer.
The climbers noted how few obvious routes exist on that face. Remarkably, until now there had been only one route, opened by local climbers in 1935 and repeated in winter 46 years later. Schupbach and company believe they saw other possibilities on the face — none to be taken lightly.
In fact, this modern party’s first attempt on the Klein Fiescherhorn ended when a falling rock struck one of the team, Jonas Schild. “Jonas is tough and descended to Grindelwald with us under his own steam, but the wall made it abundantly clear that it must be taken seriously,” Schupbach noted.
They returned and climbed between March 8 and 10 with two bivouacs, high winds, and a nerve-wracking rappel on improvised anchors.
Winter traverses
The last two weeks featured two winter traverses. Alessandro Bau and Mirco Grasso of Italy traversed all the points of the Tre Cime di Lavaredo. While the three summits referenced in the massif’s name are its highest points, the massif comprises nine peaks of varying altitudes. Theirs was the first complete winter traverse.
For Mirco Grasso, who is clearly given to understatement, the three-day climb was “a nice little outing in the mountains.” The climbers followed the most obvious lines along the ridges and said they barely used their climbing shoes.
With its three summits and three symmetrical north face pillars, Piz Palu is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful mountains in the Alps. Photo: Lukas Waldern
Alpine Arch ski
Matheo Jacquemond is trying to ski the entire Alpine Arch from Vienna, Austria, to Nice on the Mediterranean coast. Jacquemond is skiing as much as possible, and cycling or running when he can’t avoid bare ground. “A physical, mental, and logistical challenge and most of all, an adventure that I really want to live,” he wrote before leaving on March 9.
Jacquemoud covered the first long stages alternately skiing and cycling. Vivian Bruchez and Pierre-Idris Mehdi have accompanied him across Grossglockner and then into the Italian Dolomites and the Bernina massif.
Here, the group carved some enjoyable lines, but the real goal is to complete the traverse as quickly as possible. According to Bruchez, this means covering up to 7,000 vertical meters on some long skiing days, and cycling up to 200km on other days.
