Feeling tired today I wasnt sure if I was ready to push on to next grade of Wi6, after arriving at keintal and looking up at "Naturtrueb" it wasnt long before i became psyched and ready to attempt the line.
Scott was on lead for the first pitch, he took a more central line up the pillar today rather than the right hand side he had climbed the day before. he pushed on up getting a little pumped towards the top of the pitch but making good work arrived at the balay safely. I followed on up, feeling pretty strong and arrived shortly after.
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Scott on pitch 1 of "Naturtrueb" Wi6
photo: Ramon Marin |
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Scott on pitch 1 of "Naturtrueb" Wi6
photo: Ramon Marin |
I looked up at the second pitch and it looked much steeper than it did from the floor, I was a little spooked by it but was determined to attempt the pitch. scott handed over the rack and after a few short breaths I was on my way.
The climbing felt pretty hard, i was feeling a little tense but after placing a few screws I manged to relax a little, the pitch seemed very long and sustained, i found myself getting pumped quite oftem, but after a little shake out i was good to move on. about halfway up the pitch I had a nervous moment when i just felt like i wasnt 100% in control, After a little chat with myself and a few long minutes I pushed on up to easier ground, i eventually moved over the top and onto the belay.. Scott followed on up and joined me some time later. we congratulated each other on two good leads and also the matter that for both of us, this was our first Wi6 route.
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Me on "Naturtrueb" Wi6
Photo: Pete Collins |
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Me on "Naturtrueb" Wi6
Photo: Pete Collins |
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| Abseilling off the route feeling pretty good. |
Rob, Pete and Ramon were climbing a big line called "In der wurze liegt die kurze" Wi6, I watched from the bottom and the route was climbed in fine style....
A great day all in all and the end to a great trip.....
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Ramon leading pitch 2 of
"In der wurze liegt die kurze" Wi6 |
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Rob Gibson on the last pitch of
"In der wurze liegt die kurze" Wi6 |
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Ramon leading on up the second pitch of
"In der wurze liegt die kurze" Wi6 |
We headed out of Kandersteg and up into the town of keintel today, the Ice seemed much more formed than the other locations we had visited this week, Myself and scott had spotted an interesting line called "Kei Fraua Kei Gschrei" Wi5+ the day before and we were both pretty keen to check it out.
After gearing up we decided to give it a go, I was on lead for the first pitch, the climbing was diffrent to Ice I had encountered before, the Ice was full of mushroom shaped ice, but I still managed to push on up fairly smoothly, after placing a few screws I eventually arrived at the first belay and scott arrived shortly after.
Scott was on to lead the second pitch, the climbing involved a hanging pillar into a corner then easing on up to a good belay ledge, scott displayed some fine climbing and pushed on up through the ice to the belay, I soon followed on up and move into the belay shelter.
The last pitch looked pretty technical, sustained and hard, it was my lead and to be honest I was feeling a little nervous about it, I decided to just go for it and see what happens. I pushed on up and came across a thin technical chimney of ice, I placed a few screws and moved on up, it seemed pretty hard but i manged to keep my cool and move onto easier ground. I could see a cave running up and through the ice onto the belay, i headed on up, I big lump of ice fell from the hanging ice and hit me on the arm causing some pain, I was now commited so had to push on, the hole behind the ice was pretty small, after getting myself into some strange positions and laughing quietly to myself I eventually maneged to crawl out the other side and onto the belay.
I brought scott on up, I was waiting for his reaction when he would get a glimpse of the cave he was about to come across, I new he was close when i heard the words" What the Fuck".... I was very amused and replied with " all about adventure mate", he eventually managed to get through and move on up to the balay... we sorted gear, talked abit about the interesting last pitch then abseil off the route and safely back to ground. All in all agreat route and very happy to have climbed it.
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| Me on pitch 1 of "Kei Fraua Kei Gschrei" Wi5+ |
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| Scott on pitch 2 of "Kei Fraua Kei Gschrei" Wi5+ |
Rob and Pete looked to be on a pretty hard Wi6 called "Vibrator", I was able to get some good shots of them from the belay on our climb and also from the floor once we arrived back down., they completed the route in style and both arrived safely back down on the ground.
Overall a Great days climbing... really looking forward to friday...me and scott have our eye on a hanging Wi6 pillar...
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| Rob on "Vibrator" Wi6 |
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| Pete following up the last pitch of "Vibrator" Wi6 |
Today we headed into Staubbach to look at "Blue Magic" and "Rubezahl", both great routes and very popular. walking in we were concearned due to how warm it was, the lines didnt seem to promicing so we decided to make our way back down to Oeschinenwald where we come across "Rattenpissoir" WI5+, a nice looking line in a corner up to a hanging pillar, there was a another team at the bottom of the route, they had just backed off due to the second pitch runnng with water, we decided to give it a go and see what it was like, Scott wanted to lead the first pitch with meant I would be tackling the wet hanging piller on the second pitch.
After gearing up scott headed on up the first pitch looking good on the lead, loosing his head a little halfway up the pitch was a little worrying but after taking a few minutes to get is composure back he pushed on up in fine style to the ice cave belay, I followed on up, the climbing not to hard but very steep...Halfway Up the route I was completely soaked through from the falling water from the ice piller above, i moved on up to the belay where scott was drenched through standing under a shower of water, straight away I knew we were going no further, We were both soaked through, the piller was breaking away and very unstable, we decided to stack it.., we set an ice thread and abseiled safely off the route to the bottom. Although we didnt complete the route.. today was still pretty entertaining.
Pete and rob were also out today and climbed the line next to us, A WI5 called "Arbonium",they too had to abandone the last pitch due to poor conditions.
Lets hope the tempertures drop over night and we see some of these routes forming again...
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| "Rattenpissoir" WI5+ |
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| Rob on First pitch of "Arbonium", WI5 |
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| Rob on First pitch of "Arbonium", WI5 |
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| Scott on pitch 1 of "Rattenpissoir" WI5+ |
Today we headed in Uschinen for some steep mixed climbing, below are some photos from our visit including an impressive ascent of Pink Panther M9 by Rob Gibson...
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| Me getting shut down on M7...God these routes are steep |
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| Pete on "Steinzeite" M8 |
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Rob on "Pink Panther" M9
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Rob on "Pink Panther" M9
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Rob on "Pink Panther" M9
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After a long night of traveling we arrived in Kandersteg, some of the routes looked pretty thin but plenty still climbable, After a little unpacking and getting excited it wasnt long before we were kitted up a walking in to our first route, we headed into the Oeschinenwald area where their were plenty of routes to choose from, Rob and Pete headed of to climb the first pitches of "Reise ins reich der Eiszwerge", myself and Scott ended up getting on an un-named route which looked pretty cool, the climbing was pretty steep but not to hard, due to starting out late in the day we were only able to do the first few pitches...still a good warm up though...
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| "Un-Named route" WI5 |
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| "Reise ins reich der Eiszwerge" WI5 |
Climb if you will, but remember that courage and strength are
naught without prudence, and that a momentary negliance may destroy the happiness of a lifetime. Do nothing in haste; Look well to each step; and from the beginning think what may be the end
