"After the first glass, you see things as you wish they were. After the second, you see things as they are not. Finally, you see things as they really are, which is the most horrible thing in the world."
--Oscar Wilde on Absinthe
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rgg - Jul 27, 2014 1:02 pm Date Climbed: Jul 27, 2014
Up by the old route along the SSE ridge, down by the normal route to the SWI first saw the old route as a barely visible dotted line on the Kompass map I was carrying. I planned to go up the normal route, then descend the old one, but as I was hitch hiking my way to the trailhead, I got a lift from someone who happened to go to a hut high up the slopes, passing the old route at just under 2000 m on a road that is closed for all traffic except for those having hut business.
Starting some 500 m higher than from the normal trailhead made it a whole lot easier, and I was glad for it, because the weather forecast said it might rain in the afternoon, and thunderstorms were a possibility as well, so the sooner I was up there, the better. At first I made good time, but higher up I had to use my hands a few times, and that slowed me down. While descending the normal route, I also used my hands, but not as much. In conclusion, the old route s slightly harder. There are still cairns along the way, and some really old paint marks, but the route is not maintained. Going up, I went off route a few times when I didn't see the next cairn or paint mark and simply went up wherever I thought it made sense.
The new route is a bit more scenic, passing along a few high alpine lakes. All in all, I'm glad I've experienced both routes. In hindsight, I think that going down the old route would be more problematic; high up would be fine, but a bit lower I imagine it would be easy to get off trail. Getting off trail while going up is no big problem; when I did, I just kept scrambling up along the wide ridge towards the summit and it never took long to find another cairn or old paint mark.
Mathias Zehring - Sep 2, 2008 3:25 am Date Climbed: Sep 9, 2004
traverse sw-ridge / s-ridgewe were lucky on a very fine day with great views