Saturday 14th September 2013. After a months work guiding groups on the Tour of Mont Blanc (TMB), it was time to return to home turf and a chance to visit the Swiss side of my new forthcoming 'escape route'. This route traverses part of the Monte Rosa massif, following the few who took perhaps the biggest ascent in a bid for freedom.
The Monte Rosa massif is the biggest in the European Alps. It includes 10 peaks that are over 4,000 metres high and has the highest building in western Europe, Rifugio Regina Margherita, sited on the summit of the Signalkuppe at 4,554 metres.
I traveled round to Zermatt and started the day with a traverse along the south side of the Gornergrat at around 2,700 metres. To the south the Monte Rosa shone, above the mighty Grenz glacier, one of the longest, highest and toughest glaciers to navigate, in the Alpine range. To the west the Matterhorn stood, a coating of snow on it's slopes already showing signs that winter approached.
Just below me on the path a Marmot called out, standing sentry aside a rock that partially covered the entrance to his underground dwelling. Marmots seem to live higher here, certainly higher than on the Mont Blanc massif. He was probably disturbed during the last few days of being able to gather grasses to drag back into the lair to help him through the long winter, when in hibernation they reduce their body temperature to help sleep and preserve energy.
At the end of the 'tourist path' a blue sign (paths are 'signed' in yellow, glacial routes in blue in this area) showed that the way ahead to the new Monte Rosa Hutte, a huge silver and grey refuge, perched on the rock outcrop at over 2,800 metres above the Gornergrat glacier and adjacent to the Grenz glacier.
Reaching this hut involves descending the rock ledges onto the Gornergrat Glacier, followed by a traverse of this giant ice sheet, split into three sections. The first is a fairly straightforward traverse out towards the middle of the glacier, following occasional markers in the form of two meter high 'pyramid' towers of three poles painted blue and white, sometimes with a red flag atop. The second section requires the removal of crampons to cross the loose rocks and boulders that have been 'pushed to the middle of the glacier by it's merger with the Grenz glacier. On this section the crevasses run deep and care should be taken using some of the looser boulders that sometimes act as a 'bridge'. Once over this section it's time to re-attach the crampons for the final and most difficult section, crossing a multitude of crevasses with many peaks and troughs between which means that the route is not straight and easily achieved.
In times past the glacier cut through the rock of the Gornergrat and perhaps you could have stepped straight onto the glacier. But that must have been many years ago because as the glacier recedes and melts away it has shrunk in height leaving a cliff to be descended to reach the glacial platform. First there was a thick rope, of which some belay points and old rope remain. Now the path is marked, offering at first a walking decent. This is followed by 'protected' pathway - a safety rail in the form of fixed cable that can be held with confidence. Finally the last 30 metres or so is achieved by means of two vertically bolted ladders (you step from one to the other half way down) before a metal bridge is crossed to arrive on the side of the glacier.
More tomorrow....
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