5-days Guided ice climbing trip to the Alps: Personal reflections
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23. Dezember 2022 um 16:25.
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I fell in love with the Alps when I moved to Zurich in December 2008 for 3 years. Hikr was the first stop source of information and inspiration when I, who had never seen snow before, wanted to do the Mythens trilogy and then move on to bigger alpine goals through a logical progression. My first alpine climbing partner also came from Hikr before Kletterportal and others. Besides watching Ueli Steck's triple-solo ascent video on YouTube a couple of times daily, I would spent a lot of my dreaming-time on Hikr and Summitpost, drooling over the pictures and envying those lucky to have started before me.
I was a regular poster till 2011 but that stopped since I moved to India and the only climbs I could do was rock, which I do regularly. Don't get me wrong, I love rock climbing. All forms. Trad, Sport, Multi-pitches, Bouldering. All over the world. Even indoor bouldering. Heck, I even started tolerating sit-starts, where your bum has to be on the pad before you take off, which makes no sense :-)
But my heart pined for the alpine. Specifically, the Alps, because the Himalayas and North America are too time-consuming and their winter temperatures are too cold for me. I enjoy the technical challenge and not the suffer-fest.
Now the problem was, with 11 years gap how do I get back to the Alpine? I found it difficult to connect with climbing partners because I now lacked a reference point; unlike in the past where I could clearly state my current grades and goals, I had zero idea what water ice I could climb, and how much cold I could tolerate, what I can follow safely.
I nurse dreams of eventually progressing to some of the big North Faces guided, so I decided to take the services of a guide who does that (only a tiny fraction of guides guide the big three north faces of the Alps). I gave my background and goals and asked him to decide an itinerary for me. Once we agreed, in April 2022, it was a long journey of uncertainties due to Covid, unavailability of visa processing backlogs etc. but cut to December, I had the visa and I arrived in Arvier, AO, Italy and checked into a hotel close to the guide's house on 10.12.2022. I hiked about 800m elevation the next day to break free from the journey stiffness and was ready to climb in 12.12
Day 1: We spent the day on roadside ice and rock, with the guide observing my movements on single-pitch ice and dry-tooling. I did pretty well and wasn't feeling sore even after 4-5 pitches when we called it a day.
Day 2: Cascade di Patri WI3, 800 ft (242 m), 5 pitches, Grade III
This was a beautiful all day climb. I did not know the name of the route until we completed it and returned to the hotel and asked for it. When I read about it, I felt delighted that I had climbed such a coveted route on just my second day after coming from Mumbai sea level and hot! This route, the views alone made me feel the trip was worth it! It was incredibly beautiful. Unlike all other climbs I have done all over the world, this was my first guided ascent and I had zero stress about how to return, when will I return to safety etc.; I could just enjoy the climb with no worry or fear at any time. I thought after such a big day, I may need rest the next day, but I let the guide decide that.
Day 3: Antares WI4, 85m, 3 pitches Grade II
We started as usual by 8am and reached this ice classic that is visible from the road to Valsavarenche, barely 10 minutes approach! So it is a pure ice-multi pitch.
It was another delightful climb; of course I struggled to climb it given it was one grade higher, WI4, but I managed it fine, barely hanging on the rope 2-3 times while cleaning awkward ice-screws. Even though the climbing was challenging we were done fairly fast and the guide asked me if I was satisfied or wanted to do more. I said I have a lot of juice left, then the guide let me do the main, pitch 2 again on TR, this time focusing on technique rather than desperately getting up using a lot of power as I used to. With this I was satisfied and we called it a day.
Day 4; I took a rest day.
Day 5: Dry-tooling
This day we focused on drytooling, which is essentially a sport route designated to practice climbing using only crampons and ice tools. The guide lent me his mono-point crampons saying that is the ideal tool for rock climbing although initially it will feel very unstable. I tried it and was able to top rope to the top in my first attempt and the guide was surprised and happy with how I climbed, for a first-timer. We did a couple of laps and called it a day.
Day 6: Sexocet-Monia Mena M5+
I was a regular poster till 2011 but that stopped since I moved to India and the only climbs I could do was rock, which I do regularly. Don't get me wrong, I love rock climbing. All forms. Trad, Sport, Multi-pitches, Bouldering. All over the world. Even indoor bouldering. Heck, I even started tolerating sit-starts, where your bum has to be on the pad before you take off, which makes no sense :-)
But my heart pined for the alpine. Specifically, the Alps, because the Himalayas and North America are too time-consuming and their winter temperatures are too cold for me. I enjoy the technical challenge and not the suffer-fest.
Now the problem was, with 11 years gap how do I get back to the Alpine? I found it difficult to connect with climbing partners because I now lacked a reference point; unlike in the past where I could clearly state my current grades and goals, I had zero idea what water ice I could climb, and how much cold I could tolerate, what I can follow safely.
I nurse dreams of eventually progressing to some of the big North Faces guided, so I decided to take the services of a guide who does that (only a tiny fraction of guides guide the big three north faces of the Alps). I gave my background and goals and asked him to decide an itinerary for me. Once we agreed, in April 2022, it was a long journey of uncertainties due to Covid, unavailability of visa processing backlogs etc. but cut to December, I had the visa and I arrived in Arvier, AO, Italy and checked into a hotel close to the guide's house on 10.12.2022. I hiked about 800m elevation the next day to break free from the journey stiffness and was ready to climb in 12.12
Day 1: We spent the day on roadside ice and rock, with the guide observing my movements on single-pitch ice and dry-tooling. I did pretty well and wasn't feeling sore even after 4-5 pitches when we called it a day.
Day 2: Cascade di Patri WI3, 800 ft (242 m), 5 pitches, Grade III
This was a beautiful all day climb. I did not know the name of the route until we completed it and returned to the hotel and asked for it. When I read about it, I felt delighted that I had climbed such a coveted route on just my second day after coming from Mumbai sea level and hot! This route, the views alone made me feel the trip was worth it! It was incredibly beautiful. Unlike all other climbs I have done all over the world, this was my first guided ascent and I had zero stress about how to return, when will I return to safety etc.; I could just enjoy the climb with no worry or fear at any time. I thought after such a big day, I may need rest the next day, but I let the guide decide that.
Day 3: Antares WI4, 85m, 3 pitches Grade II
We started as usual by 8am and reached this ice classic that is visible from the road to Valsavarenche, barely 10 minutes approach! So it is a pure ice-multi pitch.
It was another delightful climb; of course I struggled to climb it given it was one grade higher, WI4, but I managed it fine, barely hanging on the rope 2-3 times while cleaning awkward ice-screws. Even though the climbing was challenging we were done fairly fast and the guide asked me if I was satisfied or wanted to do more. I said I have a lot of juice left, then the guide let me do the main, pitch 2 again on TR, this time focusing on technique rather than desperately getting up using a lot of power as I used to. With this I was satisfied and we called it a day.
Day 4; I took a rest day.
Day 5: Dry-tooling
This day we focused on drytooling, which is essentially a sport route designated to practice climbing using only crampons and ice tools. The guide lent me his mono-point crampons saying that is the ideal tool for rock climbing although initially it will feel very unstable. I tried it and was able to top rope to the top in my first attempt and the guide was surprised and happy with how I climbed, for a first-timer. We did a couple of laps and called it a day.
Day 6: Sexocet-Monia Mena M5+
Now the guide had a good idea about my abilities on rock, ice, mixed, and multi-pitches, and decided to take me to the mountains. We took the lift up Courmayeur Helbronner to Grand Flambeaux Mont Blanc, a steep mountain just 10 mins snow-shoe hike from the lift station. We left the snowshoes and poles at the base and started climbing around 10am. It was brilliant, cold, steep and just the right challenge. Actually the elevation got the better of me, I felt uneasy on the first pitch, feeling slightly nauseous and painful fingers. I shared my concerns with the guide, but he said that much pain is not unusual, it is really cold and if you feel worse higher up we can escape any time with no problem. That reassurance was enough, I layered up even better and from then on everything was just fine. A useful tip I learnt: usually we wear ice-climbing gloves with wristband pulled tightly to keep the cold and snow out, but it restricts blood flow, so the guide asked me to remove the wrist straps fully and that also helped. From there I securely climbed the remaining pitches, and absolutely loved it. I felt most at home on mixed terrain, it felt closest to the alpine climbing I have done, with no rules of how to place feet/hands, I was even doing handjams from my crack climbing experiences, and removing the protection was easy, so I absolutely loved it. With 2-3 quick rappels and we were safely down.
That's how the trip ended. The route we did was Sexocet-Monia Mena M5-M6.
Before the trip I was very unsure about spending so much money and doing this guided trip but in the end I felt very satisfied with it. It gave me so much learning without risks.
My future goals is, next trip, in 2023 December, I hope to get a lot of ice mileage if I get a suitable climbing partner, else I would again hire a guide and get the experience. This time I stayed in Arvier as my guide was from there, but next time I'd prefer to stay in Cogne...
That's how the trip ended. The route we did was Sexocet-Monia Mena M5-M6.
Before the trip I was very unsure about spending so much money and doing this guided trip but in the end I felt very satisfied with it. It gave me so much learning without risks.
My future goals is, next trip, in 2023 December, I hope to get a lot of ice mileage if I get a suitable climbing partner, else I would again hire a guide and get the experience. This time I stayed in Arvier as my guide was from there, but next time I'd prefer to stay in Cogne...
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Lone Ranger
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