Chli Bielenhorn West-Grat

Maybe the best climb I have done so far: absolutely delightful granite, generous holds, awesome views and ... and... OK, I just ran out of adjectives :-)

We started out from the Sidelen-Hutte after breakfast. It was still cold and slight rain/snow, so we chose to climb with boots and gloves on. The hike to the start of the climb is about 20 mins, not all that nice, but from that point it is sheer joy. It is not very useful to say how many pitches there are, because this is basically a ridge traverse, with lots of natural protection, so you can make a belay station at numerous places. There are bolts all the way till the end. At the harder sections, the bolts are placed very thoughtfully and close by, elsewhere they are far apart giving you the excitement and an alpine flavor without the accompanying risks. There are 2-3 pitches in grade 4a-4b, rest are easy 3's and 2's. I found the aid pitch a bit difficult, barring that the rest was smooth sail.

What gear?
This is one question that I didn't get a clear answer from reading reports here and Summit post. A lot of people recommended 2X50 m and a set of nuts/friends, maybe they were written before the route was bolted. There was one report by Bombo that provided a very clear list of what to carry and what to expect (there were many other excellent reports as well), I used that report and got personal tips from Marc1317, and decided to go for a single rope. The shortest we had was 60m, which was clearly an overkill, 40 m is about ideal. Carry a few slings for natural protection at a few places (optional).