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In order to have frozen snow for better traction and since we were not
sure how long things would take, we set our alarm to 4:20 and had
breakfast as soon as possible. The evening before we had further
reduced our gear so we could leave one backpack at the Rifugio
Gnifetti. It still took us until 6:05 to set foot on the Lys glacier,
where we were rewarded with an awesome view of Mont Blanc in the
distance.
We were by far not in the sun yet, since the ascent up to the Colle
de Lys is west-facing. A lot of people had been a bit more efficient
about getting ready, we probably saw about 50-80 making their way up
to either Lyskamm, Colle de Lys or just the Pyramide Vincent.
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We wore our crampons right from the start and the three of us were
roped up with Alberto leading the way, followed by Irene and
me. Alberto started off at a brisk pace and we passed a lot of people
on our way to Colle de Lys which we reached around 7:35. The picture
to the left was kindly taken by Alberto and it shows the Lyskamm in
the background. Colle de Lys lies on the border between Italy and
Switzerland but we did not encounter any border guards...
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From Colle de Lys, we got our first view of the Signalkuppe with the
Cabana Margherita sitting on its top. To the left of it, you can see
the Zumsteinspitze and the peak just below the sun is the
Parrotspitze.
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Moving towards the Parrotspitze we passed a crevace and Alberto
pointed out to us that it had opened just a few days ago. The path
started to descend a bit crossing over to the base of the Signalkuppe.
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It led past huge snowdrifts on the northern flank of the Parrotspitze.
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The climb up to the Signalkuppe starts out quite moderate but the last
bit is pretty steep. We were lucky though, there was a well-trodden
path leading up with one switchback which made it quite easy for us.
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We took a short break before the last, steep part. The weather was
awesome, only slightly below zero and almost entirely without wind. I
was comfortable wearing only thin glove liners.
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While Alberto took another picture of Irene and me, he told us that on
Monday (the day we crossed Colle
del Turlo and got rained on) two climbers froze to death where we
were standing. The got into bad weather with very low visibility and
despite being only 200 meters from the Cabana Margherita were unable
to find it. Only one climber out of a party of three survived the
night.
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We made it to the top around 8:50 and started to take LOTS of pictures
while Alberto went inside to chat with the crew of the cabin and eat
something.
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A rock pillar on the northeast side of the Cabana.
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This ridge leading southwest is used by helicopters to drop off
supplies. You can see some marks on the far right. When we arrived, a
load of food had been delivered and was being carried inside.
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This picture shows a ridge leading southeast from the Signalkuppe. The
Colle del Turlo crosses it in the section that is already covered by
clouds. We were almost 2 kilometers higher now than on Monday and a
lot warmer too.
After taking dozens of pictures, we headed inside and had a plate of
ham and cheese. Alberto was sitting in the kitchen and chatting with
the staff. The food was awesome and we followed up with a piece of
cake. Our acclimatization had apparently worked well since we did not
have any altitude related problems.
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After an almost 2 hour break we left the Cabin at 10:40. Descending
was quite fun and we quickly covered ground that had taken us a lot of
effort earlier this morning.
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Still fascinated by snow drifts.
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This picture shows Lyskamm on the left. In the distance there are
Matterhorn, Dent Blanche, Zinalrothorn and the Weisshorn. The glacier
we were standing on is the Grenzglacier which merges with the
Gornerglacier further below. The Gornerglacier is visible at the
bottom of the gap with a black strip of debris in the middle. Behind
it the Gornergrat rises to more than 3000 meters. We would later visit
it on our day
in Zermatt.
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Looking back on the Signalkuppe.
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More snow formations. It was getting warmer so Alberto hurried past
them.
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Below Colle de Lys the snow started to become softer which sometimes was a bit tricky.
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We made it back to Rifugio Gnifetti at 12:05. We took off our crampons
and harnesses and picked up the gear we had left behind. This was
followed by a quick 30 minute food break and then we set off again. By
now clouds had moved in up to about 3600 meters. We took the easier
route around the rock ridge leading us past the Rifugio Citta di
Mantova and back to Passo Salati. Here we thanked Alberto for the
great trip and said good-bye. From there we descended to the Rifugio
Guglielmina and picked up even more luggage. It was a bit nasty to
suddenly be faced with so much more weight again.
We wanted to have a bit of luxury after the night in the Rifugio
Gnifetti so we took the cable-way down to Stafal and looked for a
Hotel. Not very far from the station we found the Hotel Nordend. They
offered us a room for 80 Euros including breakfast. It was beautifully
designed, with lots of wood and a very nice bathroom. They also had a
laundromat and drier so we washed as much laundry as possible.
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