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Rock climbing in the Southeastern USA
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Trip Reports - Italy 2002 - The Matterhorn and Mount Blanc (Monte Cervino i Monte Bianco)Part one - The Matterhorn (go to Part Two - Mount Blanc)Prologue:
He suggested we climb from it the Italian side in order to avoid the crowds on the most popular route up the Swiss side of the mountain. Though steeper and more difficult, the Italian Ridge did appear to be within our abilities, a sustained rock climb which included some fixed ropes on the most difficult sections. He researched it thoroughly finding early September offered the ideal combination of weather, declining visitation, and decreased cost near the end of the summer season. Two mountain huts would provide shelter and allow us to travel light and fast. And so I set upon convincing my wife Jackie that it was time for me to make my first visit to Europe and the deal was done. While Henry's wife Jan would climb with us, there was no way Jackie would consider joining us on the mountain. Though a climber, she shies away from the high alpine world of ice and snow. Through the spring and into the summer we trained independently, Jan and Henry in Washington D.C., and me here in Florida. Our searches for information led Jan to contact a friend of a friend, Eric Charamel, an experienced mountain guide in France. Though I felt strongly the three of us could accomplish the climb without the assistance of a professional guide, Jan grew increasingly less confident of our testosterone influenced assessments of our abilities. Early in the summer she decided Henry and I were better off climbing together, while she arranged to climb the mountain with Eric Charamel. We would follow the same route using the same plan, doing the climb as two separate teams. It was a good decision for all, as Jan felt more confident, and teams of two would move much more efficiently than a team of three. Our association with Eric proved to be the best thing to happen to us, and now I can't thank her enough for contacting him. Jan and Henry arranged for two weeks of vacation time, while Jackie and I were able to take three. We figured on one week (more or less) for the climbing, and some additional time to enjoy Italy. This allowed us flexibility to allow any for weather problems and by the time the end of August rolled around, all was ready. Henry and Jan would leave a day before us, and we would meet up in the small resort village of Cervinia, Italy at the base of the great peak. After a day or two of acclimatization hikes, we'd proceed methodically to the summit in two conservative days and descend on the third. I have recorded our adventures in the log which follows. Tuesday, September 3, 2002. 22:30 Hotel Speronari, Milan, Italy. We are finally in our room at the Hotel Speronari in Central Milan. It has taken almost 22 hours of continuous travel to get here. It's raining, sometimes very hard, so we've chosen to spend the night in the room rather than go out on the town. This building once served as residences for monks. The room is small, up several narrow winding staircases. There is a small TV, a ceiling fan, and the large window opens on an alley bringing in fresh cool night air. Voices and music drift up from below. We have a small bottle of Chianti. Jackie is reviewing the guidebook as we look for our options tomorrow. Unfortunately, we still have more traveling ahead of us to reach the mountain resort town at the base of the Matterhorn - Cervinia. We have already taken a plane from Orlando to Amsterdam, then on to Malpensa Airport outside Milan. We took a train into the city, then the Metro to the Piazza Duomo. We walked to the hotel from there, located on a street so small the local "vigile" (police) didn't know where it was - just one block from the Piazza. Tomorrow, we need to take a bus to Cervinia. The first bus leaves at 07:00, but I doubt we'll attempt such an early departure. There are things to do here, and it would be nice to slow down a little. The next bus leaves at 13:00. Of prime importance is arranging for storage of the climbing equipment for the latter part of our trip, once the climbing is done. We hope to return it here and store it until we leave Italy. It's too heavy to drag it around with us.
There were no major difficulties during our travels. We negotiated the trains, planes and subways with only brief periods of confusion. The only real meal we've had was "baked eggs" on bread in the Amsterdam airport washed down with Heineken beer. Tomorrow, I need to get some good food in my belly. Wednesday, September 4, 2002 17:54. Cervinia, Italy.
Hotel Fosson Siamo arrivato! Our bus pulled into the tiny ski resort village of Cervinia a little after 16:00. The ride from Milan snaked out of the city through streets so narrow, it took expert driving to squeeze the bus between the cars parked on both sides of the streets. I look forward to returning to Milan. Once on the highway, we rode for a couple of hours passing fields of corn, small factories, and distant villages identified by their tall church steeples. Soon after leaving the city, it started raining, getting heavier as we approached Turin (Torino). Here, we turned north and within minutes were in rolling foothills of the distant mountains hiding in the clouds. The terrain grew rapidly steeper. Before long we were winding up through valleys surrounded by steep rocky mountainsides. Swollen with rain, frequent waterfalls spilled down the rocky hillsides. Eventually , the bus deposited us in the small town of Chatillon. We waited at the tiny station for a few minutes in the light rain until the next bus arrived to take us up the narrow valley to Cervinia. There was not a straight spot in the road as the bus climbed up the valley. Sometimes the turns were so tight the bus only cleared the rocky mountainsides by inches. The windows fogged as the temperature dropped and the rain grew stronger as we gained altitude. We pulled into the turnabout in Cervinia and asked the driver if he know where to find the Hotel Fosson. Unsure, he called to someone nearby to validate his answer. He pointed and said "Near the bank". We unloaded our backpacks and the rolling bag of climbing gear and clattered up the cobblestone street.
Three short blocks or so later we saw the bank, and not far away
the Hotel Fosson. It is a warm and wonderful place. Paola Fosson
greeted us at the desk and registered us. We encountered Jan and
Henry on our way to the room. We unpacked then joined Jan and Henry for a couple drinks and a little food at a nearby bar. They'd been hiking today and had gotten quite wet. Fortunately, there is a drying room at the hotel so their gear will be fresh for tomorrow. It's nap time now, dinner will be late - Italian style. This is great. Now, we just wait for the rain to let up and run to the summit. Wednesday, September 4, 2002 21:30. Cervinia, Italy.
Hotel Fosson Very good dinner tonight. I had boiled salmon, Jackie had a pork
chop for the main course. The first course was a buffet including
calamari, octopus, mozzarella, and several vegetables. A couple
bottles of wine washed it all down. It's getting quite chilly tonight.
Fortunately, I just found the heater in the room. There was a lot of snow today up high, Jan and Henry hit some on their hike to the Abruzzi Hut. It is the first of the two huts we planned to use during our climb. They found it closed for renovations. Already, our climbing plans change. See larger image of the Abruzzi
Hut We'll have breakfast, then visit the mountain guide office in the morning before we commit to an acclimatization climb. Our plan for tomorrow, weather permitting, is to climb the Breithorn. It's a 4164 meter (13,657 feet) peak with an easy approach (normally). Thursday, September 5, 2002. Cervinia, Italy. Hotel Fosson I awoke around 01:30. The sky was clear and I could see stars. My stirring woke Jackie, and for a short time I turned on the TV and she read. The remainder of the night was spent tossing, getting up with only short naps. Our clocks still need a bit more adjusting.
The morning broke with a beautiful blue sky and sunshine. We met Jan and Henry at breakfast, then packed for our first day of climbing on the snow. Crampons, ice ax, rope, warm clothes, climbing gear. On the way out of town, Jan stopped in at the mountain guide office. She was told no one had been on this side of the mountain for three weeks, there was too much snow, come back next year. There had only been a few weeks of true summer weather this year. Winter conditions were setting in early. "Don't go up, you will die". We digested this information as we purchased lift tickets to take us high up into the mountains for our conditioning hike. It took three long lifts to bring us to the snow line where people were skiing. Jan, Henry, and I checked with the guide station as it seemed odd to hike up the ski slopes, but such was the case. They recommended we rope up as we were crossing the glacier, though it seemed a bit extreme to us. None of the many skiers was falling into crevasses. We decided we could use the practice (when in Rome...), so we donned crampons, roped up, and started hiking up he slopes. Jackie, unequipped for the snow, returned to Cervinia to do some hiking.
Jan, Henry, and I slogged up the ski slopes, doing our best to avoid the main runs. It was easy going as the snow was pretty well packed from all the traffic. Gradually we ascended, enjoying the views. As the morning wore on white clouds started moving up from below. We reached the Klein Matterhorn station around 13:00 at 11,000 feet. There is a tunnel through the mountain here that allows skiers to cross to the far side of the mountain to catch the lift which descends into Zermatt, Switzerland. In the middle of the tunnel is an elevator that takes you to a staircase leading to the peak of the mountain at 12,206 feet. We walked the tunnel, went to the summit, grabbed a few photos.
Though it was within clear view, ascending the Breithorn was out of the question. It would take too long to traverse over to the area where an ascent could be made and gain the 2000 feet of altitude to make the summit. The beautiful blue sky and sunny weather was now being swallowed by the clouds both rising from the valley below and now pouring over the surrounding peaks. It was time to go down. It took about an hour to retrace our path to the top of the lift
that had brought us up to the Plateau Rosa. The last bit was in
conditions of white cloud so thick the only way to progress was
to look upwards and follow the lift lines overhead. All was white.
No sense of direction at all. Three trams down and we were back
in Cervinia. I returned to the room, packed up the gear, and showered.
It was raining now. Jackie was still out hiking. I hopped into the
shower. Drying off, I heard Jackie's voice in the bar below me. She returned from her hike to find Jan and Henry having a beer. I went downstairs and joined them for a couple of rounds. Talk of course, centered on what we should do. It was time for some decisions. The weather was not going to let us climb, at least from this side of the mountain in the next few days. Numerous alternatives were proposed. Finally, Jan called her guide Eric Charamel to help us make a decision. Without several days of clear sunny weather, an ascent of the Matterhorn was not not possible, and the forecast remained gloomy. After much deliberation, we decided to postpone climbing for a week and take Eric's advice to try instead to climb the tallest mountain in Europe, Mount Blanc. The plan will be to climb from the Italian side and come down in the French town of Chamonix. We'll have a better chance of success as the route is not as steep, just a couple thousand feet higher. There is a well equipped hut along the way to make things more accommodating, and a cable car system crosses the mountain to ease the approach. It's our best option with these early winter conditions. Tonight it is cold and raining. Again, dinner at the Hotel Fosson was good. Friday, September 6, 2002 21:18. Cervinia, Italy. Hotel Fosson Changes. This day was full of them. We were awakened by a knock on our door at 07:30. It was Henry. I expected he was there to urge us to get going early as last night the plan was to spend the day skiing. Instead, it was to inform us he and Jan are departing on the early bus to Milan. They have decided to spend the next few days in Venice. We got out of bed and went down to breakfast while they packed. We quickly solidified our plans to meet next Wednesday in Courmayer,
Italy, for our climb of Mount Blanc. Jan called Eric Charamel, as
he was arranging lodging there. He had faxed us information, but
it never arrived. He would send it again. We got his phone number
just in case. On the walk to the bus, Jan gave us her copy of the
bus schedule, and we said goodbye. Jackie and I were glad to have some rest time (instead of skiing). We've (especially me) not been sleeping well. On the walk back to the hotel, we reformulated our plans. We were confused when the bus schedule showed no buses leaving on Saturday or Sunday. This didn't make sense. We must be reading the schedule wrong. We turned around, and walked back to the store that sold bus tickets on the outskirts of town. I did my best communicating in Italian with the young woman who sold the tickets. She assured me the schedule was correct. She could not sell us tickets for either day. This meant we were stuck here in a town closing for off-season with no place to stay! Panic set in. What to do? We could get down the valley to Chatillon today, but we'd still be stuck. It was already past checkout time at the hotel so we'd paid for our stay at the hotel tonight. Taxis were astronomically priced. The ticket vendor suggested we go to the Tourist Information Office.
We hiked back into town and popped into a bar for a couple beers and a pizza. Our new plan started coming together. Tomorrow, we will take the early 07:10 bus down to Chatillon. Then, we'll (pay the driver) take another bus to Courmayer. Here, we'll try to find the still unnamed hotel where we will be staying next week and try to negotiate storing the bag of climbing gear with them. From Courmayer, we'll take another bus through the Mount Blanc Tunnel into Chamonix, France (where we'll come down from our climb). We'll try to take a train out of Chamonix into Switzerland. We spent the latter part of the afternoon hiking in the mountains up towards the Abruzzi Hut, which remains closed for renovations (as is most of Cervinia as the off-season has started - it's one big construction zone). We tried to decide where to go in Switzerland, and had come up with a loose plan until we returned to the hotel. There, I noticed a huge road atlas of France. On studying it, we realized we didn't know enough about the geography of Switzerland. This led to another hike through the town searching for a guidebook to Switzerland. Finally on the very last store on the very outskirts of town, we found a good Swiss map. It wasn't long after that we had a good idea of what to do. As of this moment, we go by bus to Chatillon, then to Courmayer, through the Mount Blanc Tunnel, get on a train, go into Switzerland, cross the southern part of the country to end up in Zermatt on the opposite side of the Matterhorn. It should be a beautiful train ride through the mountains. The only detail left now is to find a place to stay in Zermatt tomorrow night. Who knows, things change. |
Early in the spring of last year,
I sent out requests to all the climbers I know looking for a challenge
to satisfy my needs to test myself in the mountains. I try to plan
at least one big trip, a.k.a. an expedition, at least once each
year. Several responded with tempting offers to join them, but none
enticed me more than an offer from my friend Henry Gholz. He dreamed
of climbing the Matterhorn, one of the most classic peaks in the
world.
Enlarge
mountain view
See larger photo of hotel
View larger image of the
Duomo
See larger
photo of Cervinia
View larger photo of
the hotel
Enlarge view from our
hotel
View larger
image of the Matterhorn
Enlarge
Matterhorn view
Enlarge photo of Plateau
Rosa
View large image of ascent
party
See larger
photo of Jan and Henry
See larger
photo of Jackie
View larger photo of Jackie