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Monte Rosa, seen from the village Gressoney la Trinité, just before the village
Stafal and the cableways. |
I now use the cableways on the western side of Stafal. First a larger cabin... |
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and then a chair lift up to Colle Bettaforca
2727m. Here the trail towards
Quintino Sella begins. |
The
snow fields begin a couple of hundred altidude meters higher. To start
with, they are fairly easy. I hadn't expected this much snow quite so
soon. |
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I'm wondering how the clouds will develop today. Will the cloudbase rise, or will
I possibly climb above the clouds? |
Higher
up, the snowfields get steeper. I wish I had brought crampons, or
at least microspikes. Well, it's ok to climb if you follow the tracks
that are there.
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For about an hour it's shifting between snowfields and fairly steep, rocky ground. |
Looking back after climbing one of the steeper snowfields. |
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The final part of the climb passes a narrow ridge with drops on both sides.
Most part of it is secured by ropes. |
This is the most fascinating part of the climb. |
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You should have done some kind of climbing before coming up here. But it's
beautiful and feels relatively safe. |
A small wooden bridge, almost up there now. |
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Here's an overview on parts of the ridge. |
Some more climbing after the bridge, now with chains up the slope. |
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The final meters up to the hut. |
Reaching the Rifugio Quintino Sella after 3h. We are in Italy now, so I can enjoy a good cappuccino on more than 3500m altitude! |
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The clouds come and go, but we are mostly above them. This gives us extra
dramatic views. Here we can see Lyskamm 4527m, one of the highest peaks
in the whole alpine range. It's a grand experience, just to be here and look at this.
Eventually, I descend to the cableway in 2h 15min. |
Descending
on the steeper snowfields. Thise two Italian guys kindly lent me two
poles, giving me a better balance. I have to admit that I
underestemated the amount of snow up here. A big thank's to you guys! |
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