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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... |
...and then a chair lift up
to Colle
Bettaforca
2727m. Here the trail towards Quintino Sella begins.
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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. |
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. |
The
final part of the climb passes a narrow ridge with drops on both sides.
Most part of it is secured by ropes.
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| This is
the most fascinating part of the climb. |
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. |
The
final meters up to the hut. |
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Reaching
the Rifugio Quintino Sella after 3h. We are in
Italy now, so I can
enjoy a good cappuccino on more than 3500m altitude! |
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! |
