Dufourspitze – Italian side

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Dufourspitze – Italian side

Dufourspitze – Italian side

Al C’s photo of me & Rob approaching Dufourspitze summit bloc, having just traversed Zumsteinspitze - from Signalkuppe.
markhallam
on Aug 11, 2013 8:27 am
Image Type(s): Alpine Climbing
Image ID: 860930

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Bluecube22

Bluecube22 - Aug 13, 2013 3:34 pm - Voted 10/10

Rockin

cheers

markhallam

markhallam - Aug 17, 2013 2:36 pm - Hasn't voted

Re: Rockin

Thanks for that - it certainly was!
bw
Mark

gimpilator

gimpilator - Aug 16, 2013 11:07 pm - Voted 10/10

Lovely

I'm very happy to see that Rob made it back up there. I felt bad that our trip was not successful.

rgg

rgg - Aug 17, 2013 1:03 pm - Voted 10/10

Re: Lovely

Ah, no need at all to feel bad about that. In the mountains one simply has to be flexible. There are always a lot of things that can force a change of plans. I find that the best way to deal with that is to fully enjoy the time in the mountains - and we sure did that! - and not dwell on what might have been. The mountains are patient.

That said, the route that Mark, Al and I ended up climbing this year was actually a different one from what you, Ryan and I planned to do in 2012. The Dufourspitze from the Italian side is a little bit more difficult than from the Monte Rosa hut, but more importantly, the conditions on the Grenzsattel, a knife edge ridge along the route, are often rather dangerous. With snow it's usually corniced, often dangerously so, and without it it quickly gets icy. And the 2.5km drop off to the east is very steep...
This year we didn't expect the conditions on the saddle to be good enough either, so we didn't expect to be able to go across, but we learned that the route was in excellent shape, so we got lucky :-).

Al and Mark on the Grenzsattel
A slightly corniced Grenzsattel


Cheers, Rob

markhallam

markhallam - Aug 17, 2013 2:35 pm - Hasn't voted

Re: Lovely

I second what Rob has said. If it makes it any better, the route we did on the Dufourspitze; I failed on two previous attempts, from both ends - from Signalkuppe in 1982 and then the other way having reached Dufourspitze summit from Swiss side in 1992.
And what we went on to do on Mont Blanc this year I have been wanting to do for a decade - and we weren't able to do it last year.
Mountain conditions are fickle and this year we were very lucky.
Anyway, best of luck your next venture Adam - I still think of the phenomenal success of your Andean 'Peak Bagging'..
Mark

Simnel

Simnel - Aug 18, 2013 5:13 pm - Voted 10/10

Congratulations

For what sounds like a cracking Alps trip and a great photo...I bailed from this last year due to the weather.It certainly looks worth the wait on your part!

markhallam

markhallam - Aug 19, 2013 4:31 am - Hasn't voted

Re: Congratulations

Thanks - it was - and I have had a lot of fun re-living it through a trip report I will be posting at the end of the week - look out for "Alps International Expedition 2013"!
bw
Mark

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