Galengrat Verschneidung

Overview

The Galengrat Südwand (Galengrat Verschneidung) is a 300m, ten-pitch, route on perfect granite. It combines slab climbing in the first pitches with a perfect dihedral in the last two pitches which directly leads up to the Galengrat. Althought the route is bolted some complementary gear might be useful.

The route was first climbed by H.P. Geier and D. Kienast in 1966.

Getting There

The approach starts either from the Furkapass parking place (2h) or from the Sidelenhütte (1h). The start from the parking place adds one hour to your approach as you have to follow the path to the Sidelenhütte. Then you turn left just before you reach the Sidelenhütte, followed by a glacier travel to the start of the route. If you start from the Sidelenhütte you traverse over the glacier underneath the Hannibalturm. Continue up the glacier to the base of the climb.

The approach over the glacier is indicated on the photo, it might be that the route is slightly different depending on the glacier conditions.

Route Description

The route starts directly from the glacier. Since the glacier melts rapidly, the route does not start as mentioned in literature. First you need to climb 20m or even more (depending on the glacier conditions) to reach the first belay.

The first three lengths are mainly slabs, which are well equiped with bolts. The first length is the crux (5c). (see photo)


The second and third length lead a little to the left to reach a kind of ridge. This is climbed through a combination of small cracks and dihedrals to reach the middle part. This part doesn't include difficulties. Then the last part leads through a dihedral to reach the ridge leading to the summit of the Galenstock (see photo's below).



An topo of the route with the gradings can be found on the following website

Descent

For the descent there are four possible options:
1. Rappel over the route
2. Rappel in two times from the place indicated in purple on the photo
3. Continue to the summit and descent via the north-ridge (Long!)
4. Descent to the south over the Rhoneglacier (this leads to the otherside of the Galenstock!)

Essential Gear

Helmet, harness, climbing shoes, double rope, 8-10 quickdraws, cams in size 0.75-2 might be usefull. For the approach glacier travel are recommended.

External Links

Hut
Sidelenhütte
2708m, 32 places
sidelenhuette@gmx.ch
+41 (0)418870233

Guidebooks
Plaisir Ost (2007), Jurg von Känel, Filidor verlag
Urner Alpen 2 (2003), T. Fullin & A. Banholzer, Sac verlag
Zentralschweizer Alpen (2010), B. Müller, Sac verlag
Kletterführer Alpen, Band I, N. Luzar & V. Roth, Topoguide.de

Maps
1231 Urseren 1:25000 (2009), Sac verlag
255 Sustenpass 1:50000 (2009), Sac verlag

Images

View Galengrat Verschneidung Image Gallery - 7 Images