Which dumb giant decided to put these steps so far apart?

You can argue about the pros and cons of putting steel on the mountains. Outside Europe, it's often considered bad form, but there is a long history in the Alps of doing so. The route over the Wiesbadener Grätle isn't new, yet the lack of rust proves that these steps are of recent making. That's because the Vermunt Glacier has receded a lot, and where previously it was easy to step from the glacier on the flanks of the ridge, these days the first section is almost vertical. However, if you do decide to put steel on the mountain, why do it like this? There is a limit to the flexibility of normal people's legs, we can't take such big steps! At least here the rock face itself provided sufficient friction and tiny ledges to get up there quite easily; a few steps higher up there was one place where we really had to work hard at it. 23 July 2013.