Congratulations for summiting and for this fine, well-written and over all honest trip report! And you are a lucky man that you did not fall into a crevasse on Koednitzkees glacier, being unroped and without ski. You would not have been the first. IMHO your style was too risky and cannot be recommended to repeat. Especially not as you do not have adequate experience. I hope that you did not leave a mess at Adlersruhe - walking with crampons into a bedroom is not the way to go.
Thanks Mathias for your nice and over all honest comment! :)
I had objections about going unroped too but heard opinions of several people that there's an exceptional amount of snow for this time of year and Koednitzkees would be safe.
The original plan was to climb Stuedlgrat with my friend but he couldn't go so I was left on my own. I got experience at rock/mountain climbing but it's true that it was only my 2nd 'winter' trip. And I slept only 8h in the previous 48h and drove across half of Europe just before... yeah one hell of a crazy trip, I wouldn't recommend this style to anyone. Somehow I managed a textbook self-arrest though :)
Those winter conditions surely slowed me down but on the other hand it was much safer this way - otherwise the solo ascent wouldn't be possible at all. On the other hand I heard that Stuedlgrat was climbed only once this season before I came due to a lot of snow still sitting there.
You're right about walking in crampons to Adlersruhe. I think I must've asked those Austrians if I should take them off, they said it's alright, I was just too knackered and didn't think clearly at that moment. I kept'em outside the edge of the bed though!
Your Grossglockner main page is very good and was of great help in my preparations.
Definitely later in the season I think Stuedlgrat would be a fine solo trip. However the normal way down from there does have some crevasses. Right as my partner suggested roping up I punched my leg into a hole :D.
Great TR! I can sympathize with the driving! I got stuck at the Stelvio summit a month ago, but from the south. Apparently they closed it for 2 days because of rockfall, but there was NO SIGN to the south. Boy was that a costly detour for us!
Thanks for your comment, Michael! Yeah that's a bit of a bummer to be forced back from Stelvio but it was worth going there anyway, just shame about the weather :)
Stuedlgrat solo... that would be bold and require excellent conditions I reckon.
cheers,
Kamil
Maybe it was risky- but everything ended well, that's the most important. Now you have more experience, both in snow-climbing and higher altitude so: good luck for next trips!
Very nice reading.
Hello Kamil,
Congratulations for summiting! We are the Dutch in your store. And I think also you are a lucky man that you did not fall into a crevasse. Unroped and alone is not a good idea on the Koednitzkees glacier! It was too risky. Do you have the next day problems with snowblindness because you don't have wearing UV-shielding eye goggles?
Hoi Jacco en Gerrit!
Great that you found me here. Yeah that was a crazy trip all in all, I took one hell of a battering, perhaps I shouldn't have gone when I was already that tired before the climb... Luckily my eyes were only irritated when I woke up at night as you remember, till the morning they were alright. All part of the learning, also to check that the glasses are in my backpack and not left in the car :) How was the rest of your trip, did you finally go to Matterhorn? Good luck with your climbing too and hope to meet you again!
cheers,
Kamil
Czesc Kamil! Congratulations for the brave and successful climb. Also hope you've learned some from this experience. ;) I had my own lesson at Komovi the past week... no summit deserves too much risk! :) Cheers, Peter
Thanks Peter! Maybe it was too brave :) Many lessons learned for sure. Write something more about Komovi, maybe a trip report, that sounds interesting. That's one of my places to visit, a neighbour range of my all-time favourite Prokletije.
cheers,
Kamil
Well, our trip turned out to be truly Balkanistic, but I don't have time for a TR now. I will post pictures about the trip though, especially some important ones from Komovi, where the trail markings are sometimes hazardously confusing. That said, Komovi are gorgeous, I want to return to climb them all. And of course Prokletije is also my goal sometime, I've set my eyes on them :) cheers, Peter
Wielkie dzięki Radek! It was a crazy trip but the memories will stay forever :)
Was lucky with this weather window, looks like weather-wise this summer was bad throughout the Alps, you experienced it in August...
pzdr
kamil
Mathias Zehring - Aug 6, 2008 7:27 am - Voted 10/10
lucky man!Congratulations for summiting and for this fine, well-written and over all honest trip report! And you are a lucky man that you did not fall into a crevasse on Koednitzkees glacier, being unroped and without ski. You would not have been the first. IMHO your style was too risky and cannot be recommended to repeat. Especially not as you do not have adequate experience. I hope that you did not leave a mess at Adlersruhe - walking with crampons into a bedroom is not the way to go.
kamil - Aug 6, 2008 8:55 am - Hasn't voted
Re: lucky man!Thanks Mathias for your nice and over all honest comment! :)
I had objections about going unroped too but heard opinions of several people that there's an exceptional amount of snow for this time of year and Koednitzkees would be safe.
The original plan was to climb Stuedlgrat with my friend but he couldn't go so I was left on my own. I got experience at rock/mountain climbing but it's true that it was only my 2nd 'winter' trip. And I slept only 8h in the previous 48h and drove across half of Europe just before... yeah one hell of a crazy trip, I wouldn't recommend this style to anyone. Somehow I managed a textbook self-arrest though :)
Those winter conditions surely slowed me down but on the other hand it was much safer this way - otherwise the solo ascent wouldn't be possible at all. On the other hand I heard that Stuedlgrat was climbed only once this season before I came due to a lot of snow still sitting there.
You're right about walking in crampons to Adlersruhe. I think I must've asked those Austrians if I should take them off, they said it's alright, I was just too knackered and didn't think clearly at that moment. I kept'em outside the edge of the bed though!
Your Grossglockner main page is very good and was of great help in my preparations.
cheers,
Kamil
mvs - Aug 10, 2008 7:59 am - Voted 10/10
Re: lucky man!Definitely later in the season I think Stuedlgrat would be a fine solo trip. However the normal way down from there does have some crevasses. Right as my partner suggested roping up I punched my leg into a hole :D.
Great TR! I can sympathize with the driving! I got stuck at the Stelvio summit a month ago, but from the south. Apparently they closed it for 2 days because of rockfall, but there was NO SIGN to the south. Boy was that a costly detour for us!
kamil - Aug 12, 2008 6:06 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: lucky man!Thanks for your comment, Michael! Yeah that's a bit of a bummer to be forced back from Stelvio but it was worth going there anyway, just shame about the weather :)
Stuedlgrat solo... that would be bold and require excellent conditions I reckon.
cheers,
Kamil
jck - Aug 8, 2008 4:09 am - Voted 10/10
Nicely done!Maybe it was risky- but everything ended well, that's the most important. Now you have more experience, both in snow-climbing and higher altitude so: good luck for next trips!
Very nice reading.
Pozdrawiam i gratuluje!
jacek
kamil - Aug 8, 2008 2:05 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: Nicely done!Experience - priceless. For everything else... :)
Dzięki jeszcze raz, pozdrawiam!
k
chris.mueller - Aug 10, 2008 7:01 am - Voted 10/10
Boldsuccess kamil. Congratulations!
Chris
kamil - Aug 12, 2008 5:58 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: BoldThanks a lot for your visit, Chris!
cheers,
Kamil
reinhard2 - Aug 10, 2008 5:06 pm - Voted 10/10
Nicely writtenTR, really fine reading. Thanks for sharing!
And congrats to your 1st >3000m.
Seems that you know to
enjoy a good beer anywhere.
Cheers
Reinhard
kamil - Aug 12, 2008 5:55 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: Nicely writtenThanks Reinhard! Yeah, good beer and climbing are some of those simple joys of life :)
cheers,
Kamil
Folkersma - Aug 12, 2008 5:39 am - Hasn't voted
The DutchHello Kamil,
Congratulations for summiting! We are the Dutch in your store. And I think also you are a lucky man that you did not fall into a crevasse. Unroped and alone is not a good idea on the Koednitzkees glacier! It was too risky. Do you have the next day problems with snowblindness because you don't have wearing UV-shielding eye goggles?
Succes with safety climbing!
Jacco & Gerrit (the Dutch)
kamil - Aug 12, 2008 5:51 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: The DutchHoi Jacco en Gerrit!
Great that you found me here. Yeah that was a crazy trip all in all, I took one hell of a battering, perhaps I shouldn't have gone when I was already that tired before the climb... Luckily my eyes were only irritated when I woke up at night as you remember, till the morning they were alright. All part of the learning, also to check that the glasses are in my backpack and not left in the car :) How was the rest of your trip, did you finally go to Matterhorn? Good luck with your climbing too and hope to meet you again!
cheers,
Kamil
Folkersma - Aug 20, 2008 11:22 am - Hasn't voted
Re: The DutchHoi Kamil,
We went to the Matterhorn but the weather was not good. I'll send you a link to some pictures off the trip by the Grossglockner.
Jacco
kamil - Aug 23, 2008 3:47 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: The DutchThanks a lot, great pics!
That bad weather must've been the same front that hit me on the way back across Switzerland.
cheers,
k
peterbud - Aug 14, 2008 5:16 am - Voted 10/10
safe & soundCzesc Kamil! Congratulations for the brave and successful climb. Also hope you've learned some from this experience. ;) I had my own lesson at Komovi the past week... no summit deserves too much risk! :) Cheers, Peter
kamil - Aug 14, 2008 12:15 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: safe & soundThanks Peter! Maybe it was too brave :) Many lessons learned for sure. Write something more about Komovi, maybe a trip report, that sounds interesting. That's one of my places to visit, a neighbour range of my all-time favourite Prokletije.
cheers,
Kamil
peterbud - Aug 15, 2008 6:07 am - Voted 10/10
Re: safe & soundWell, our trip turned out to be truly Balkanistic, but I don't have time for a TR now. I will post pictures about the trip though, especially some important ones from Komovi, where the trail markings are sometimes hazardously confusing. That said, Komovi are gorgeous, I want to return to climb them all. And of course Prokletije is also my goal sometime, I've set my eyes on them :) cheers, Peter
rpc - Oct 28, 2008 7:50 pm - Voted 10/10
great read!& congrats on a very cool outing Kamil! Love the photos.
Cheers!
kamil - Oct 29, 2008 7:18 am - Hasn't voted
Re: great read!Wielkie dzięki Radek! It was a crazy trip but the memories will stay forever :)
Was lucky with this weather window, looks like weather-wise this summer was bad throughout the Alps, you experienced it in August...
pzdr
kamil
rpc - Oct 31, 2008 7:17 pm - Voted 10/10
Re: great read!BUT, if you do luck out and actually nail an objective (or say survive) within a short weather window, it's so much more satisfying, no? :)
radek