How to Choose the Right Climb in the Alps.

There are a number of things you should consider in choosing the right climb in the Alps for you. Reading the following passage can help you get a better idea. For more information on how to choose the right climb, you can contact me to discuss any route you desire to climb or ski.

Am I experienced enough to do such a climb (skills, fitness, etc.)?

You should be honest and compare the climbs listed on this website with your past experiences and climbing\skiing skills. Leave yourself some leeway in the difficulty rating so you can enjoy the climb/ski and have fun. You should have at least climbed the grade (or preferably a harder grade) a couple of times before (pyramid success).

Be honest to yourself:

• are you training as hard as when you did your last climb\ski tour or has it been a while?
• will you be able to maintain that fitness level or are you going to be busy at work?
• will you be rested and well acclimatized for that particular climb?
• are you arriving 2-4 days ahead of the climb to be over any jet-lag?

On all climbs on this website I have a brief description of the rating and difficulty, although it is difficult to compare US climbs and ski tours to ones in the Alps. The Alps are steeper than the Rocky mountains; therefore, they might be more committing in difficulty. Alpine routes up to 5.9 are climbed in heavy mountaineering boots, possibly with crampons. In general we down climb all climbs (AD or PD rating) and do not rappel. If you have not climbed in the Alps it is hard to compare it to the US style.

French Alpine and German rating, Overall Difficulty

F/Facile, L/Leicht - Easy: Easy climb, with easy short boulder climbing, well protected. may involve crevasses but easy glacier travel. I-II UIAA rock climbing. ( Petersgrat)

PD/Peu Difficile, WS/Wenig Schwierig  - Mildly Difficult: Moderate climbing, usually some belaying, possible rappel or descent. Exposed sections with scrambling, good footing required, crevasses glacier. II-III UIAA rock climbing. (Such as Mount Whitney, Mountaineers Route PD+, Jungfrau PD+, Monch, Mt. Blanc PD-.)

AD/Assez Difficile, ZS/Ziemlich Schwierig - Fairly Difficult: Belayed climb, in addition to large amounts of exposed but easier terrain. A wide range of protection system needed.  III-IV UIAA rock climbing. (Such as the Grande Teton, Exum ridge AD-, Matterhorn AD+, Schreckhorn)

D/Difficile, S/Schwierig - Difficult: Climbing at a fairly high standard. D routes involve several hundred meters of moderate climbing or short harder sections on the route. Good route finding is required and good rope handling skills. IV-V UIAA rock climbing. (Eiger Mittellegi ridge)

TD/Tres Difficile, SS/Sehr Schwierig - Very Difficult: TD routes are very long and hard. Cruz sections are hard climbing, ridges are very long and committing Climbers need to move very fast and be very experienced to keep the recommended pace. V-VI UIAA rock climbing. (Schreckhorn south ridge)

ED/Extremement Difficile, AS/Aeusserst Schwierig - Extremely Difficult:  Very committing route. Long climb with bigwall/north face character, long difficult climbing with vertical ice sections.  VI-VII UIAA rock climbing. (Eiger North face)

Technical Difficulty (rock climbing)

French rating	German rating UIAA	US rating
2	2/3	4th. class
3	3/4-	5.0-5.3
4a	4	5.4
4b	4+	5.5
4c	5-	5.6
5a	5	5.6
5b	5+	5.7
5c	6	5.8
6a	6/6+	5.10a
6b	7	5.10c-d
6c	7+	5.11b
7a	8	5.11d-5.12a

Safety

My first and most important priority in guiding is "safety first" always!  I am a family father of two young children, so foremost in my mind is coming home safe and sound after every trip. Of course no guide can always avoid accidents, but with good risk management, I can reduce risk to a acceptable level that I can handle to prevent serious injury or death.   If you are very well-trained physically and your mountaineering /skiing skills are very good, the risk is greatly reduced. Very often I have to stop a climb because of the physical condition of a guest, for example to avoid getting caught in a thunderstorm late in the day. We do get on a regular bases afternoon thunderstorm in the Alps. You as a guest can help by being physically fit and possessing a climbing level above that of your chosen climb. The mountain is no place to challenge skills and fitness. You can challenge the mountain but not other factors like weather and time on the climb. For my part, being a certified, local guide, I know the local weather trends and have firsthand knowledge of the conditions on the mountain, which is a huge advantage over any non-local guide. I also keep myself as fit as possible and refresh my skills on a regular basis to provide safety.

 

The Weather

The weather is quite different than Utah or California in the summers. We get a lot of rain, and it can snow down to 2,500 meters at any point during the summer. We call that phenomenon "little winter". You can have true winter conditions for short periods of time. This my mean that flexibility in your schedule offers you more opportunity for success. Flexibility in which peak you would like is also a benefit as the weather may not always cooperate. This allows us to change to another area in Switzerland, France, Italy or Austria. Most likely the weather will be fine in another part of Switzerland, so we can climb\ski another peak and get some mountaineering done. You have a better chance of climbing if you allow for other options as opposed to hunkering down in a tent in a blizzard, hoping the weather will improve.  If you are too fixed on a certain summit or climb, you might be missing out and not doing any climbing at all in the Alps. It is the experience that counts!

Food and dinners and breakfast in huts

The food might be different to what you are used too. It takes a while to adjust to a new diet. We have a lot of heavy meals with lots of cheese, pasta, potatoes, etc. Meat is included in most meals but not big portions. Sometimes the huts will have a small green salad for dinner. Breakfast in huts is usually bread, jam and butter with coffee or tea and sometimes they offer cereal.

For lunches bring your own favorite performance bar as we do not have such a wide variety of bars in Europe. I usually eat dried fruit, bread, sausage\cheese and  fresh fruit for lunch on the climb.

If you have a strict diet such as Vegan, I would recommend carrying all of your food with you. It is easier to maintain a vegetarian diet, but you will get a lot of cheese, so you better like cheese!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Traveling

If you fly into Zürich or Geneva I recommend traveling by train. It is very easy and convenient. The trains leave every hour and are on time. You can study the countryside and read a book while traveling to your hotel. Everybody at the stations can speak enough English to help you out, so you can get around and buy a ticket. Ask your travel agent to find the best deal on train passes, such as "half- day pass" that gives you half price on every ticket you purchase on public trains. There is also a Swiss rail pass. Check schedules and prices at www.sbb.ch, which is the Swiss railway website.

We will travel by train and bus for all climbs! I do not provide a car or taxi service.

If you decide to rent a car to have more flexibility, contact the big rental companies at the airport.

 

 

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