Last week we went to the Western Alps with the idea of acclimatising on the 4000 m peaks around Sass Fee and then climbing the Matterhorn from Zermatt. A nice team of four Americans and four mountain guides: Alberto De Giuli (the boss, team coordinator), Beppe Villa (the super guide), Luca Vallata (the mathematician) and myself.
Unfortunately, the weather immediately changed our plans and, given the rapidly worsening forecast during the week, we tried to take advantage of the good weather with an immediate attempt at the Matterhorn from the Italian side. And peace for acclimatisation…. Climbing to the Oriondè refuge in the rain, we were confident of the expected two-day window of good weather, to climb to the Capanna Carrel and then to the summit. In the morning, however, we woke up to a whitewashed mountain and discouraging news about conditions from our colleagues at the Carrel hut.
Phone calls, discussions and more phone calls, and off we go for plan C. Transfer to Courmayer to go up to the Torino refuge and climb the Dente del Gigante the following day.
The Dente del Gigante is one of the 4000 m peaks of the Alps and is located on the Italian side of Mont Blanc. Its slender shape, reminiscent of a large tooth, makes it one of the most beautiful and easily recognisable peaks even from a distance. The climb consists of three parts, the glacier approach, the ascent to the Gingiva (on rocky and treacherous terrain) and the steep ascent of the summit tower, aided by fixed ropes. The descent is by abseiling down a steep line. Thus we return to the Gingiva and then along the ascent route to the hut. Despite the traffic, it was a beautiful climb and the whole team made it to the top. As we descended into the valley, we saw that the forecast for the next few days continued to be bad and the best thing was to head for the southern side of the Alps, where the weather seemed much better.
But that’s a story for another article…
