UKC

Has anyone gone up the Dufourspitze or other tops on the Monte Rosa? If so, how did you prepare and what route did you take? I am thinking of Easter next year.

In reply to Cuthbert:

I did it some years ago, March 1993 to be precise. I was skiing and climbing quite a lot at the time through living in Geneva. Its a long day out so its worth being fit and acclimatised and can be cold as its high. We did the regular route with train to Rotenboden and then a walk and ski to the Monte Rosa hut where we stopped for dinner as it smelt so good. We then climbed a couple of hundred meters past the hut and dug a snow hole where we had a second dinner and passed a relatively uncomfortable night, as you do in a small snowhole. Next day to the summit via the Sattel, crampon up the snow ridge and scramble / easy climbing along the rocky ridge to the summit. The ski descent down to Zermatt is great and has got to be one of the longest in the Alps. Picture here http://images.summitpost.org/original/889603.JPG

In reply to Cuthbert:

I tried many years ago (1994 ), but although the forecast was good when we left Zermatt, the following morning it was something like 5° at the Monte Rose hut & raining so, along with everbody else in the hut, we went back to bed for a few hours before skiing back down to Zermatt on horrible, sodden snow

As we were having breakfast some Norwegians who had camped several hundred metres above the hut arrived muttering about a terrible night

In reply to Doug:

Which is the best route to take and starting point. I will research this but haven't had time yet.

In reply to Cuthbert:

Long time ago but I think this was the route we didn't do
http://www.camptocamp.org/routes/46102/fr/pointe-dufour-arete-w-voie-normal...

(from memory also marked on the 1:50 000 map (winter edition))

In reply to Cuthbert:

I always walked but I've seen lots of people doing it from the Italian side as late as July. There is a cable car to about 3300m, from memory, then a walk/skin to the Gniffeti hut. This wouldn't work for Dufor or Nordend but all the other tops are easily accessible. Much cheaper and better food in Italy too. 3000m descents to Gressoney or Alagna possible

In reply to Cuthbert:

Did the Dufourspitze from the Monte Rosa hut a few years ago. Took the West Ridge as that was marked as a ski touring route on the map. Most people were doing the Silbersattel route which had a fixed rope on the harder bit.

We'd been skiing in the area for a week previously and were well acclimatised, but still felt like a big day.

Let me know if you've any specific questions

In reply to brian_m:

Thanks. I need to buy a map but what is the name of the route that takes you up to the col between Nordend and Dufour?

In reply to brian_m:

Also could you recommend a guidebook for the area?

In reply to Cuthbert:


The SAC do a selected guide of ski tours for the whole of Switzerland

https://www.baechli-bergsport.ch/Fr/Les-plus-belles-randonn233es-224-ski-de...

Good but pricey. The (similarly expensive) Swiss maps with a ski overlay give you almost as much information and are very accurate, they use the same route numbers as the SAC guides, which is helpful.

In reply to MG:

Thanks. I had a look at a video going up both Nordend and Dufour and it didn't look to bad. Gran Paradiso first though.

In reply to Cuthbert:

GP is great. Get the "Excursionista" map, not the IGN one, which is rubbish.

In reply to Cuthbert:

if you've got them all ready the bill of conner guides to ski touring are excellent. The western alps one may even cover gran paradiso and monte Rosa. It will cover them as part of week long tours but lots of good info. If your going at easter you will need to book huts. now being a good time to do so. think monte Rosa is fully online. ac or acc membership will half your hut bed night price saving about 10 euro a night

In reply to Cuthbert:

I skied it in 1966, the same year that I skied the Haute Route.

We did it from the col below Dufourspitze as shown in the photograph posted above, having just summitted Dufourspitze.

It would be totally different now, but I recall the descent through a heavily crevassed area of seracs being quite deceptive from above requiring alert route finding.

At the bottom we were able to ski right down the glacier and the woods above and into Zermatt.

By far the longest ski decent I have done

In reply to Cuthbert:

Is there any other way? youtube.com/watch?v=qZGbJbxToGg&

In reply to Cuthbert:

Silbersattel is the col between Nordend and Dufourspitze.

We just used Bill O'Conner ski touring guide book, but it's a popular mountain and will be in any climbing guide for the area.

GP would be good to do first.

In reply to Cuthbert:

I did it in spring 2013 to the ski dump at the Silbersattel (col between Nordend and Dufourspitze). This is now considered the standard route, the west ridge no longer looks a good choice. We turned back at the col due to mist and high wind. The GPS track of my ascent is here www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=6505880. It's a great ski! Highly recommended.
I went back this spring to try and finish it but a storm led to high avalanche risk and we did the Signalkuppe instead. You'll find a lot of GPS ski tracks for the area on my wikiloc account, good routes to use as a warmup before going for the main event. Message me if you want more info.