In reply to Tom Chamberlain:
IMHO the factors that decide whether to try the 38 route or not depend on weather forecast, stonefall and then conditions, in that order.
Getting off in a storm will be a nightmare, as testified by numerous posters on here. So make sure you can get up and off in any available weather window.
The worst areas for stonefall in summer are around the death bivi and the spider.
Conditions were very dry in July 90 when I did it. The ice hose can be bypassed on the left. The ramp was all scratchy rock climbing in crampons, the scariest bit in these conditions was the ice field leading to the brittle ledges, 50 metres of low angle dinner plating. Bob ( boB ) told me the ramp was grade III/IV Scottish when banked out, more like VS in crampons or V,5/6 in lean conditions.
If you look at White spider and other books, very dry conditions stripping the first icefield occurred in the 50's, did not stop the Swiss and German climbers then.
Not trying to make it sound simple, most climbers are impressed how much harder the route is than they expected.
