UKC

Hi all I'm heading to Saas Fee on Friday and wondered if anyone had seen the condition of the Normal route (Trift Glacier) of Weissmies. Toying with that or Lagginhorn but rather Weissmies providing it's not falling apart. 

Thanks in advance. 

I was out there a month ago. Watched (from the hut) a stack of people descending by that way. The look of the seracs would have put me off but plenty were happy to go for it...

Look at Chris Craggs's fb page today.

Top man. It looks alright, due to our experience I think up and down that route will be best option, just want to be out by midday. 

Looks even scarier through a zoom lens.

As you said, you really don’t want to be on it at mid day. I was last year and it was extremely soggy, then a few days later there was a giant collapse. Beautiful climb though. (Considered the traverse?)

I did look at the traverse but theres snow forecast leading up to Sunday and my route-finding is poor at the best of times so I could see myself getting lost leading up to the ridge. 

Route finding from the Amagelar hut side is very straight forward. Much more so than the Honsaas side .

If there is enough fresh snow then route finding from hohsaas will be pretty hard/dangerous but it would take alot to cover the deep track. from almagellar its pretty much straight up to the shoulder (marked with paint) then keep right of the ridge until you feel safe enough to get on to it. From there its the path of least resistance, easy scrambling. 

I did the normal route on Sunday just gone and it was grand with nothing too dodgy. It had been sub zero for several days up to sunday though and its been very warm here the last few days so what we experienced may not be representative of what it's like now.

Today we descended the normal route from Alphubel after the traverse from Allalinhorn and it was quite scary... Would not recommend

I was in the guides office on Friday and they were strongly advising against the normal route on the Weissmies. It’s in poor condition/unstable & to emphasise the point, they showed me an infrared satellite photo of the area. The temperatures of the glacier & the seracs overhead are high due to the hot summer. That said, I did see people going up that way the day before (from Hohsaas) at 8am. You take your chances of course but I wouldn’t fancy it. 

Lagginhorn south ridge is an excellent outing & the normal route is fine. Allalinhorn - Feechopf - Alphubel is another great alpine day & is in v good condition. With the exception being the normal descent/route from Alphubel to the Langflue station. The Fee glacier is very open and so I chose to avoid it. 

Hope this helps.

Dave

The Lagginhorn is the better peak in mid-late season. The circuit by the south ridge (or SW spur) and down the normal route is arguably as good as the Weissmeiss traverse.

Ive only ever done the Weismeiss normal route in early June, with complete snow cover. Like this it is steep but easy. The route from the Almallger hut is longer in ascent and descent, but is very easy to follow and avoids the horrid seracs.

Has anyone been on the Fletschhorn normal route of late? Or otherwise know if it's potentially viable late season? Waiting to hear back from the hut but UKC anecdotes welcome. 

Thanks all. I may switch to Lagginhorn which was the original plan until I saw the rock fall potential. Is route finding on the normal route ok? There doesn't appear to be much of a track.

Do you think the Almallger hut route will be easy for route finding? Coming from a guy who got lost on Tryfan (in the dark I may add)  

Yes.  Go to the col on a path. Turn left and keep going up until you can't

It's fairly straight forward once you get going - finding the foot of the ridge may be a little tricky in the dark.  The top section can be icy and is very exposed.

Route finding on Lagginhorn normal route is dead easy, but it is better to start from Weissmies hut rather than Hohsaas. Either way, walk across the ex glacier below the West face, up to the obvious col in the West ridge. There are many options in that blocky slope. Once you are on the ridge, just scramble up to the summit ice field. where there will be an obvious track.

I would not worry about rock fall, as long as you keep away from the face as you cross the dead glacier. However, especially late in the season (when the snow field at the top has become icy) there is some risk of slab avalanches following fresh snow fall. Better to wait a day or two until everything has settled, there have been some bad accidents in recent years, including one where an entire family died.

CB

edited for typos

Thanks that's really helpful. Lagginhorn it is, will be staying at Weissmies hut and then go for the normal route, if it looks too dodgy on decent can go across the whole ridge to avoid the glacier I suppose. 

Don't worry too much, the glacier is not flowing anymore, so there are barely any crevasses!

CB

In case you are interested - I am currently at the Almagellerhutte on the other side heavy rain then heavy snow here today and all soaked through, tracks are fully covered with snow. Will try to solo up the Weissmies tomorrow if the snow isn't too bad. 

I will be around until 4th Tuesday so if you want to do something together let me know.