Our annual (I say that as if 2 years in a row makes it tradition) "climbing trip" took us to the Alps. We had a good sampling across 4 (a case could be made for 5) countries and what they had to offer.

July 14th, 2019 - Bastille Day and "get your crap together" day

After traveling in cattle class and getting everyone together at our wonderful "gite," we found everyone made the trip that wanted to make the trip, unfortunately James' bags did not make it. You've got to give it to the kid - to spend over 2 weeks in the same pair of underwear and not have anyone in a small vehicle describe him once as swampy was a feat in and of itself. The other downside was James didn't have any of his climbing gear, personal or group.

So, we hit up Cham to find James some rentals. Luckily, there is a big mountain many people come from all over the world to climb, so rentals were plentiful. James used Snell Sports. He was also told that he would get reimbursed up to 200 euro at 50% and he snagged that Patagucci R1 he has always wanted. Our suggestions at him picking up some Arctery'x underwear at 50% off didn't really entice him to spend more money though.

James was also responsible for bringing the rope, so we hit up the ultra historic Techniques Extreme to snag a cord. The French being incredibly French just love Beal ropes. Not really knowing our objectives for the trip, we opted for the 9.1 Beal Joker. And we got to say we shopped at Techniques Extreme. Almost worth it.

After gathering everything in town, we headed back to the house to relax and get ready for the next day.

July 15th - Cosmiques Arete (ADish...barely)

We awoke and headed down to the the famous Aiguille du Midi tram. The day was cloudy and dreary and we soon found out that would mean a delay in opening the tram. The lady wouldn't even sell us tickets, so we headed to the cafe down the street and began to eat our weight in baguettes and down Fanta. While waiting in line to buy a croque Monsieur word came that they would be opening the tram. I ditched the idea of eating yesterday's Monsieur and quickly grabbed our things and headed to the tram.

It turns out the Japanese don't like dark, cloudy and dreary, so it was primarily climbers and we were able to shove into the first tram of the day despite it leaving almost 2.5 hours late.

We found ourselves in what I described as "wintry" conditions. Blowing snow and rime ice stuck to windward faces. We decided to just take a walk out on the glacier and see how we felt.

Route finding was not that difficult. Forward along the beautiful line. I think the weather kept some people off the route, but there was still traffic jams at the raps and at the crux.

After the crux you climb to the right up a "chimeny" and then switch to the left side of the ridge. A couple more hundred feet or so of climbing leads you to the ladder where you can show off to all the tourists. Unfortunately for us the bad weather kept our welcoming crowd at bay.

July 16th - Gailland Cragging

A lazy morning and parts of the group wanting to do different things brought some of us cragging. Certainly not after a baguette or two. Gailland is meh cragging, I put it on par with North Table Mountain, you're not going to climb anything bad, but there certainly aren't any "destination" climbs. Certainly, longer climbs than NTM though, so perhaps a bit better. A worthwhile trip if you have ants in your pants and are weathered out or just want to take it easy.

July 17th - Travel to Grindelwald

We checked out the Gite and headed to Grindelwald. The Bernese Alps were my favorite of the trip.

July 18th - Climb to Mitteligi Hut

Our next objective had us aiming towards the Eiger. Certainly the biggest peak technical wise we would tackle on the trip. The Mitteligi ridge is a fun jaunt and it all starts at the Eismeer train station buried deep under the Eiger itself. Many say the crux of the climb are the 5.6 pitches up to the hut, which is traditionally done in mountaineering boots. The hardest thing I did is empty my wallet out to take the 200CHF+ train ride.

After crossing the easy peasy glacier for about 30 minutes, the climbing began. We ended up with 2 pitches

We made it to the hut after about 3ish hours of climbing. The nice hut warden lady showed us around and where our bunks were, told us dinner was at 6 and then got back to cooking. The Mitteligi hut was my favorite of the trip, sort of "intimate" at like 30 climbers and everyone has the same objective - it's nice from that perspective because everyone wakes up at the same time and there's no sniffing around to see what route you're doing the next day.

After dinner the guides actually have to do some work at the hut - either dishes or moving things around. We sat around and waited for the warden to come by to settle up for any drinks we bought or would buy. Water comes at a premium, like 7CHF/liter. You're also assigned which wave you will leave in. Spoiler alert: if you are unguided you leave in the 2nd or last wave, 20 minutes after the first.

July 19th - Eiger Summit

The next morning we were served breakfast which consists of hot water to make tea or coffee, dry bread, butter packets, jam packets and a few slices of cheese. I noted this for future reference and continued to tank up on food at dinner when staying at a hut.

After some ups and downs, raps, fixed line grunting we came to some snow. We debated which way to go, skirting the snow underneath or to slip on our mountaineering slippers. The crampons eventually won out, and we were shortly at the summit.

Putting the tour together isn't just aesthetic, but a kick in the nuts. Plan on about 5 hours from the summit. I think we had 6 or 7 raps and all the other parties were long gone so there was not riding other team's lines. It will take some time. And yes, you descend down and then climb back up.

We finally stumbled into the Monchjochhutte a few minutes before dinner. This atmosphere was much different - you paid before you sat down, they took credit cards and it was a mix of climbers with various objectives and probably a few tourists. Dinner was good, again bratwursts but less to go around. After 13.5 hours on the mountain, I was ready to tank down some food. I think I spent almost 30CHF on drinking water....

July 20th - Monch

We awoke for the second breakfast at the hut. The first serves to much longer outing of Jungfrau, the second is the tourist and monch wave. Again, I got ample hot water to help choke down the couple day old bread. There was about the same amount of cheese to serve the 100 or so the hut holds as there was the morning before at Mitteligihutte. We were off later than we wanted and feared a huge traffic jam on the narrow ridge that makes Monch so popular.

Turns out the ridge wasn't really that busy at all. We didn't have to pass anyone coming or going. The up and down was just under 2 hours and was a great victory lap in the Bernese Alps.

July 21st - Travel to Canazei

The next part of the trip had us heading to Canazei Italy. We were going to head to Cortina, but Scott P turned me on to Canazei and we certainly enjoyed our time there. It was a lot of driving, but well worth it in the end.

July 22nd - Brigata Tridentina (via ferreta)

We decided to keep it easy and try our hand at a via ferreta. Having never done one, we didn't really know what to expect and picked a popular, but really easy one. Brigata Tridentina is well known for its cable bridge. A fun outing.

July 22nd - Steger Route Sella Tower One

Again, thanks Scott P. We got off route at the start (whizzing rocks), but we soon found our way. A fun 5ish pitches.

July 23rd - Erzherzog Johann Hutte

We hustled to Austria after Sella Towers and grabbed a room at 1030pm, nabbing it just before the innkeepers went to bed. We awoke and had another lazy morning. James and I went to find him rentals, we changed money at the bank and a few other odds and ends. We then headed towards the start of the Grossglockner trailhead.

Our times to Studdlhutte and Johann Hut were almost as published on summitpost - 5 hrs. There's not really a lot to it, just a long hike with small snowfield near the top which we roped up for, but no one got their ax out. Then a "scramble" along a cable to the hut.

The hut itself was like the Monchjochhutte, pay as you enter. You had the option of a la carte food or 1/2 board. We opted for 1/2 board. Interesting to note, if we would have had our AAC card the guy would have given us a discount even without a hut stamp. But, the AAC is now paperless and I'm pretty sure I am supposed to have a hut stamp, so I didn't look too hard. The atmosphere is more of a party and have fun feeling. Sitting like 700 vertical feet below the summit, it's really not a big summit day. There was some guitar playing, singing and fraternizing. We took some pics, took in the scent of cigarettes for a few minutes and did the boring American thing and hit the sack.

July 24th - Grossglockner Summit

We had another sport climber's alpine start and got going some time after 7. Most people had taken off already - either to summit or to head down. The 50 degree snow slope was no where to be found. A short 20 ft on a fixed line scrambling in crampons and then an easy and quick scramble to the summit. Lots of fixed lines. James beat my wife and me to the top by a fair bit. He's chatty and got to talking to some Austrian climbers who told him he did a lifetime of climbing in 2 weeks.

It was like 2.5 hours from the hut to the car. Thankfully it wasn't much more, it was hot out!

July 25th - Frankerjura Cragging

We again put in a long day driving after our descent off of Grossglockner. Luckily in trying to find a hotel room, we ended up in Betzenstein which is sort of the center of Frankenjura climbing and home to the lone dirtbag climber shop. The climbing shop didn't open until 11 am or something like that, so we melted during the heat wave in our top floor hotel room without AC. The Frau eventually kicked us out and told us to go get some fresh air.

July 26th - End of Trip

We had delusions of grandeur heading back into the forest to send some routes, but instead we lounged around in the heat, sorted gear and decided to head back to Munich to catch our flight home.