Multi-pitch, sport

Sunday July 9, 2006 - Cheselenflue (1500m)

Martijn picked me up at 8.30am, the weather was looking fantastic and the drive to the canton of Obwalden went fairly smoothly. Driving through Melchtal we headed up to where the Stöckalp cable car took hikers up to Melchsee-Frutt. At this place we joined a queue of stationary cars waiting to drive up and waited, not having much choice. We weren't sure of what was going on so I wandered up to find out from this bloke who was going along the line and extracting cash from the drivers. The road here narrows to a single lane for several kilometres up to Melchsee-Frutt, so they regulate car traffic by only letting people drive up on even-numbered hours and drive down on odd-numbered hours (also, it costs CHF 12 to take your car up, which is sort of a parking fee).


Martijn waiting at Stöckalp for the 10 o'clock rush.

We only had to wait 10 minutes before things got started. The Cheselenflue, where we wanted to climb, was about halfway up the valley and the driving directions in the guide where pretty good on this occasion. Having pulled off the Melchsee-Frutt road at about halfway and after following a dirt road for a few hundred metres we found the carpark. We sorted our gear (no trad stuff, our target climb was supposed to be bolted up the wazoo) and then started the hike up. On our right we could see some pretty damn big walls and fairly soon we saw that these were exactly where we were going. The walk was steep but not too bad, in a bit more than half an hour we were tracking along the base of cliffs that must have been somewhere between about 300 metres high.


The obligatory expedition photo.

Martijn found our route, Meteorit-Kombination (6a), and standing at its base we perused the details in our guidebook. The first thing we saw was that after pitch four it swung right to join the last two pitches of Roter Punkt (6c). Eyow, that looked like a tough finish with those final pitches rated at 6a and 6b respectively. However, there was an alternative that continued straight up after pitch four and offered three short pitches no harder than 5c which finished just under some prominent roofs. So we settled on doing that line instead. The distribution of difficulties was pretty good, with every even numbered pitch being relatively easy, so with Martijn starting us off we could swap leads all the way up. Unfortunately, Martijn had forgotten his helmet, so we agreed that it would go to the belayer on every pitch. Looking up at our chosen line we could see that it was mostly vertical with occasional overhanging sections, and finished 200m above the base. Eeep! Plenty of bolts though, so we shouldn't get lost.

The weather was bright and the sun shone warmly on our backs as we suited up. I put on some suncream and found that it was one of those "skin" coloured types, although it ended up giving me the pallor of a vampire or a zombie or something. Still, I gotta block them UV rays somehow!


Meteorit-Kombination (6a).
For more pictures, click HERE

Martijn worked the first pitch (5c+) and seemed to have no trouble with it, although there was one short section that was thin enough to make him stop and think a bit. While he was climbing a couple of guys showed up and dropped their packs nearby, it looked like they were going to wait until we got ahead a bit before following. When I followed up I found that it was really nice, just enough positive holds that were just in reach to sucker me into thinking that the whole climb might be a little over-rated. Almost the whole climb would be characterized principally by tiny little ledges that were slightly angled upwards, offering decently positive finger- and toe-holds. We would find later that there were two major bands of rock which seemed a bit loose, but it really wasn't too bad.

When I led the second pitch (5b) it felt very nice despite there being fewer bolts than on the first. At about three-quarters of the way up there is a small roof with a bolt right up in the center of it - big clue. So I got up there, clipped the bolt and started pawing over the top to find a hold. Wow, nothing much to grab up there, nothing really positive anyway. So after snatching about I got a little too nervous and decided against trying to pull directly over, besides there were a lot of little stones lying about and I could see myself sweeping off a bunch of them if I tried to thrash my way over the roof. So I cut to the left, went around it and then continued up into the first band of not-so-solid rock where the anchor was.

We could see some clouds sweeping in from over Melchsee-Frutt. They looked a little dark and we wondered if there might be rain in it. Martijn said we should keep an eye on it and be ready to bail if things turned nasty. But the weather never did go pear-shaped and our luck would hold all day.

Martijn took over for the third pitch (5c+), carefully picking his way over the top of some wobbly rock, and only paused a couple of times as he worked his way through two slightly thin sections on some open face. He finished up just under the second band of loose stuff. While following I had a bad moment trying not to slip off while reaching at full stretch for a finger hold, just snagging it before my toe slipped away from it's perch. The altitude wasn't bothering me though and I did take the opportunity to look around from time to time. There was a pair of climbers to our left doing Technoparty (6c+) and another couple of guys doing Roter Punkt (6c) just right, below us I saw that those guys who showed up just as we started had begun to follow us. Also, way down in the valley, I could just make out a family enjoying a picnic.

The weather was still great, cloudy enough to keep the sun away but not windy or cold. I slipped by Martijn at his belay and started up the fourth pitch (5c) which started with some careful moves through the second loose band. I was a bit nervous about having to do this 5c because the last 5c+ that Martijn had led was not incredibly easy. However, the 5c part was a roof which turned out to be a real doddle - being just a matter of finding the appropriate footholds. The pitch was fairly short too, so I found this part of the climb to be highly enjoyable and my favorite part of the whole climb.

At this point we left the normal Meteorit-Kombination as it angled up and right towards Roter Punkt. Martijn going directly up to lead a short and quite thin 5c. It was slightly overhanging in places too. Hmmm. I followed that by leading an equally brief 5b, which was definitely not overhaning and pretty enjoyable. As Martijn followed up I noticed that an occasional rain drop smacked down around me. Hmm, we were nearly 170m off the deck and the prospect of rapping down all that way in a thunderstorm seemed a bit scary. The big roofs above us were close at this stage and I wondered how much they were keeping the rain off. Martijn came up and then took over for the last pitch.

Martijn really enjoyed the final 5c+, practically wooping it up as he eased between tiny little holds and edges spaced hugely apart on frequently overhanging rock. Overhanging! I just couldn't do it clean, there was a point which had what I thought were good feet but no hands, it was really balancy and I lost it when a foothold broke free right from under me. Squeaking out "take!" just before peeling off I watched the stone plummet down. We both bellowed out "Stein!" and hoped that it wouldn't hit anyone. Martijn had to help me finish off the last couple of metres. The climbing was finally done.

Rapping down took a long time and was slow, the ropes snarled constantly and despite trying to be careful we did knock off one fist size chunk of stone which came pretty close to a pair of climbers below us. Ouch.

Woohoo, I think that's the biggest multipitch climb I have ever done. Even though it was just a bunch of sport routes sewn together it was still tons of fun. No way I could have done it without the big bloke though, definitely not ready to lead that last pitch anyway. I wonder what it's rated now with that ex-foothold gone? 6a+? 7a? Maybe.


Martijn bouldering up near Melchsee-Frutt.

That night Leila hosted an excellent BBQ at our place where we watched Italy beat France in the football world cup grand final.