Alps 2012

On the Corne de Sorebois, 2869m. 1.30pm, 26/07/12 I started off in Zinal, at the most rudimentary campsite ever (a small field with 2 portaloos and nothing else, not even water, 8CHF a night didn't feel like a bargain). My first walk was up the Corne de Sorebois which, as you can see, is a popular and undemanding viewpoint.

Zinalrothorn with the Ptes. de Moming, from the walk down from Sorebois 4.30pm, 26/07/12

Approaching the d'Ar Pitetta hut, beneath the forbidding west face of the Weisshorn. 11am, 27/07/12

Some impressive stone men on the way to the d'Ar Pitetta. The ridge starting behind the hut and leading to the Grand Gendarme on the Weisshorn is the Younggrat, graded at D-. 11.30am, 27/08/12

Southward panorama from the Col de Milon. 1.30pm, 27/07/12

There's a path that leads from the d'Ar Pitetta, over the Col de Milon (centre), to join the Tracuit hut path. 3.30pm, 27/07/12

Cabane Tracuit, 3256m. 5.45pm, 29/07/12

Zinalrothorn and Obergabelhorn from the north. 8.30am, 30/07/12 Plan (ahh, plans) had been for a wary plod up the glacier to the Bishorn, but I felt so rubbish overnight (shivering and sweating at the same time) that I let myself off and just went back down to Zinal, taking 8 hrs to descend a path I had gone up in 3½ hrs the day before.

Panorama south from 3000m on the Tracuit path. 9.40am, 30/07/12 Prominent peaks are (l-r) Zinalrothorn, Obergabelhorn, Lo Besso, Dent d'Herens, Dent Blanche, Grand Cornier, with Tête de Milon in front of them.

Bishorn and a lateral snout of the Turtmann glacier. 10am, 30/07/12

Zinalrothorn. 10.30am, 30/07/12 (again. A compelling peak.)

Iridescent cloud over the Dent Blanche. 1.50pm, 30/07/12

Some cirrus uncinus over Alphubel and Täschhorn. 2.50pm, 03/08/12 For a week afterwards I still felt feeble and out-of-sorts, fit only to get the bus round to Saas Grund and from there make good use of the 'Burgerpass' ( = free lifts).

Allalinhorn, with the good and the bad of Mittelallalin. 3pm, 03/08/12

Saas Fee as you won't find it on postcards. 11.15am, 05/08/12

Allalinhorn north flank. 8.15am, 07/08/12 By this time I felt just about capable of the granny route from Mittelallalin, and quite enjoyed it.

Rimpfischhorn, with Monte Rosa - Breithorn beyond. 8.50am, 07/08/12

View north-east. 9.20am, 07/08/12

Allalinhorn, 4027m. The summit was not a lonely place. 9.20am, 07/08/12

Oberland peaks. 9.20am, 07/08/12

View north-west. 9.20am, 07/08/12

View north. 9.30am, 07/08/12

Strahlhorn - Breithorn. 9.45am, 07/08/12

Some impressive crevasses. 10.10am, 07/08/12

. . . a crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many . . .10.30am, 07/08/12

Allalinhorn. 8.40am, 08/08/12 Suitably reassured about at least a basic level of fitness, I went back up to Mittelallalin the next day for the Alphubel via the Feechopf.

Approaching the Feechopf. 8.45am, 08/08/12

Feechopf. 9.00am, 08/08/12 There is some quite delicate scrambling involved in this traverse, with an abseil stake in the narrow slot at the top of this, the last and highest, section.

Alphubel. 9.25am, 08/08/12 The obvious line from the Alphubeljoch is the south-east ridge, which would be quite straightforward were it not for the Eisnase, a steepening above where the snow narrows, which in summer is often bare ice. Well, I've seen it icier than it is here, but it still looked icy enough to make the 3800m contour track an attractive option.

Approaching the summit plateau. 10.45am, 08/08/12

Weisshorn mainly, others are Bishorn, Brunegghorn and the Barrhorner. 11.00am, 08/08/12

Täschhorn, Dom, Lenzspitze. 11.00am, 08/08/12

Fletschhorn, Lagginhorn, Weissmies. 11.10am, 08/08/12

Alphubel, 4206m. 11.10am, 08/08/12 Anyone know what happened to the Alphubel cross? It was only erected in 2010 and this seems to be all that remains. The plaque refers to the Saas Fee pastor Konrad Rieder, who administered the blessing at the initial ceremony, but it doesn't match the plaques on any pre-2012 photos of the cross I can find. The cross was around 3m high, and one explanation - that this is the top of it, with the rest buried - seems unlikely, given that this was high summer.

Your correspondent admiring Monte Rosa and the Lyskamm. 11.30am, 08/08/12

Allalinhorn. 11.40am, 08/08/12

There's part of the eastern flank that is threatened by these seracs. The track keeps below most, but not all, of the fallen ice debris, and the fall-line area is not a place to linger. 11.50am, 08/08/12

Panorama from the Alphubeljoch. 12.20pm, 08/08/12

The Allalinhorn track. The snow bridge seems pretty solid . . . 1.10pm, 08/08/12

. . . but I'm not sure that a tight group of six on it is a great idea. 1.35pm, 08/08/12

On the Lagginhorn, just off the little glacier, having come across from the Hohsaas lift. 9.30am, 09/08/12

Weissmies. 10.45am, 09/08/12

Lagginhorn, 4010m, summit ridge. 11.40am, 09/08/12

Britannia Hut, and the Chessjen glacier. 11.20am, 11/08/12

Panorama from Klein Allalin, the knoll above the Britannia. 11.50am, 11/08/12

Strahlhorn and Rimpfischhorn from Klein Allalin. 12 noon, 11/08/12

The scene that greets you as you emerge from the tunnel leading from the Klein Matterhorn lift station. Things can only get better, and they do. 8.05am, 14/08/12 After 13 days at Saas Grund (2 at Camping am Kapellenweg, 8 at the pleasant and very reasonable Hotel Adler, 3 at the adjacent Camping Mischabel), having used at least 300CHF worth of Saas's free uplift, I headed round to Täsch for my last week.

Zinalrothorn and Weisshorn. 8.20am, 14/08/12

On the Breithorn - Roccia Nera and Pollux. 8.40am, 14/08/12 The going doesn't get any more interesting than this until you reach the summit, but that doesn't take long.

Breithorn. 9.10am, 14/08/12