We had been waiting for a while for the weather to be good enough for us to get up into the mountains. It had snowed two days earlier but this route is east facing so we thought it would probably be OK now.

We got the cable car up to the albigna dam, well worth the CHF18! The views over the dam and the mountains were amazing, and on the walk up we saw an ermine, very very cute and inquisitive, clearly checking us out before scampering away.

Our German guidebook indicates that it should take 50 minutes from the cable car but it took us about 1 hour 20 mins, I think we are pretty slow walkers. When we arrived at the base of the climb we were looking for the start (obviously), the route begins right on the corner, not part of the way in from the left side as the topo suggests. I’m having doubts about this very expensive guidebook. Anyway there’s an red arrow painted on a rock showing the start of the route. There were also a few, very sparse bolts, reassuring as we knew we were on route. We alternated leads which was more fun for me and a bit less stressful for the boy who usually leads most things, especially in the mountains. It was really good climbing, very enjoyable, but I got really cold at the summit and shivered about getting my big jacket on and eating a sandwich.

We abbed down and hurried back into the sunlight. Just after we had got back to the stuff we left at the bottom the party above us dislodged a terrifyingly big rock right where we had been just 5 minutes earlier. Helmets would not have offered any protection :/

Back in the sun!