Suisse update No. 1
 Mission: Leysin
You can't come to Switzerland and not go to Leysin. We decided to check out the area and go climbing with Steve Monks. Got onto him through the Rat and he invited us up for the weekend, nice fella!! Steve lives in a nice little villa above the town of Leysin with a wicked view of Le Valais and Les Dents Du Midi. He shares with a fellow Mountain Guide and business partner of ISM, Adrian.
On arrival we sat down to a nice cuppa and decided to head down the valley (due to shitty weather up high and Steve and Adrian's need to shop for their upcoming course) to a great little crag called Dorenaz. The rock at Dorenaz, Gneiss, is lovely! Nice and grippy under foot and quite slabby in places.
Steve and Adrian decided to "climb something a bit harder"; which we were glad to watch. We decided to take a cruiser approach and chewed into climbs in the 5b-6a range.
 Leysin, Tour d'Ai
Leysin, a ski resort, is an awesome area for summer activities such as Mountain Biking, Flying (Wing and Parapente) and of course climbing up on the huge Tour d'Ai (home of the Sphinx) and Tour Mayen. There are some massive routes here. We camped up under la Tour d'Ai, a great vantage point for checking out routes. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t on our side and we only got one good day of climbing in. A wicked area none the less, and one to be revisited!!
Mission: Lyon River Festival
The Lyon River Festival, held in Lyon France, is an annual event and part of the European Freestyle Championship circuit. Lyon is about 2 hrs drive down the Autoroute from our doss near Nyon, Switzerland. We deffinately needed to fly the Rat banner and check out the event.
 The Euros really know how to put an event on!! It was more like the Ripcurl Classic than any other sporting event I've been too. HUGE wave, giant TV screen next to a stage where the bands pumped out the tunes. Wicked festival atmosphere. We caught up with Matt Cooke (K1) from Britain and Stephan Paetsch (Foester, C1) from Germany. Two guys who totally connected with the Rat and are still flying banner since the Pre Worlds in January. Good to see some familiar faces!!
Mission: Tour Salliere/Glacier du Mt. Ruan
We had an absolutely AMAZING trip into the mountains this past weekend It was an introductory Mountaineering course with the Club Alpin Suisse in the region of le Dents du Midi (the teeth of the south).
We drove to the alpine village of Champery in the Val-d'Illiez where we met our Mountain Guide, Marcus. Now this guy has a good job! Guiding people through the Alps climbing in summer and ski randonnee during the winter......yes please!!
From Champery we continued up the valley to a small crag called Barme, where Marcus taught the beginners rock climbing and rope techniques. Anna and I had a great time doing our own climbing at this crag, as we weren't required to do the session.
We stayed at the crag until about 2pm and then began the three-hour trek up to the Cabane de Susanfe. It was an extremely exciting and difficult walk, with chained traverses over cliff faces. Arriving at the Cabane was most welcome, but not as welcome as the BEER you could buy from the kitchen!!!!
The Suisse really know how to enjoy the great outdoors. All through the Alps are Cabanes that operate in pretty much the same way. 55 Francs (about AUS $65) buys you a bed, evening meal and breakfast. Not total luxury though. You sleep in dormitory style rooms in one giant bed. Snoring, farting, not much sleep etc..........
 We were woken at 5am for a quick breakfast of fresh bread and jam and huge bowls of sweet black tea before starting our assent of the Tour Salliere via Le Glacier du Mt. Ruan. We had to leave so early to get the best climbing conditions on the glacier. It was a north face route and so stayed frozen and out of the sun until about 10am.
It was a mixed route of rock scrambling, snow and ice. The first third being rock (climbed in your walking boots) and the last two thirds being snow and ice. We cramponed and ice axed up through these sections in groups of three or four using Short Rope technique (where you are all tied into the rope in a line).
It took about 3.5 hrs to reach the summit Col. Unfortunately the sun had already been on the summit slope and subsequently it was out of condition for an assent. We climbed a smaller ridge on the other side of the col for a magnificent view of Mont Blanc and surrounding Alps.
The decent was quite EXCITING to say the least. We took our crampons off (to avoid nasty accidents) and walked/slipped straight down the face. When someone slipped or fell, the rest of the team (on each rope) had to arrest the fall by dropping to the slope and planting your axe deep into the snow.
We arrived back at the Cabane at around 2:30pm for lunch and then the return walk back down the mountain. It was truly on of the best things I have ever done in my life!!!!
We have heard back from ROC ROI in Sort, Spain and will be heading down there on the 28th of July to work for August. Looking forward to getting onto the water again.
Until next time . . . You’ll hear about cragging you’re way around Switzerland.
Pallett the roving Rat Hunter |
