First impression in Kandersteg, discovering Switzerland's outdoor paradise.
It’s proving a slow start with the climbing here at Kandersteg. To start with the conditions are not brilliant, but there’s stuff about to do. When we got here we were feeling a bit battered from competing and partying in Saas Fee. The day we drove to Kandersteg, we drove up Kiental to check out the conditions as we heard there were bad. And indeed a lot of the routes we wanted to do weren’t in condition. You could see they had been fat but had fallen down during the January warm spell when they reached up to 15 degrees celsius. As it was late in the day we decided to do something short and easy, we chose “Vibrator” which is a short section of M6 on to a curtain of ice graded Wi6. I went up first but not feeling the love I came down, same happen to Rob. I suppose partying the night before until the early hours of the morning didn’t help. Next was our fellow World cup competitor Marc Berverly from USA, who dispatched the route with ease despite only having had barely 2 hours sleep. Mind you, he already was warmed up as he had to climb up the outside of the hotel to get to his room. Next go Rob and I sent the route and went home to our newly rented basement apartment in Kandersteg.
Rob was coming down with a flu so I lead the next pitch as well. It started with a long wide crack which had to be climbed with a combination of jamming your axe deep inside the crack on chockstone and laybacking with your hands, great fun but exhausting. After a roof section I reached to a hanging dagger of ice, to get up the dagger was really hard work as it was proper overhanging and I had not got good feet and I could feel my forearms giving up. Somehow I managed to get up it but by the skin of my teeth and made it to the next belay.
We abseiled, set up a belay and looked for my lost Nomic, but it was hopeless and I was so hungry, thirsty, weak and basically broken that I decided to bite the bullet and buy a new tool and get the hell out of there. Luckily enough, back at the apartment, the Dutch team for the World cup has been hanging around and Dennis Van Hoek sold me his spare Nomic real cheap so I’m fixed now for more funny adventures. Now is time for a well earned rest day? Maybe not, but we are resting for sure, my body feels broken today.
Men's Down Jackets & Insulated Jackets
All-in-one pile fleece-lined windproof smock jacket for cold and damp
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PrimaLoft® insulated gilet with fleece panels for core warmth on the move
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