All Paletti on the Spaghetti

Just in time for the start of the heat, which had us fully under control in the last two weeks, my colleague Max and I said goodbye to Switzerland. More specifically, to Valais. The spaghetti tour was on the program, the name IST program, because the huts are mostly on the Italian side of the Monte Rosa massif. Accordingly, not only are the 4000s just a stone’s throw away, it’s never far to the next pasta, at least as an appetizer it is served daily. Almost as if threaded, some of Switzerland’s highest mountain peaks line up. Dufourspitze, Signalkuppe, Lyskamm and opposite the Matterhorn are just some of the most famous, highest peaks in Switzerland. Our week started at Rosi at the Hotel Bergfreund in Herbriggen, as a starting point for ascents in this corner, Rosi is more than legendary. The master of the house shut us directly into the car-free Zermatt, where we comfortably but quite quickly used the cable car to the Klein Matterhorn up to an altitude of 3800m, is a saying known among mountain guides as follows: rather badly driven than good Gone. More bad ly than quite acclimatized we started our cozy ascent, following the caravan, to the Breithorn. Due to the cable car support, it is rightly considered one of the lightest 4000s. We were rewarded with the dream panorama that due to the perfect weather we should accompany us for a week. A long traverse of the great Verra glacier led us below the Pollux past to the Rifugio Ayas. As it turned out later, the hut owner, a Dane, used to work with us as a ski instructor and even completed his training in Kaprun! How small the world is….. Once again it started early in the morning in perfect weather, our current stage was supposed to be the crossing of the Castor and the Felikhorn, a slightly shorter stage due to the predicted thunderstorm danger. We left the alternative destinations Pollux or the western summit of the Lyskamm to the left. When we were already sitting in the cosy hut a few hours later during the thunderstorm, no one doubted the correctness of the decision. The next day we went on the south side of the wide Lyskamm peaks along the Lysgletscher to the “Nose”. The Passo Naso offers an easier transition to the Rifugio Gnifetti and in passing we also took the Vincent pyramid with us. Arriving at the Rifugio Gnifetti we were immediately pampered by the bellows with a beer and “Ginepi”. Also as a premiere we experienced as the main course a whole “Hendl” served on salad and potatoes. Just for tasting, the Gnifetti Hut is a real recommendation. The next stage had it all! On the 4th day we went perfectly acclimatized in the direction of Schwarzhorn, Ludwigshöhe, Parottspitze, Signalkuppe and Zumsteinspitze. Five 4000-metre-olds in one day and as a icing on the cake on the I is followed by the long descent over the border glacier to the day destination Monte Rosa Hütte. Satisfied and overjoyed, we reached the Monte Rosa hut in the late afternoon and celebrated the perfect course of our week together over dinner. Ten 4000s in 5 days, that’s impressive! On the last day of our week, the only thing left was the descent from the Monte Rosa hut to the Rotenboden. “Only yet”, we needed more than 3 hours for this, but rather tedious descent and when we finally got into the Gornergrat railway, this joint adventure had come to an end. See you soon,Gerald and Max