big walls are no joke
On the evening of the 7th, I received a text message from John saying that we were all set to climb the Matterhorn in a few days. The Swiss Alpine Club had announced that climbers were free to attempt the summit at their own discretion, despite reports of numerous rock fall.
The 11th seemed like a perfect weather window, so we wanted to push hard n take a day off before going to Zermatt. The obvious option was doing something High enough to get me acclimatized for the summit push.
The best thing about Chamonix is taking an early lift from the Midi up to the glacier and spending your day doing hard routes at almost the same elevation you need to summit the Matterhorn.
And what is more physically demanding than rock climbing the south face of the Midi? Yup! A multi-pitch rock climb at an altitude of 3840m.
The Rébuffat-Baquet is a perfect summer climb for those who want to do something up high, really technical, and long, considering the altitude. Most people spend the night at the Cosmiques hut to acclimatize, but we just took the lifts early in the morning. We had to go in alpine gear so we could descend from the station to the Cole, and from there, we switched into rock climbing mode.
The very first part of the climb felt like a Crux, a vertical slab with tiny crimps and footholds. My confidence took a hit after slipping and pulling a hip flexor muscle on the very first move. but eventually, I managed to finish that section ungracefully.
After finishing the first pitch, John gave me some tips on how to be efficient on vertical walls and trust the footholds fully, and the climb started reshaping into gullies and cracks quickly after that slabby part. Crack climbing was something I had never tried before. The first time I jammed my hand into a crack and pulled my whole weight, it felt like unlocking a new skill on an MMORPG character.
The altitude did not make it any easier, even on sections where we just had to scramble around. But the goal was to push my body in such demanding terrain that would help me acclimatize efficiently for the Matterhorn.
Near the top, the climb got really exposed and steep, and that part was the actual Crux of the climb; there were moments when I had to pull on quickdraws for some aid, but I did not care one bit about free climbing the whole thing; the objective was to finish the climb.
We took a breather with some cool shots at the top, then started rappelling down the other side of the face right onto a platform. The beauty of the Midi is that wherever you decide to climb, you always end up with tourists, and they surely appreciate your awesomeness with their attention.