{"id":624,"date":"2012-02-25T21:44:48","date_gmt":"2012-02-25T19:44:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/?p=624"},"modified":"2012-02-25T21:53:35","modified_gmt":"2012-02-25T19:53:35","slug":"gondo-switzerland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/2012\/02\/gondo-switzerland\/","title":{"rendered":"Gondo, Switzerland"},"content":{"rendered":"
Gondoschlucht is a small ice climbing site on the Swiss\/Italian border near Milan. The base is at 1100 meters of altitude and most of the ice falls are in the 150-300 meters range with difficulties of WI3 and upwards.<\/p>\n
It had been very warm this winter but three days before our departure from Helsinki the Siberian cold set into central Europe. Thanks to the cold we had some nice -10C temperatures for ice climbing. The ice conditions were thin because of the spring temperatures before but fat enough to have some fun. During this trip we had also loads of problems with flight changes but that\u2019s another story. We missed our connecting flights twice\u2026<\/p>\n
The first day we were supposed to have a full day but thanks to the flight inconveniences we arrived as late as 1 PM. With the dark setting in at 6 PM we had some time left but not much. We drove through the canyon twice and spotted a nice looking gully across the river. Few days after climbing it we found out the gully was called Scott Gally (WI3+, 100m).<\/p>\n
Although I think ice climbing is often boring this was nothing such. The route was very versatile and situated in magnificent surroundings. There were vertical steps, some scrambling and some overhanging bulges with cauliflower formations. There was also one shower pitch so the route had everything ice climbing can offer in a compact six pitch package. The guide book said it to be \u201ca magnificent journey into this canyon\u2019s icy world\u201d and that it sure was. The walls of the canyon were almost 100 meters of vertical rock on both sides.<\/p>\n
Since we\u2019re old and out of shape we woke up fairly knackered the next day. We discussed the options very briefly and and decided on a scenic driving day on the Swiss countryside. We wanted to have a look at the Matterhorn and decided on visiting Kandersteg, too. Both of which are within a two to three hour driving distance from Gondo.<\/p>\n
Gondoschlucht is a small ice climbing site on the Swiss\/Italian border near Milan. The base is at 1100 meters of altitude and most of the ice falls are in the 150-300 meters range with difficulties of WI3 and upwards. It … Continue reading