Hi,

I should have a significant amount of free time over the summer this year (most of July to end September), and I don't have enough climbing partners to make optimal use of that time. I am particularly keen on making use of the weekdays for single or nulti-day outings, when the mountains are generally less crowded.

If anyone is interested in activities ranging from klettergarten trips to classic Alpine rock routes (Badile NE Face, Bonatti route), and/or nearby or classic peaks e.g. Tödi, Zinalrothorn, I would be keen to get in touch.

I am in my forties with over 30 years climbing and mountaineering experience, but my fitness and weight are not what they were. I also acclimatise slowly so anything over 3500m will require that I have done some proper preparation.

Through experience I generally I like to climb in 'controlled' conditions with new partners before heading to the hills. So if anyone is interested in climbing with me I suggest meeting one evening at the Milandia wall (Greifensee).

Cheers

Rick

This is where our similarities end I have a bit over a year of experience but quite keen (am am quite pleased with my fitness ).
Probably not what you are looking for, might be a couple of leagues below what you seem to have in mind, but my wishlist for this year is more like this:
http://www.alpin-ism.com/courses/sum...AlpineRock.cfm (those up to 6a)

Next Monday I will be at Milandia with my regular partner and my son (I´ll be there from around 4pm), happy to see hello and find out if we have common interests. I´ll be free from mid July.

p.s. you might want to post your interest on climbing-zh@googlegroups.com or kletterportal.ch for more audience.

That's soo cool, i will need to check out the intro to alpinism course if I can get vacation! Thanks for the link

Hi,

I would just like to correct my post for some strange reason I attributed the classic NE face route on the Badile to Bonatti and not Cassin.
I apologise

Cheers
Rick

Niranjan,
thanks for your post, which I didn't see in time....
I will be at Milandia on Monday 30th May from 7pm with a friend. Maybe see you there, otherwise I may pop down on Saturday 28th (morning) to use the toppas a bit.
cheers
Rick

Yeah, it took me some time to figure out what routes you were talking about. Anyway as far as I could gather (and for those of us who'll probably only enjoy it vicariously , it did look very beautiful though), the classic NE face of Badile is approx 25 pitches, grade upper 5's or lower 6's, one of the six classic North faces of the Alps...well out of my comfort zone especially given the compounding factors of weather, altitude, and remoteness.

Curiously, what I happened to do last Sunday was of similar length (23 pitches), easier (lower 5-ish), and gentle environment. Via del Veterano. We did the route in 7 hours. Add another 5-6 hours of hike, because we didn't have car and climbed up all the way to/from Faido Bhf with all the gear . Absolutely drained at the end of the day, but was very satisfying because it was by far longer than anything I had done before, and it had been on my wishlist since last year.

I can highly recommend it to people without too much experience/skills, because the route is solidly bolted, extremely well-marked and has numerous exit points on the way, should things go out of hand.

Rick: Not sure I can make it to Milandia, but would you/anyone else reading this thread like to join our Mythen Trilogie hike? Meeting this Saturday at Alpthal Brunni, 06:48 hrs.

Yeah the Badile route is not something you can just pop out and do in an afternoon.
I have been down twice to do it. First time it snowed about a foot in early September, and it looked very white, and rather impossible.
Second time we did the Gemelli to the summit (a very beautiful route, particularly the flatiron section) and descended into Italy. When we walked back the weather got rather unreliable with quite a few thunderstorms each afternoon. Not ideal, so we took the cautious option and headed back north to Zurich

Sounds like the Via del Veterano was very good condition training.

Cheers

Rick