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Ascent of Dammastock on 2012-07-26

Climber: Lee Newton

Others in Party:

Andrew Tibbetts

Date:

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Ascent Type:

Successful Summit Attained

Motorized Transport to Trailhead:

Car

Peak:

Dammastock

Location:

Switzerland

Elevation:

3629 m / 11909 ft

Ascent Trip Report

On a near perfect day, we made the long ascent of Dammastock via the Rhone glacier. Leaving my house in northern Switzerland at 3am, we were on the glacier at first light, 5.30am. In its lower half, the glacier has several crevasse zones which are not especially dangerous but do require a lot of toing and froing to circumvent. At the critical step at the foot of the Tällistock it was best to walk along the very western edge of the glacier up a gully. It is also best to visit early in the season (probably even better in May on skis but I´m not a skiier). On a previous visit in late August, the crevasses were so open and deep, we couldn´t find a way through in decent time. Above this zone, the glacier was snow-covered and an easy but long plod, first north, then east, took us to the summit ridge just north of the summit. A short traverse on steepish snow on the west side of the ridge (big cornices still on the ridge line), took us to the little rocky summit. The lateness of the hour (noon) had me slightly concerned about snow bridges on the way down, but the snow remained solid despite the warm unbroken sunshine. The descent was completed by late afternoon, and a big meal on a shady terrace in Andermatt was a fine end to a perfect day.

Summary Total Data

Elevation Gain:

1456 m / 4786 ft

Extra Gain:

49 m / 164 ft

Distance:

20 km / 12.4 mi

Route:

Rhonegletscher

Trailhead:

Hotel Belvedere near Furkapass 2271 m / 7451 ft

Route Conditions: