Uri climbing July 2015: Part 3/3

Sustenpass Steingletcher: Sektor Pfriendler

On Sunday we joined our friends to Sustenpass, aiming for Pfriendler in the Steingletscher area. The glacier implied by the name emerges on the other side of the valley, composing a great alpine view. The approach to Pfriendler, though, is just a regular 45' hike following a path and then cairns through Alpenrosen bushes, lush grass and block terrain. One may be temporarily discouraged at leaving the car (Sustenstrasse ca 2020 m, above Hotel Steingletscher) because of the constant roar of accelerating motors. Motorcyclists seem to love this place at least as much as climbers. But this nuisance is hardly noticed once arrived at the rock. Suddenly one is more concerned with all the rope teams already underway…

Via Fritz

Pfriendler has a beautiful south facing wall with a bunch of well equipped routes. And even better: they are steep, no slabs to be found! :-) We had chosen Via Fritz, 230m 5b+ over 7 pitches (+ 1 short and easy to the top). Markus started with the lead, perhaps ready to restore the lead balance after the last few days. He indeed would.

Our guide book (Filidor Plaisir Ost, 2008) turned out a bit incomplete here, too. It failed to indicate that there are actually three possible entries of Via Fritz. Instead of starting with the normal first pitch (5b) or the easier leftmost one (4a) we happened to enter on the alternative start "Uswäg" with 6a- (6+). If you've read anything we've written about our alpine climbs before, you'll know that we are plaisir climbers and that 6+ is just about our alpine limit. While Markus was up on the crux, the rest of us, standing below and discussing the apparent difficulties, realized this and were kind enough to let him know. Right there at the crux. He wasn't too happy about the timing... Nevertheless he managed (well done!) and I went next. I know I shouldn't complain when coming second, but with our shared stuff on the back it was already quite intense…

The second pitch is a 5b. Again our topo was useless, showing a single route straight up. Our friend's topo indicated a second way to the left, where one could the difficulties for a comfy 4b. I wanted to do this since I felt rather weak just now, perhaps by the efforts of the previous pitch. But heading up slightly left in line with the left-first bolt, I couldn't find this easy terrain where I thought it would be… There is a piaz crack with some distance to the next pro, definitely doable, but not for me in this very moment. I was let down and Markus went to have a go, the lead switch delaying us so that our friends behind caught up. You see, half of the group from Karlsruhe followed us on Via Fritz while the other half enjoyed Trömli further right. Fortunately they could go for the rightmost alternative without having to wait.

As Markus went up he immediately spotted a 3rd alternative further to the left. This was the one I should have gone (I later found a better topo on the web indicating this). Don't ask me how I could miss to see that bolt - it isn't far away. Oh well. Markus got to balance out the leads as he wished.

After finishing the 2nd pitch, one trots to the left along a green band for some meters to the start of the 3rd pitch (5a). Our friends were behind us again (their 2nd pitch seemed a bit harder) and got a welcome little break on the band to enjoy the view. Meanwhile I finished up this next lead. The climbing is really great, I can't even remember any particular difficulties. Plaisir!

And that pleasant feeling continues throughout the next three pitches (5a, 4b, 4c). All easy, well protectable and including two nice chimneys. What a joy! Also very welcome for sore feet, the stands are good enough to doff the shoes and stand or even sit comfortably.

Pitch 7 is the crux with 5b+ (rather extended difficulties, but well protected, and Markus had already accidentally done worse today anyway). He went for it without trouble, just enjoying the quality climbing. Thus soon enough we were up top, with only the last short but nice climb to the "summit" (3a).

Descent

One can abseil from the top or "walk" down along a "path". We chose the latter. To reach the path one follows the ridge slightly downwards in easy climbing (2c in the topo, felt easy though partly exposed if going unbelayed. No problem to put a sling here and there for belay.) According to the topo the climbing stops where the path is first reached, but every now and then there comes another place with scrambling. We stayed tied in the entire way and actually used proper belay a couple of times, having use of a few cams. It doesn't take much longer but gives another dimension of safety.

All in all, this climb was really a superb one, varied, fun and always easy to protect. Markus actually said it might have been the best sport alpine route he's climbed (probably not beating e.g. the Bionassay climb, but that falls into another category altogether). A great finish for an otherwise odd and not very successful climbing weekend. And finally some climbing in Uri that we can truly recommend! ;-)

Part 1
Part 2