With August nearing its end, the mountaineering season was similarly drawing to a close. But there was still one big tour I had in mind: The Nadelgrat follows a rock and firn ridge over no less than four 4000-metre peaks, making it a long, but aesthetic line. A tour like this requires stable weather, of course, but for once this summer the forecast actually improved rather than worsened over the course of the week...

It was now the middle of August and a stable window of high pressure weather meant that in the mountains, temperatures were soaring. And although this would lead to a rapid deterioration of the snow and glacier conditions, it also allowed for an opportunity to attempt some truly high alpine bivys. Together with Maurice, I had in fact planned for our first summit bivy on a 4000-meter peak...

After a bumpy start, summer was now in full swing here in Switzerland and with every increasing windows of warm weather, the windows for north face climbing were simultaneously growing slimmer each day. But there was one more opportunity to be had. Not wanting to let this chance go to waste, Bas proposed an attempt to climb the north face of the Ober Gabelhorn …

It was June 26th, but a very precipitation-heavy winter here in Switzerland meant that ridges were still covered in snow and glaciers were perhaps better crossed on skis. But the large snowpack still present in the high mountains meant it was also the perfect window to tackle some north faces.…

The start of February saw the newest edition of the AACZ Ice Climbing Skill Transfer Workshop. Unfortunately, in the days leading up to the event, an alarmingly warm weather forecast for the Aosta Valley threatened to end the trip before it had even begun…