Dom

For more than a year I have been dreaming about this project; the ascent of the highest mountain entirely within Swiss borders, the Dom. During the summer we have done multiple expeditions to the Mischabel, a mountain chain located between Zermatt and Saas-Fee, which culminates at 4546m (14915ft) with the Dom: We have climbed the Nadelhorn (4327m/14196ft) just one week before, and earlier this season, we have attempted the Alphubel (4206m/13799ft), but got into a whiteout meters below the summit and were forced to turn around.

The day before

After an exhausting week of military service, I was happy the weekend finally arrived. After a brunch with my family, I took the train to Randa. There started the hike to the Domhütte where we would spend the night. Despite the heavy backpack, strong heat, and rather technical terrain, which strongly resembled a Via Ferrata in many parts, I managed to climb the 1600m (5249ft) in just under 2 hours and 30 minutes.

Hike up to the Dom hut

At the hut, I met up with my long-time expedition partner Camilo and his two german friends Leon and Tobi. We would form a rope-team for this climb. We enjoyed the evening at the hut a lot. The dinner, a four-course meal, was absolutely outstanding. It always baffles me how in these improvised kitchens at altitude, where all the ingredients have to be flown up by helicopter, people can cook this well. We admired the evening vibes in front of the hut, and subsequently went to bed nice and early.

The Weisshorn in a beautiful evening vibe

The ascent

We woke up at 2:45am, quickly had breakfast, packed our gear, and then headed out. The first hour of the climb was spent in very rocky terrain. We made slow progress, because one could not really trust that all big rocks were rigid. At night, it was quite hard to navigate. Thankfully, we ran up to another rope-team, so we could follow them. We were happy to set foot on the Festigletscher. The conditions were outstanding. We mounted our crampons, but did not attach the rope yet, since there were only few crevasses which were well visible. Around 5:30am, we arrived at the foot of the Festijoch, a 60m (196ft) high rock-face, which had to be surmonuted in order to reach Hobärggletscher, which leads directly to the Dom. We knew exactly that this section is the hardest and most dangerous of the whole climb. Since I did not fully trust my boots on the slippery rock, I kept my crampons on for this section. The entrance to the wall is on a rather polished slab. This was quite a wake-up call. Almost immediately, my hands were freezing cold. My fingers felt as if they were twice as thick as usual. I could barely find any good footholds. One move even required an undercling, which I was not expecting to encounter on a climb so high up in the mountains.

Climbing section below the Festijoch

After the initial difficulty, the wall roughened out, and there were even some bolts where we could attach the rope to. Almost at the top of the Festijoch, we took a wrong turn and went up a chimney where I accidentally pulled out a 30kg (66lbs) rock and released it on my climbing partners. It just narrowly missed Camilo’s head, which goes to show how dangerous this brittle wall can be. Once we topped out on the Festijoch, we had to rappel down to the glacier. We could have followed the Festigrat from there, but since less than a week before us an alpinist fell off this ridge and died, we took the easier route which went up the Hobärggletscher. What followed was a long walk up the glacier.

Long travel on the glacier

At around 9:30pm we finally reached the foot of the north-face of the Dom. It is entirely glaciated and rather steep, approximately 45-50° at its steepest. Our route traversed this face to reach its shoulder.

The north-face of the Dom as seen from the Nadelhorn the week before

Besides the thin air, there were no particular difficulties to be faced. The snow was firm, and made for an easy climb. The last 50m (164ft) to the summit were the steepest.

Steep last part of the north face

At almost exactly 11am, we reached the summit. I was feeling great. It was entirely wind-still. The view from there was just breathtaking.

Group photo on the summit

The Monte Rosa massive in front and the Matterhorn below us made for some stunning pictures.

The summit-cross of the Dom

The descent

After a short break, we started the down-climb. The steep section just after the summit was quite difficult to walk down.

Steep section just below the summit

It followed a long but relaxing walk down the Hobärggletscher.

Walk down the glacier

What awaited us now was the section where we rappelled down in the morning. We had to get up a 20m (32ft) ice-wall. Falling was not an option, since right below this wall, a tens of meters deep crevasse had its mouth open and ready to swallow any falling climber. I was quite happy when Leon volunteered to lead this section. We gave him all our ice-screws, and he climbed the wall without any problems.

Icy climbing section at the Festijoch

Once we were on the top, we only had to get down the Festijoch. In daylight, this 60m (196ft) tall wall looked much scarier than at night. I was puzzled how we managed to get up in the morning. At the anchor, there was a Swiss couple occupied with helping another rope-team get down. Turns out, the other rope-team did not bring any material for rappelling. Not a great idea. We helped lower the Swiss couple, such that they could get down quicker, and then proceeded setting up our rappel. This is when an Italian guy started crying out for help. He was stuck 10m (32ft) below us in the wall, and had no rope with him. We agreed to let him rappel off our rope to join his climbing partner, who already was way further down the wall. Not the best comradery from his side.

Rappel down from the Festijoch

Besides me almost rappelling into a massive crevasse, covered by a snow-bridge, we got down in good spirits, and walked back down the glacier and to the hut. We arrived at the hut exactly at 3pm. Since I had to be back home soon to head back to the army, I bought myself a coke, said goodbye to my expedition partners, and started running down to Randa, which I reached at 4:45pm to jump on the train back home.