A lovely walk in across the glacier river from the campsite, through a gorgeous Alpine meadow, led us to the bottom of the climb. The walk took just 12 minutes from the campsite—I love this place!
We could see the route from the van and were eager to start. It was El’s turn to lead (5C). The first pitch was blocky, but it quickly got us onto the continuous line of rock. Once off the ground and looking out over the valley from this angle, we couldn’t believe how lucky we were to be spending a week here.
The route was 8 pitches:
- 5C, 2) 5C, 3) 4C, 4) 4C, 5) 5C, 6) 5B, 7) 5B, 8) 5C.
The middle pitches were all lovely, particularly near the slab. The standout pitch was pitch 7, which El led. It involved technical, balancy climbing up a crack, followed by a traverse left—perfect climbing for El! I was lucky enough to lead the final pitch, which turned out to be the best layback I’ve ever climbed. The flake continued for around 2 meters and was well protected with bolts. Once over it, the route continued up an easy slab to the top.
From there, we had lunch and decided it would be less hassle to walk back down rather than abseil.
It had turned into a lovely hot day, and we stopped for a dip in some glacial water on the way back through the campsite.
Sump To Summit 
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