Sump To Summit

After chatting with a Swiss guy the night before, Hannah, Chris, and Barney decided on a Chriscursion to summit a 3,041m peak east of the hut. Elinor and I opted for a more classic ski touring route, agreeing to meet up with the others later.

El and I skied down the Funtauna Valley, swapping to skins at the Alp Funtauna hut. From there, we skinned north up the valley to Scalettapass, then turned east to climb towards the impressive Scalettahora peak (3,067m). As we ascended, we followed touring tracks leading north onto the western ridge. The wind had picked up compared to the previous bluebird days, making for a bit of a battle near the top. We skinned as far as we could, then boot-packed the final 20m to the summit. The views were unreal!

From the top, we spotted Hannah, Chris, and Barney and had a quick chat on the radio before skiing down onto the Vadret Vallorgia glacier. We re-donned our skins and toured across to the Piz Grialetsch col. From there, we could see our friends standing on the Scalettahora summit. The climb to Piz Grialetsch looked loose, so El and I made the call to skip it and ski straight down the Vadret da Grialetsch glacier to the hut.

The Grialetsch hut was stunning—super cosy, and the staff were incredibly welcoming. Once reunited, we caught up with Chris, Hannah, and Barney over dinner, sharing stories from another cracking day in the mountains.