Full Nadelgrat: from Saas-Fee to Gasenried along the crest of 5 new 4000ers

What with scout camp, friends getting married and family holidays, it had been exactly 4 weeks since I had last been in the high mountains... It was starting to feel like a long time!

To mark the occasion, a tempting idea was to do a one-day traverse between the Saastal and the Mattertal, taking in some of the area's emblematic summits along the way.

The tally for this 6 August:

- a 100% ethical outing, with a low-carbon approach and a 22:30 departure from home - 20 hours on the go non-stop, and ~38 hours awake - a combination of 2 fine routes that had been catching my eye: the Lenzspitze – Nadelhorn traverse, and the full Nadelgrat - a long, entirely self-sufficient solo outing - a dozen abseils and ten or so crampons-on/crampons-off transitions on the clock - 3.5 L of liquid in the pack… and half a litre given to me along the way!

Above all, this outing was marked by a great sense of solitude: with such a middle-of-the-night start and an efficient approach to the hut, I was the first on the NE ridge of the Lenzspitze and the traverse to the Nadelhorn.

On reaching the summit, after almost 9 hours of climbing, I finally allow myself a longer break. I savour this beautiful moment: conditions have been impeccable and I've felt very good so far. A guide and his client Ludwig, who had set off from the hut and were following along the traverse, join me, and the moment is very convivial; all three of us are elated by what we have just lived. Ludwig, hailing my attempt and wanting to support it, even gives me 500 ml of drink — a priceless gift in such circumstances!

At this point, I think I've got past the main difficulties (I already have 2600 m of ascent in my legs and the most technical climbing behind me). But I underestimated 2 crucial things: the great fatigue that would overwhelm me as the hours went by, and the fact of doing the Nadelgrat in the unusual direction.

I now understand why this ridge linking these 4 summits above 4000 m is classically done from the Dirruhorn to the Nadelhorn: it gives you fine rock-climbing sections on the way up and snow ridges on the way down. Logical. My curiosity to do the route the other way round, contrary to well-established norms, was therefore rewarded with 8 hours of downclimbing rocky ridges (and a few really vertical sections where I didn't hesitate to abseil), interspersed with a few climbs in August afternoon snow. In short, far less convenient and pleasant than the other way round... It almost makes me want to come back one day to appreciate the true charm of this Nadelgrat!

And above all, the fatigue weighed ever more heavily… The contrast with the start of the outing was striking: while I had enjoyed the first 2 summits enormously, the next 3 were more laborious, and progress became complicated as my abilities waned. And yet this was no time to let my guard down! As the rare reports of descending the Nadelgrat can testify, the descent from the Dirruhorn to the Galenjoch is a real life experience, and gives whoever does it ample time to seriously question their choices, what they come looking for in the mountains, and why they have deliberately chosen to get into such a situation… But as a great adventurer would say: “never forget that you chose to be there”.

After long hours leading me to that famous Galenjoch, I reach civilisation very tired physically — and above all mentally — only to discover that the last bus has already left… Which leaves me a few more kilometres to savour this achievement, and to reflect on the right balance between pushing yourself and listening to your body.