Putins Paranoia Trip on Ärmighorn & Peace for Ukraine on Nüschleten climbed in Bernese Oberland, Switzerland

This winter the constant low temperatures made me look for mountaineering objectives at low lying altitudes, and as a result in February and March I managed to climb two large north faces that were probably still unclimbed.

Nüschleten North Face - Peace for Ukraine
Five kilometers behind my house lies the north face of the Nüschleten. For years I hadn't paid any attention to this peak and it was only during an after-work ski mountaineering session that I noticed the logical line up this wall: a steep gully with vertical sections and a deep couloir cut through the middle of the wall. The regular avalanches ensure a solid snow pack, but also corresponding dangers.

On 26 February the avalanche danger was very low and I had a training camp with the Bernese Oberland mountaineering junior team. I climbed this face with Michel and Tizian; while they did all the leading, I concentrated on coaching. The climbing was great fun for all of us as good snow, frozen grass and a few mixed pitches allowed us to make good progress. The view from the gloomy wall onto blue Lake Thun and the green fields create a special ambience. The last 300 meters were much easier and so we packed the rope in our ruscksacks. The descent down the other side was easy but long and when we got back in the evening we were all pretty tired.

Ärmighorn North Face - Putin's Paranoia Trip
This wall towers impressively over the Kiental valley and for years I have always been amazed that probably no one has ever climbed it (there is one documented attempt dating back to 1942...). Janluca Kostner from Val gardena, Italy, and I actually wanted to climb a bigger mountain, but the cold temperatures didn't motivate us to go particularly high and so the time had come to try this wall.

We started late on 5 March, at 11:00 am from the parking lot and consequently we took bivy gear with us. The bottom section of the face had pretty consolidated snow and so we made good progress. A few short mixed sections cost some time, but at 5:00 p.m. we reached our planned bivouac site. Because it was cold and still light we climbed another pitch and fixed the rope. Although the bivy site was very comfortable, the night was very harsh, with temps down to -20°C.

Luckily the sun reached the bivouac in the morning and it was 11:00 am again before we finally started climbing. The upper part was very challenging: the obvious couloir we followed was not a chimney as expected but a slab gully. Route finding proved challenging and at one point I had to abseil back down because I ended up in a dead end. Janluca then got past this point by climbing a rightwards loop - an interesting slab traverse with crampons.

100 meters below the summit there are a few very gullies that lead directly to the top but we decided for the faster route, proceeding across snow ledges to the right and then continuing via the ridge to the summit

We abseiled down the face since we’d stashed our bivy gear. A descent via the west flank also seems to be possible. Our abseil stations were minimalistic and we also down-climbed some sections. Those wishing to repeat the route should bring their own gear for the rappells. Another great adventure in my backyard!

The route names are tied to the incredible events currently unfolding in Eastern Europe, which also played in the back of my mind as I climbed these routes.

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- Peace for Ukraine, Nüschleten North Face
- Putins Paranoia Trip, Armighorn North Face 

N.B. The north face of Ärmighorn lies in a protected area (hunting ban). Camping and snow sports (skis and snowshoes) are prohibited.

Link: www.slack-line.ch, IG Silvan Schüpbach