Ex TIGER SWISS ROCK was an alpine rock-climbing exercise for members of the Army Mountaineering Association. The unique challenge of the exercise was to push the boundaries of alpine rock climbing to provide development opportunities to an experienced cohort of Adventurous Training instructors. Ex TIGER SWISS ROCK was a ‘road trip’ exercise, constantly moving, with the intention for the group to gain a wealth of climbing experience across many notable areas of the Swiss Alps.
The exercise started in the Sustenpass area of Switzerland, along the Northern fringe of the Alps. With no time to lose due to unfavourable weather forecasts, the first day was ‘in at the deep end’ with a multi-pitch mountain rock climbing route on the Obertalstock; approaching over snowfields, climbing eight pitches of challenging rock carrying rucksacks, a testing scramble along the summit ridge at just over 3000m and multiple abseils in descent. The tone was set for the remainder of the exercise!
After a night in a valley hostel, the next phase moved into the valley south of the Sustenpass for three nights. The Goschener valley hosts some of the most renowned rock climbing in Switzerland with inspiring lines on perfect granite with a scale to intimidate many mountaineers. Even with a few stops to pick-up essential supplies, we managed to walk in and get straight onto the ‘easiest’ of the three ridge-lines from the Bergsee hut, the South Ridge of the Hochschijen. The route was a perfect short introduction to moving over alpine terrain and the swirling mist and threat of rain added to the atmosphere. The second day from the Bergsee hut offered the flavour of a true alpine route, with sustained and difficult climbing, scrambling and abseiling over a ridge incorporating ten pinnacles, before reaching the summit and then another demanding descent through a loose couloir involving eight abseils. The guidebook time for the climbing section alone was eight hours; this was an intense and long day, demanding constant engagement to ensure safe and efficient movement over changing terrain. Even with heavy overnight rain, the last climbing day at the Bergsee hut saw a damp start which made the initial slabby pitches of the South Ridge of the Bergseeschijen incredibly slippy. With a determined but careful approach, we topped out on the Bergseeschijen, having completed all three of the ridges.
After a demanding and successful first week, it was nice to leave the Goschener valley and head down via the Italian Lakes to Chiavenna, a night in a valley hotel and a chance to refocus for the itinerary in the Bregaglia area, on the border between Switzerland and Italy. With similar fortitude to the first week, the hut walk-in gave way to another classic route on the same day with the South Ridge of the Piz Balzet. This wetted the appetite for a longer day on the Meuli route on the Punta da l’Albigna on the middle day. By this stage of the exercise, we were well accustomed to this type of terrain and had all developed to be comfortable with 100s of metres of climbing and technical descents, all completed well within suggested guidebook times. In the blink of an eye, the next day we had completed a final route on the Spazzacaldeira and after a violent overnight storm, we said our goodbyes to two of the group who headed back to the UK.
The final part of the exercise was set to attempt the North Ridge of the Piz Badile, but with heavy rain and lightning forecast, we salvaged the trip with a traverse of the Poncione di Cassina Baggio, just south of Andermatt from the Piansecco hut. Despite abandoning halfway along in a heavy rain shower, it was great to visit yet another area. We finished off the last day with another route that had been on the radar for a while on the Joderhorn, which we accessed from a small Italian ski resort south of Saas Fee.
This exercise had been an interesting planning activity for me, delivering a niche activity for the Army Mountaineering Association and exploring some of the remits and logistics around exercises of this nature. I was astounded by the amount of experience gained, both in terms of areas visited and routes climbed. I was pleased that we took time to reflect and be critical of our performance and decisions, which developed us as instructors. I hope that this exercise will enable further similar exercises in the future, given that opportunities within the instructor development space are limited.
