West ridges galore! Alps 2025
WEST RIDGE OF SALBIT I could feel ourselves slow as we approached the next turn. We were halfway up the Furka pass, one of the tallest in Europe and yet again Tim's van's engine was overheating. Tim was pretty certain we'd be fine, but that inspired only a little confidence as we entered second gear, the engines revved as much as possible, and the van maxed out around 10 mph. At least that time we didn't have any traffic behind us. On the way to Chamonix we'd overtaken a lorry on an uphill just to power out a few seconds later. Despite our apologetic hazards the lorry driver wasn't best pleased! After two pleasant days in France we were in Switzerland and, if the van made it as far, we'd soon be climbing on Salbit. It's a relatively small but nonetheless impressive peak close to the skiing town of Andermatt. Having popped a pulley on my ring finger the day before, I had eliminated our chances of getting up any technically tricky routes so we aimed to cli...