[MCR] Tower of Babel and Temple East Ridge

I climbed the Tower of Babel two days ago, from where one enjoys a great view of the Temple East Ridge (see attached). While the technical crux pitches appeared snow free there is lots of snow in the Black Towers and on the ledges used to traverse below them. These ledges are exposed to loose snow avalanches, which could be heard rumbling down the south face from around 11 AM on. The route climbing to the top of the black towers appears to be threatened by HUGE cornices which can even be seen on the image. With the nice weather that is hopefully coming our way, I would imagine this to be a very uncomfortable place to be until these cornices have dropped, which could take quite a while!

 

On the positive side and new to me, some good soul equipped the Tower of Babel Route with the Fuhrmann start with well placed bolts at the belays.

 

Cheers,

Jorg Wilz

Mountain Guide (IFMGA / ACMG / VDBS)

 

OnTop ltd.

www.ontopmountaineering.com

 

Temple-East-Jul-24-11.jpg
Description: JPEG image

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