Stephan Siegrist

Accompanied by thunderstorms, we first climbed over the Aletschglacier, then towards the Wannenhorn Glacier, before setting up a bivouac for the next night at around 3300m. On August 8th in the morning we reached a couloir between Wannenzwillinge and the "Kleines Wannenhorn." We climbed down this to the glacier basin. From there we traversed to the start of the south-southwest face of the "Kleines Wannenhorn." The crampons and ice axe crunched again on the frozen snow tongue that led us to the planned start. A classic tour, following a large dihedral from right to left, already existed. A direct route through this 340 meter high part of the wall was still missing.

We were curious to see if a direct line through the wall was possible. Above all, we wondered whether the quality of the rock would be what we had hoped for. The temperatures were much colder than expected. Kaspar started the first length with icy fingers and toes.

The clammy fingers were soon overshadowed by the euphoria of the great rock quality. "It's brilliant," we heard after the first few meters. For standing: "Small, washed-out hollows." For the hands as desired: "Clean cracks and ledges." Pitch after pitch amazed us with the quality of the rock in the high mountains. Long pitches, moderate difficulties and a quickly well-coordinated team of four allowed us to make good progress. Finally, in the last third of the wall, the sun appeared through a few holes in the clouds. Jonas, the crack specialist, led us over the last steep length to the pre-summit at around 3650m. We were able to discover this little gem without deviating from the planned line.

From the pre-summit we reached the main summit of the small Wannenhorn at 3707m after a few minutes following the easy south ridge.

Now descending into the Wannenhornsattel back to the bivouac and from there back to the Fiescheralp on the same day.