Thomas Senf and Martin Reber opened with joy Schreck (6a +, 485m) on the Schreckhorn a new multi-pitcher tour in alpine ambience.
The Freudenschreck route runs through the striking pillar on the shoulder of the southwest ridge of the Schreckhorn in the Bernese Oberland. From here the summit is reached via the most beautiful part of the normal route. The route stretches over a total of 11 pitches and awaits repeaters with a maximum difficulty of 6a +. The stands are drilled, but intermediate securing devices must be installed by yourself. “The rock is well suited for this, but you still need a flair and experience with clamping wedges,” say the two students.
Interview with Thomas mustard
In midsummer, the free time as a mountain guide is tight and so we were happy to have two days together on July 18th and 19th. Early in the morning of the first day we started from Grindelwald with all the equipment towards the Schreckhorn. After a second breakfast at the Schreckhornhütte, we continued through the Schreckcouloir to the foot of the wall. In the couloir itself we have installed a new abseil hook so that this ascent and descent is a little easier to walk in when the conditions are good. We already had different variants in mind based on photos.
With every step we approached the wall, the rough route became more and more obvious. There was already a violent thunderstorm over the Eiger, but the motivation was big enough to suppress the obvious. So we climbed the first pitch to put our hands on the rock at least once. The ceremonial drilling of the first stand was then personally illuminated by the weather god himself. After a short night in the hut, we were able to finish the route the next day and complete the stands when rappelling in the new thunderstorm.
- A set of camelots is enough to climb the route. The approach is already far and only very few are probably ready to carry even more material.
- Man can abseil over the route again. A clear safety gain in such a high and remote wall.
- The orientation remains challenging, but you know at least at the stalls that you are in the right place.
- The difficulties are not extreme and with drilled stands the route is within reach of many people.
The topo of the route Freudenschreck am Schreckhorn
The complete material about the route can be found here as Download.
Credits: Bild und Topomaterial Thomas Senf and Martin Reber
