Patent Ochsner, Pfaffenhut, Wendenstöcke, ED- 7a>6c

While sightseeing in Milan, I saw that the weather looked great in Wendenstöcke and acceptable in Tre Cime. J. has already done Comici so was not so interested in the North face of Cima Grande di Lavaredo but I was, however, unreasonably psyched on doing the Hasse-Brandler direttissima, and forced a 7 hour trip by car to the parking at the Auronzo refuge. By 11 pm we had sorted gear and thrown out the sleeping bags on the ground. Naïvely, I set the alarm for 5 am, so that by 6 am, when we were at the base of the route, there were already a German team on the route with a Catalan team waiting on the ground.

I had a very bad feeling about the first team as both leader and follower had rucksacks. (Preparing for benightment = making absolutely sure benightment happens). The first team took nearly three hours to climb the first two pitches of a seventeen pitch route, which also happens to be more-or-less the two easiest pitches on the entire three hundred meter wide North face. By 9 o'clock we decided to leave the teams in front of us to their sure fate (benightment or bailing) and bailed ourselves without having done a single move.

After another seven hours in the car we were at the parking below the fabled Wendenalp in Switzerland. Because of a reasonable forecast so were quite a few teams. From the selection in Parois de Légende Caminando, Sternschnuppe and Patent Ochsner looked like perfectly sensible options. Caminando being on the long side after two nights of rough sleeping and Sternschnuppe a bit on the runout side we opted for Patent Ochsner on the Pfaffenhut.

Patent Ochsner goes up smack in the middle of Pfaffenhut

Patent Ochsner is an absolutely amazing route. Top ten, surely. Stellar rock with perfect holds: like stacking eight of Céüse's better routes on top of each other, but with unpolished rock and in an even more beautiful setting above a small cattle far in a peaceful alpine valley.

Pitch notes

P1 6b.   The route is easily identified by a sling at waist hight at the start and the trashcan lid on the second bolt with “Patent Ochsner” stamped on it. Scary pitch, maybe mostly because we're unskilled at climbing water runnels. 

The lid on the second bolt. Pictured borrowed from here

Julia past the water runnels on pitch 1, up to normal climbing.

P2 6c+  I remember nothing of this pitch, so I assume it was not demanding.

Near the second belay.

P3 5b    After the first sling Julia went up right in the dihedral (very easy) then to the belay without any intermediate points. There is a bolt straight above the first sling forcing a slightly harder pitch on better rock. Whatever. Very comfortable belay. 

P4 7a.   From the belay, slightly to the right and up to the first bolt (far, pretty easy - around 6a) then with increasing difficulties to a crux at the roof. Then easier climbing to the comfortable belay. 

P5 6c.   Magic! Slightly overhanging start, then vertical climbing on the best limestone imaginable. Belay in a small cave to the right. 

Patent Ochsner, pitch 5. The best 6c pitch I have ever climbed? Maybe.

Near the fifth belay

P6 7a.   Start with a somewhat demanding and exciting traverse back out to the left, then three bolts of technical climbing on very small crimps indeed. Be you still, trembling heart, and all will be fine. Then slightly easier to the top of the pitch. Took more effort than usual for the grade.

Pitch 6.

P7 6c+   Keep something in reserve for this pitch: it is somewhat tricky to find the easiest way up the steep part. I ended up doing some big slaps, and my second did not find a better way either. A sandbag, surely? 

P8 6a+ Another steep pitch, overhangs a few meters on mostly good crimps. The route book should be on the belay but the box was empty.

There was a fast German team on our heals all day, i.e. we held them up pretty badly. But they were super chill, so it was cool

P9-P12 A traversing 3a pitch followed by three more pitches at around 6a up Sternschnuppe

Descent: We were told that the rest (P9-P12) is a bit nondescript, pretty wet and that the cable down to the second rap of the standard descent was missing (making it necessary to rap down Stars away) so we rapped the route from here. Not ideal. With 2x60m it should be possible to rap directly down to R6. I didn't have the cojones to try as I wasn't absolutely sure that the belay was were I thought it was (it was). Rapping from R7 to R6 involves quite a bit of traversing. Rapping from R6 to R5 or R4 requires clipping the top two bolts (steeply traversing, some freeclimbing required to reach the bolts, big pendeldums for the second on the rappel). With 2x60m you reach the R4 from R6 (the Germans did this). From R5 you easily reach R3, and from R3 you reach the ground with a metre to spare. (All this assumes 2x60 m rope)

With 2x60 m rope, rapping down Transoceane seems like a nice option.

Practical stuff

Guide book/web sites

The guide book Schweiz Extreme Ost covers Wenden and other areas in Central/Eastern Switzerland. The Extreme West covers Rätikon and other areas in western Switzerland. There are also Plaisir Ost/West for easier areas.

If you can read German, Marcel Dettling's blog has a lot of very useful info. Start here

Camp to camp has some coverage (in French), but less than in more classical French destinations.

Gear etc.

We had eleven draws and one green camalot (#0.75) and wires 4-8 as recommended in the guidebook. Only ever used the draws, the gear might be needed for pitch 9-12, but if you manage to place any of those on the first eight pitches: well done you.

Hauling was easy.

The route is well protected by bolts. On the easiest parts of the routes the distances between the bolts are significant. The rock is bomber, and has high friction, so falls on easy terrain are very unlikely for solid climbers. The principal leader should be able to lead 6c obligatory without problems, and it is a good idea to have some solid margin on 7a as well. For pitches 1, 3, 5 and 8 being able to climb 6b obligatory suffices.

The treads were generally in excellent condition as of August 2020. The bolts as well.

A thread in worse condition. Found on the ground on the approach... Psyche!

Approach

Approach from the parking

The guide book gave 1 h 40 min. We are less than average hikers, but fairly decent on steep grass and required 1 h 41 min. From a pure fitness perspective, the approach should take about 80% longer than the normal approach to Céüse. 

From the parking take an ill-defined path on the east (or left, facing towards he crag) of the creek. The path quickly becomes well trodden as you approach the first small grassy knoll, where it leads right towards the second knoll (big cairn on top of the knoll) were it splits. Take the left fork and continue up on switchbacks, then left just below the cliff band and up in the notch. Keep high below the second cliff band. When we were there there was a running stream were we filled up water along the cliff band. Cross the steep scree (a bit exposed) and find cairns leading up the steep grassy slope on switch backs. Very little scrambling, I used the hands a handful of times at most.

Getting there

Gadmen > Obermaad > Small concrete access road, first road on the mountain (left) side after the campsite to Wendenalp (cattle farm). Park on the large parking before the cattle farm.

Coordinates for the parking: North 46°44'58", East: 008°23'10" (46.749539, 8.386166)

For ten Swiss francs you can access the road and are allowed to park for 24 hours. For twenty you can stay a week. The parking meter where the road starts only accepts 5-CHF coins. The cattle farmer regularly checks the parking tickets!

Staying there

The camping in Obermaad, ten minutes from the parking is very affordable for being in Switzerland. https://www.camping-gadmen.ch/camping/

It is illegal to camp at the parking. Many do, either in vans or by putting up a small tent for the night only. Needless to say, squatting would be pretty catastrophic. If you break the law, do be discrete about it.

More useful information

A descent in rain should be well epic. Count on rock fall, water falls and walking down unstable grassy steep slopes. Do not put yourself in a position where you would have to do this. I don't particularly think you can count on helicopter rescue either as it is often foggy.

Wine bottles that are sealed at sea level and left in a car in hot weather at high altitude can achieve such a high pressure differential that the cork spontaneously pops, spraying wine all over.