South Ridge

Overview

South Ridge is the pillar coming down from the eastern summit (P.4143). The Route originates from the "Schwarzberg Weisstor" pass between Findelen glacier and Schwarzberg glacier.

Getting There

Access to "Schwarzberg Weisstor" is possible either from the Zermatt side ("Berghaus Flue", 2618m), from the Macugnaga Side (Rif. E. Sella, 3029m) or from the Saastal via Mattmark lake to Biv. Città di Luino (3582m). The latter IMHO is the only base allowing a bearable trip length for the summit day so I focus on the bivacco: From the roadhead at lake Mattmark (2198m, park fee) follow the gravel road to Schwarzbergalp; then, a path climbs up the northern side moraine of Schwarzberg glacier, till the moraine disappears in the flat snowfield at about 2950m. Here enter the glacier and ascent it in south-western direction. The glacier is lightly crevassed and rarely there is a trace... so the choice of best route aims at avoiding the bergshrunds below the Roffelhörner and gain the ridge, on which the tiny little bivacco is situated. Alpine grade F, 4-5 hours from Mattmark
It is also possible to reach Biv. Città di Luino from the Monte Moro pass (cable car from Macugnaga, 2,5h walk from Mattmark) via the lengthy, but rewarding "Sentiero del Camosci". This route in spring is regularily done with skis.

Route Description

From Biv. Città di Luino first the Schwarzberghorn is traversed (rock, UIAA I-II) to the Schwarzberg Weisstor pass. Depending on snow conditions, the rocks can be circumvented below on snow; otherwise with snowy or icy conditions the slabs on top of the little traverse may pose the first obstacle.
Next is a short snow plod in northern direction towards the first, smoothly sloped rock barrier. Climb it frontally or at the (in sense of ascension) right hand edge, UIAA I-II maximum. This is followed by the glacier / snowfield stretching directly unter Adlerhorn and Strahlhorn at about 3800 meters. The upper rightmost corner of the snowfield is P.3883; here the climbing route starts. It follows more or less the edge and consists of brittle rock most of the time. Altitude difference to the route exit is 270 meters and we splittet that up in eleven pitches. Regarding difficulty of the climb it for sure is possible to short rope most of the route, but due to poor rock quality not recommended. We found one single piton an one sling in the whole route, so bring your own belay (esp. slings). At the very last pitch below P.4143 the rocky edge steepens and we evaded that part to the right.
From the eastern foresummit the main summit is reached on snow and a short scramble within half an hour.
The glacier descent back is quite long, calculate 4-5h to Mattmark or 3h to the Britannia hut . Beware of the crevasses!

Essential Gear

The bivacco has gas, a stove, pottery, blankets and so on. As it seems to be visited quite rarely, all was in a very proper condition. So food is the only thing to bring for overnight.
Technically glacier equipment is needed plus a small rack for belay (slings, few cams and nuts).

External Links

Very detailed report at  hikr.org (in german): http://www.hikr.org/tour/post39855.html
Some more fotos at https://www.outdoorseiten.net/forum/showthread.php/88230-CH-I-Furka-Monte-Rosa-Strahlhorn

Forget about the SAC guidebook: The description of the whole South Ridge therein is that short and meaningless, that I just give the fullquote here:
"Zwischen der Terasse und dem Band bildet die Wand eine vorspringende Ecke, die man in hübscher Kletterei direkt erklimmt" ("Between the terrasse and the ledge the wall builds a prominent edge, which one directly ascends in nice climbing.")

Images

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