The Alps, as we feel them

The Alps are always something that will attract me & my climbing friends, as Nikola in this case story. There, in the Alps, we are always looking for something exciting & challenging for us to climb and make an adventure out of it. It is a pure field for adventure making. For this year (2023), our plan was to climb Piz Bernina (4060m), Matterhorn (4478m) & potentially Ortler (3905m), located in Italy.

Sleeping at the highest summit of Macedonia (Big Korab) with Nikola last winter (2022), we discussed the natural way of climbing mountains and its schedule. We consider — like many times before — that it’s always proper to climb mountains very graduate, scale by scale, in terms of difficulty. For example, We knew that it’s good to climb the ridge of Studlgrat at the summit of Grossglockner (3798) in Austria and grab the experience needed to move on ridges with an alpine environment before going to Matterhorn, Piz Bernina or other more serious climbs out there. Oh, through the years, we both had the opportunity to taste this climb, especially Nikola, who did a winter climb on this route of Studlgrat Ridge up to the summit. “What a view,” I said to Nikola after we set our bivak and entered our sleeping bags at the summit of Big Korab. Although it was very dark and cold, Nikola confirmed what I said a couple of minutes ago, realising that, actually, this night was incredibly bright and fresh like never before. It was 31 December, 5 hours before the new year. There was no better time to make our plans regarding mountaineering towards the upcoming year.

The climbing season in the Alps starts in late May until early September. Mountaineers from the entire World are coming to this — if you zoom out — very small and tiny mountain space. And, the goal is more or less the same, to make a story and live moments. “Life is all about making stories”, Nikola said to me as we passed the border of Serbia & Croatia in an incredibly short time (unusual). Not only do I agree with that, but I also added that Piz Bernina and its Biancograt Ridge will be a story to remember. Yes, it's true, we have decided to climb Piz Bernina (4060m) via Biancograt as our first climb in the Alps for this (2023) year.

Piz Bernina is the most eastern 4000er in the Alps, and that means it was very natural for us to climb this mountain first, as we are coming from the Balkans. The summit is in probably the most beautiful country in Europe, Switzerland. The starting point of Piz Bernina is at Pontresina, a small Siwss village full of nature & tourists asking themself if these surroundings are real.

After a long 24-hour drive from Skopje, we finally arrived, not very fresh, but happy that we took the step of writing and experiencing our next story. “Nikola, one of my friends told me there is free parking somewhere here, 20 minutes away from Pontresina. It's part of a ski resort, and in summer, it’s free, and not Swiss free, but free.” We find the parking, but from there, you need to grab a train and go to Pontresina, leaving the car there at the parking. “Let’s eat something from the back of the car and go for the train.” I cannot remember who said that one. A 3-hour hike (For Us), starting from Pontresina with complete battlefield equipment, is needed to arrive at the first checkpoint of the climb for Biancograt Ridge, which is Tschierva mountain hut. “Miki, can you feel we are going flat and not climbing a meter up almost 1 hour so far?” Nikola asked me. “Yes, indeed, the route is 12 km to the hut, and 9 of them are flat.” Anyway, we proceed the hike up by discussing the ultimate remoteness of these huts and the silence around them, although some avalanches can hurt the silence a bit.” We arrived very tired in the hut, looking forward to the next day, which was the climb of Piz Bernina via Biancograt and going down to the Marco e Rossa hut in Italy. “I will drink a beer and Miki for you, what, water? Anyway, no matter what you will choose, will pay the same. How fun.” Yes, the price for the beer & the water was the same.

Early start, 04 AM. Right after we left the hut, we started to climb some rocks, consider scrambling. Finding the route was not so easy in the dark, although we had the GPS track. We were climbing and claiming easy rocks, until we spotted the glacier and, of course, the sunrise. After the glacier, we start climbing more steep rock face until the actual start of Biancograt Ridge, where we rope up together. “Interesting climb in front of us”, I thought to myself, but I didn’t share that with him. I thought that we had made a mistake here because we roped up too early, but it seems that we made the right decision. The climbing here was very good, and we moved fast, dancing with the rocks, without putting any gear to secure ourselves. “Stop there, Nikola, I need to shoot this with my camera.“ The ambient was that good. Finally, more snow and the need for crampons have arrived. Here, we found very steep climbing on black snow, very, very dangerous, because the crampons itself doesn't enter the snow as we wanted. This section was middle long, and this path led us to a rock tower that you need to climb in order to proceed and stay on the ridge. I was looking at pictures of this tower rock years ago, I remember. Piz Bernina was on my mind for a long time. Our subconscious is working that way. Right on time, from somewhere, the information that we need to pass below and traverse this rock tower has arrived in my mind. I can easily say that this traverse below the rock tower, for me & Nikola, was maybe the riskiest thing we have done so far in our lives. It was very hard and steep snow, with no possibility to put any gear on the traverse and secure each other. I was moving very slowly, and my partner followed me, both aware that falling here would be the end. This traverse took us almost 1 hour, but we also had very uncommon feelings and energy. Just as we arrived on the ridge again, we saw other climbers going down from the rock tower. One Polish mountain guide told us, “Guys, I know the risk that you just took, please, be careful and analyze better next time”. We proceed with our climb. “What fantastic views,” Nikola said, and I confirmed some minutes ago. The climb was very interesting for us after this experience with the traverse. We faced steep, hard and frozen snow. After some time, we climbed Piz Bianco, which is a peak before the main summit of Piz Bernina. Leaving Piz Bianco, we did several abseils and downclimb before taking the final climb towards Piz Bernina. After 7.5 hours of climbing, we are at the summit of Bernina with two great guys from Bergamo. Taking photos, sharing some thoughts, and analysing where we need to descend were part of the 30-minute pause at the summit. “Hey guys, what do you think about using the same rope for abseils on the way down?” asks one of the guys from Bergamo. That practice will save more time, and we agree on that, and we start our descent to the Marco e Rossa mountain hut together. A lot of loose rocks and exposed terrain were in front of us, but we somehow moved very well. Step by step, abseil by abseil, we came to a spot where Nikola said to me the following, and so far, when we are outside, climbing or running, we are laughing together. “Miki, when you are tired, you are very nervous”. Yes, I was nervous at that time after 15 hours in the mountain, waiting for the guys from Bergamo to downclimb and take my turn. Finally, we put off our crampons in front of the door of Marco e Rossa mountain hut.

The whole climbing of Piz Bernina doesn't end at the Marco e Rossa Mountain Hut in Italy, oh no! The next day is long again. The hut is at 3600 m, and our car is at 1000m. That means we have another glacier to descend and a lot of rocks downclimb. The navigation and finding the route down was hard to do as well. Nothing is marked out there, and you can easily lose your path, as we did. After downclimbing some rocky sections, we came to one spot that was very weird for us because we did not know where we needed to continue our descent. We missed the turning point, but not too bad. We realised very soon that we were not on the right route, and we got back on the route soon after. We climbed down a really big mess of giant rocks towards one river made of glacier water, which was very hard to cross. “It's risky for me to jump here, Miki. I will take off my shoes and go through it.”, said Nikola to me. We proceed with our descent and from this point, after the river, we can see the end. “Oh, I needed to record your jump above the river, Miki. It was cinematic.” We laugh together again, very tired and hungry. This descent took us almost 8 hours. We came to the car, and we were thinking of where we needed to go next.

The weather forecast for Matterhorn was not too good. New snow was on the mountain, and the wind was strong for the following days. As an alternative, we have the summit of Orlter and its Hintergrat Ridge on our minds. The forecast for this mountain was definitely better. We decided not to spend time waiting for the weather to calm down but to move the car towards Solda in Italy. Climibg Orlter (3905m) via Hintergrat Ridge requires good climbing skills and experience in the Alps. The route is AD (Advanced Difficult), but we have prepared for this climb too.

Solda, or Sulden with German pronunciation, is a mountain village in South Tyrol in northern Italy. Due to its remote location, in AD 1802, the Austrian newspaper “Innsbrucker Wochenblatt” compared it to “Siberia of Tyrol”, “where farmers dine with bears and kids ride on wolves”. It’s the birthplace of Reinhold Messner, the world's greatest Alpinist. Solda lies at the foot of the Ortler, in the Vinschgau valley east of the Stelvio Pass. After we arrived there, we brought heavy and dark clouds with us, making it perfect for the rain to begin. We set our camp at the very few spaces available for camping in Solda and started to plan our activity for the next few days. We took one day to rest and reorganise our equipment. I was always checking the weather forecast to see if the weather would allow us to climb this route. Nikola has climbed Orlter before, but from the normal route, and the good thing from this was the fact that at least for the descent, we would know where to go. Climbing Hintergrat Ridge for both of us was a new experience and a new story. “It's not very good, regarding the weather for the upcoming days. What do you think we should do?” I asked Nikola. It's in his nature to always find the good aspects of the situations. “Look, let’s go tomorrow to the Hintergrathutte mountain hut and check if we will find other climbers that will go to the summit the day after tomorrow.” In the meantime, at our camp, we met one very interesting mountaineer from Croatia. “Are you from Macedonia?” Matej asked me. “Oh, what a beautiful county. I have been there many times, you know. Maybe I will move to Skopje one day. I have climbed many mountains in Macedonia.” We started sharing stories about our experiences in the outdoors. We had a great day together. He was in Solda alone for 3 weeks so far. He climbed Orlter via the normal route, and he did other climbs in this area as well. He told us that we should go and climb Hintergrat Ridge, “You are young and strong, look at you, go for it”.

Now, we are acclimatized. That means we are used to the altitude, and our body now is stronger than some days before. The hike to the hut was like a joke for us, although we had heavy backpacks. Hintergrathutte mountain hut is at 3000m, and from there, you can see the whole ridge of Hitnergrat and the summit of Orlter. We arrived at the hut very fresh and full of energy. We looked at other climbers who were ready for tomorrow's climb. “Nice, all the things are set up for us,” I said to myself. Looking at some old pictures of old mountaineers and skiers in the hut, it was like a museum for us. And also, the price for the beer and the water was not the same.

Early start, 04 AM. Helmets on, harnesses on, and the headlamp on. Everything was on. The route goes very direct towards the ridge while passing by some very loose rocks. We were moving so quickly, we couldn't imagine. After 1 hour, we started our real climb. “No rope for now”, I said to Nikola, and we climbed like that for 1 hour more. On the way up, rocks were falling on us from above. “Who is above us? Do they know how to climb? Did we pass everyone? Are we not the first?” with anger, I asked Nikola. The situation is very dangerous from an objective perspective there. Rockfalls are non-stop. The sun started to rise, so red, even more than my jacket at that time. I asked Nikola to take a photo of me. “What a scenic moment”, I said to everyone, although we were the only ones. The climbing was always comfortable for us, and again, we were dancing on the rocks while we were looking at the ravine from time to time. I was leading the climb, and Nikola just easily followed. “Ah, you see that black rock up here? That will be the tricky part, I assume,” I said aloud. On the route, we found very few bolts and the possibility to put any gear and secure ourselves. We were roped up at this point, but the reality was we were moving solo, roped but solo, even worse. After we arrived at the black rock tower, we spotted the summit. This section was very exposed, but we managed to pass very easily and not think about it. Believe it or not, after 3 hours, we were on the summit of Ortler, looking at the popular Stelvio Pass and the other mountains around. “Let's take a photo, Miki, and make a space for the others. These Italians are very angry somehow.” We started our descent to Solda. We knew that we needed to pass by Payer Hutte mountain hut, and from there, we have a well-marked and trekking route to the bottom fo the mountain. But, until the Payer Hute mountain hut, there are huge crevasses from the glacier, loose rocks and exposed terrain to downclimb. We took off our rope and ate a banana. “Miki, Be careful here, it's very steep, and you are without an ice axe,” Nikola told me. I felt very comfortable at that point, so I just listened to him but didn't change my way of moving. We arrive at one very crucial turning point, where the right way is to turn left, but as our nature is, we turn right. It is very primitive, I know, but since I was a kid, I always repeated that to myself, if you don’t know where to go in nature, turn right. This practice was very good and safe for me, as I always reached the houses again, at my childhood spent in Mavrovo and its woods. This time, Nikola decided to turn right. I just trust him because of his experience on this route, as I mentioned above, he did this one early this (2023) year. A very, very steep downclimbing was in front of us, but we kept going. Now, I said to Nikola, “Be careful here man, it looks very risky to me here”. After 30 minutes of going down, we felt in the air that we were not on the route. Now, climbing up seems more risky because once you touch something, it falls down. Tired and angry of one another because of this decision, we started to go up until we reached the crucial turning point and turned left. There, we entered the glacier again, made an abseil and downclimbed one steep snow section. In the meantime, we spot other climbers doing the same above us. “It will not be us if we do not do something unusual”, I told Nikola. After 2 more abseils, several downclimb sections and 1.5 hours, we reach Payer Hutte mountain hut. When I was at the summit, I was dreaming of Coca-Cola. It just felt critical to me to have one. After the quick break for two Coca-Colas at the hut, we proceeded on our descent, very happy that we had done another good alpine climb.

“Bravo Makedonci!” he shouted from the tent. “I knew that you would climb this.” We shared our experiences with Matej from Croatia. That day was his last in Solda, and he was waiting for the Flixbus to bring him down to Bolzano, where he needed to catch another bus to Verona and from there to Zagreb. The rest of the day we spent in the museum of the First World War here in Solda, watching a documentary of how hard the battle was here in the mountains, and we found out that on the summit of Ortler, the army of Italy had installed a bunker, so they have advantage on the Austrians. “I can’t image the equipment for the army back then, making bunkers at the height of 3906m in winter.”, “I can’t imagine, too”, added Nikola.

We have one more night in Solda. “Two great adventures behind us,” I said to myself. I am very proud of ourselves that we managed to make these adventures alone and without any support.

Early start, 04 AM. We were driving to Macedonia.