Mehrseillänge Chaiserstock
A plaisir multi-pitch above the Riemenstalden valley — «Die Verschlossene», seven pitches at 5c on the west face of the Chaiserstock (2515 m), with a walk to the summit and a descent over the Rossstocklücke.
Seven pitches above the Riemenstalden valley
The Chaiserstock (2515 m) closes off the Riemenstalden valley to the south, and its west face is a quiet climbing area: far enough from any car park that it never fills up. From the cable car at Chäppeliberg the approach climbs for a good hour and a half over alpine pasture and scree; the start of the route lies just before the Chasertor.
«Die Verschlossene» takes seven pitches at grade 5c. The first is by far the hardest — get up the opening pitch and the route is in the bag, because the remaining 5c pitches feel noticeably tamer. After that it is pure plaisir: often steep but with big holds, short pitches on good rock, and climbing that is simply fun.
The route tops out on the ridge, and from there it is only a few minutes on foot to the summit — worth it quite apart from the climbing, with a panorama across the Schwyz and Uri ranges. There are two ways down: back into the Riemenstalden valley, or over the Rossstocklücke to Biel in the Schächental. The second is the more relaxed option, because the buses there run considerably later in the evening.
Tip: start very early. The cable car at Chäppeliberg fills up fast on sunny weekends, with waits of up to an hour — the 6.05 a.m. train from Zürich solves the problem neatly.
How it went for me
After 2.5 hours of climbing we were standing on the ridge, with a very pleasant party of two women ahead of us setting the pace. The walk over to the summit is the encore nobody should skip — the panorama is superb, and the path there is worth doing as a hike in its own right. We descended over the Rossstocklücke to Biel, eight hours all told. Two litres of water were definitely at the lower limit on a hot September day.