Schlossberg
A big alpine day out of the Spannorthütte: a 4 a.m. start, sunrise at the Schlossberglücke, eleven committing pitches up the south wall, the summit, and a long snow-surf down to Engelberg.
Eleven pitches up the south face
For the night, the Spannorthütte is the obvious choice — one of the coziest huts in Switzerland, with a delicious dinner and the best of intentions to get to bed early. Because summit day starts very early: about an hour and a half to the Schlossberglücke, often rewarded up top with a glorious sunrise. From the Lücke you go around the first block of rock on its eastern side, then scramble up steep scree to get around the second big block on the western side.
The south face itself is eleven short pitches with belays that are easy to find and in very good condition. But the climbing feels properly alpine: bolts are rare, some of the shorter pitches have none at all, and falling really isn’t an option when you’re leading. There’s also a lot of loose rock about — take care, especially with other parties in the wall. The SAC route description covers every pitch in detail; the sixth is the crux, supposedly a 4c but honestly more like a 5c.
From the top of the wall there are only about 300 m of steep but very easy ground left to the summit. Coming down, there’s plenty of snow to surf, and the rappels go smoothly. Back at the Spannorthütte, there’s the long, outrageously pretty descent to Engelberg (about 2 h 30) through fields of flowers and fields of cows, past waterfalls and through lush forest — that walk on its own would make a lovely day out.
Tip: on summit day, leave at 4 a.m. and study the SAC topo closely. Helmet on: there’s a lot of loose rock moving around in the wall.
How it went for me
At the Schlossberglücke, reality caught up with me first — I was completely out of energy and needed a solid hour and a half of resting, eating and drinking before I could even think about the wall. Halfway up the crux pitch, Olli accidentally kicked a rock loose and it hit me on the shoulder: brief immobility, a bit of blood, a few tears. After a while I decided I’d be fine, and we topped out the wall. On the very last rappel it started to rain, and we got thoroughly soaked surfing back down every snowfield to the hut. One Spätzlipfanne and two beers later, we headed happily down to the valley. The North–South ridge I’m saving for later — for the day I feel more at home in high, exposed terrain.