Pullox

July 2020

The Pullox is a poplular climb that can be done both from Aosta Italy and Zermatt Switzerland. The climb is quite easy except for one crux of steep rock to get on the broad arete. When done from Zermatt it’s one of the shortest climb out there, as you can cheat all but the last 400 meters by cable car.

My girlfriend and I climbed from the Italian side, making it more of a whole climb. We started from Saint Jacques and stayed overnight at the Mezzalama hut and the beautiful Rosi Y Volante Bivouac. From the bivouac we reached the top in about 3 hours with another 3 hours to return. We stayed in the bivouac for another night to traverse Castor the next day. 

The way from Saint Jacques to the Mezzalama hut was a bit longer than we had expected. As it was Eline’s first climbing trip, we decided not to climb the Pullox today but rather spent one night in the bivouac and climb Pullox the day after. We wanted to enjoy our first trip together instead of rushing everything (which is more kind of my usual style)

We got on our way very early in the morning. This gave us a beautiful sunrise right at the moment the rock was transitioning into glacier. We really enjoyed our trek up. We were at the foot of the Pullox in what felt as no time. The weather was very nice and I really had to constrain myself from climbing Pullox right away. The forecast however would be good for at least 3 more days, so there was not much point in pressing on.

We could see the Rosi y Volante bivouac to the west. It looked like that would already be a climb in itself. It lay on some steep rock overlooking the glacier to the south. We climbed over some semi steep snow and steep rock to get up there. It was a bit more difficult than I had thought. I was carying a large backpack with sleepingbacks, a tent and a lot of food. So that did not really help the situation. Staying overnight in the bivoc was very scenic and probably just as much fun as climbing the Pullox.

We did not leave too early, the top was only a few hours away and the weather seemed absolutely superb. We hid the road little passes sunrise. It was a bit cold on the glacier, but I knew I would be sweating in just a few minutes when the sun would rise over the mountains.

We made it to the foot of the Pullox in just about 30 minutes. We started climbing up a snow gully to the ridge. The ridge offered a pleasant and easy rock climb. It was quite easy all the way up to the crux.

The crux is the final steep rock to get to the top arete. It consists out of two sections the first being a bit more challenging than the second. In contrast to what we had seen so far it was real climbing now. Eline was a bit nervous but since the entire section was secured by a chain it was alright. It took us quite some time as we climbed with great care and had to wait for two groups going down. In about 20 minutes we made it to the Maria statue indicating the start of the arete to the top.

This final stretch to the top was very straightforward. We quickly asceded the last 150 meters to the top. We had amazing weather and could see all major peaks around us. I was glad that Eline was so lucky with the weather on her fist climb.

Right next to us we could see Castor. I was glad to not see any rock climbing there as I would need to carry my large clumsy backpack across Castor tomorrow.

We went back the way we came. There was an enormous traffic jam at the steep section right under the Maria statue. But for the rest the climb down was easy and straightforward. We were back at the bivouac around noon and enjoyed the rest of the day cooking our remaining food. Some people before us had left the ingredients for pasta bolognese so culinary speaking we could not complain.