I remember that when we moved to the Val d’Hérens, I wondered why there was a hut (the Cabane de la Tsa) tucked away in a sort of “dead end” on the small plateau below the Dent de Perroc, the Dent de Tsalion, and the Aiguille de la Tsa. At the time, I wasn’t doing much rock climbing or mountaineering yet, and I hadn’t really looked into all the routes that were possible from the hut.
But it wasn’t until I read a bit more about the ascent of the Aiguille de la Tsa that I realized some of the people who climb it choose to go via the Dent de Tsalion and its west ridge. In fact, if you go via the Bertol Hut to climb the Aiguille de la Tsa, it’s a super nice outing, but it involves a lot of hiking and glacier travel for just a few pitches of climbing at the end. That’s why people who want to climb a bit more go via the cabane de la Tsa and the Dent de Tsalion.
Personally, after climbing the Petite Dent de Veisivi, the Couronne de Bréona, and the Aiguille de la Tsa via the Bertol hut (with more experienced friends), I felt that the west ridge of the Dent de Tsalion was a good step toward my main goal, which is climbing the Dent Blanche without a guide (done in July 2026, but I’ll tell you all about that soon). So, on a beautiful morning in early July (it was very, very hot in 2026, so the ridge was completely dry), my buddy Austris and I set off at 4 a.m. from the co-living space in Les Haudères, heading toward Arolla.
Even though this climb isn’t very difficult (rated AD+ on c2c and AD on the CAS website), mountaineering is a sport that involves risks (crevasses, rockfalls, unpredictable weather, falls). Make sure you have the necessary knowledge, stamina, and equipment before embarking on this type of outing with your friends. And if you have even the slightest doubt, just go with a mountain guide 🙂
As for me, I’m lucky to have several more experienced friends (like Austris or my neighbor David) who come with me on these outings and help me gain experience. As I write this, I don’t think I have enough experience yet to lead a climb like this (but I’m getting there). That doesn’t stop me from documenting these climbs and sharing them with you below. But if you have any comments or corrections, please feel free to comment on the post.
Climb up the west ridge of the Dent de Tsalion
- Elevation gain: approximately 1,600 meters from Arolla, including just over 600 meters of climbing along the ridge
- Difficulty: AD+ 4b III P3 on c2c and AD on the CAS website. Mandatory 4b sections; the crux is a 5 that can be bypassed to the right.
- Duration: 4–6 hours of climbing (or even longer), depending on your pace; the descent time will vary depending on the route you choose. In any case, plan on being out the entire day for this.
- Gear: 4–5 quickdraws, 2–3 slings, a few Friends (we brought a full set for practice), a rope (we had 50m, but 40m should be enough), an ice axe and crampons if you’re descending on the Bertol side or if there’s still snow on the trail that goes down to the hut early in the season.
- Useful links: Dent de Tsalion c2c, Cabane de la Tsa
Hike to Cabane de la Tsa
We park at the Arolla ski lift parking lot to begin the ascent to the Cabane de la Tsa around 4:30 a.m. We walk toward Mont Collon to take the bridge on the left that crosses the river just before the power lines. From there, we first head up a track before turning left onto the path toward the Tsa Hut (we missed the trail at night, and I’ve read the same thing in other guidebooks :), #justsaying)
From there, the trail is easy to follow, and it took us 1 hour and 15 minutes to hike the 600 meters of elevation gain to cabane de la Tsa. The day is slowly breaking, and we take the time to enjoy the beautiful morning colors over the Pigne d’Arolla and the Aiguilles Rouges.
Note: For those of us who live right nearby, we don’t necessarily need to stay overnight at the hut to do this climb. But if you’re coming from farther away, we highly recommend staying there, especially since we’ve always heard rave reviews about the hospitality and the food prepared by the hut keeper. For more information, visit the Cabane de la Tsa website.
Approach to the West Ridge from the Hut
Just before the hut, there’s a trail that branches off to the right toward the western ridge of the Dent de Tsalion. The trail disappears fairly quickly, giving way to a scree slope, but the start of the ridge is obvious, and there are cairns marking the most logical route. But I can imagine that at night, it’s pretty easy to miss a few cairns ;).
For our part, we enjoyed the sunrise behind us over the Aiguilles Rouges as we reached the base of the ridge in 45 minutes (2 hours from the car), at 6:30 a.m. as planned. During the approach, we had plenty of time to look at the west ridge of the Dent de Tsalion, which is quite a bit longer than anything I’ve climbed so far.
West Ridge of the Dent de Tsalion
Our goal for the day wasn’t to climb as fast as possible. Since I have a lot less experience than Austris (and he also has more margin when climbing than I do), the idea was to tackle a more substantial ridge with the mountaineering boots and me leading the easier sections to practice placing friends and slings, setting up good belays, and so on… We also wanted to practice climbing the easy sections on a short rope, simul climbing for most of the ridge and belaying only on the more difficult sections. Since we had planned to climb the Dent-Blanche together, the goal was to gain experience (especially for me) and get to know our climbing partner a bit better.
So we set out on the west ridge of the Dent de Tsalion, where we quickly get right down to business. After a short chimney, we decide to stay on the ridge instead of bypassing the crux (i.e., the most difficult section). Since we’re here to train, we might as well see how we can manage a V-step in mountaineering boots.
First, you go through a short Grade IV section with three bolts for protection, and then you reach the Grade V section with two well-placed bolts (I’ve highlighted them in red in one of the photos below). Well, I’ll admit I was actually pretty glad that Austris led this move because I wasn’t exactly feeling confident, haha.
Up until then, we were still in the shade, and a down jacket (or Gore-Tex jacket) was still a good idea, but the sun is gently peeking out from behind the Aiguille de la Tsa, which I don’t mind at all. Honestly, the scenery is magnificent, and there’s a great alpine vibe. I’m really having a good time, I have to say ;)!
The middle section of the ridge is easier, even if it’s a bit exposed at times. We stay on the ridge, sometimes to the right, sometimes to the left, and the rock is really good. There are certainly sections we could have climbed on a short rope, but in the end we continued simul climbing (always with at least two protection points between us). I had the chance to lead more often on this section and felt really comfortable. But I realize that I need more time than Austris to place good protection and set up belays… it’s all part of the learning process.
The last third of the climb is once again a bit more challenging (2–3 mandatory Grade IV sections). But whenever it’s difficult to place a friend or a sling, there are 1–2 well-placed bolts 🙂 (I’ve marked a few of them in red in the photos below). Aside from one section I wouldn’t have wanted to lead (I don’t think I took a photo of it), I found that everything else went really smoothly.
Finally, we arrive just below the Dent de Tsalion and its jagged summit. We climb up through the brown rock breach to reach the summit fairly easily via a crack on the back side. Well, the summit isn’t exactly cozy, and since there’s barely enough room for two people, after a few photos, we quickly set up a rappel (quick link on a sling) and do a bit of easy downclimbing to take a well-deserved break at the glacier. The view from up there is absolutely stunning, with the Dent d’Hérens, the Matterhorn, and the Dent Blanche, which we have plenty of time to study since that’s our next goal.
All in all, we spent about 7 hours on the ridge. We certainly could have gone faster, but as I said, the goal of this outing was also to take the time to do things by the book, to gain experience so that we can be a little faster next time.
Climbing the Aiguille de la Tsa?
If you plan to climb the Aiguille de la Tsa, allow another 1 hour and 30 minutes to 2 hours from the base of the Dent de Tsalion for the ascent and descent (and you’ll need a 50-meter rope for rappelling). As for us, since we’d climbed it the previous year from Bertol, we decided to head straight back down via the Col de la Tsa and the trail to the Bertol hut. But if you need specific information about the Aiguille de la Tsa, you’ll find plenty of details in the article below.
Route Options for the Descent
There are two main possibilities for the descent:
- past the Pointe de Tsalion and the trail that returns to the cabane de la Tsa
- via the Aiguille Glacier, the Tsa Pass, and the Bertol Glacier to reach the Bertol Trail
Since Austris had easily descended via the glaciers a few days earlier after climbing the Douves Blanches ridge, we decided to pack our crampons and ice axe to go that way again. But if you climb the Dent de Tsalion late enough in the season, you can travel lighter (without glacier gear), just in sneakers, and descend via what people call “la vire”. At that point, you’ll need to down climb the north ridge to the Pointe de Tsalion (1 hr, II) and then follow the trail marked by red marks and cairns to the cabane de la Tsa.
On the other side, despite the incredible heat of early summer 2026, the Aiguille Glacier was still well-covered, and we once again managed to descend the Col de la Tsa without rappelling (apparently there’s a good rappel at the center of the pass). We then crossed what remains of the Bertol Glacier without incident to reach the trail leading to the Bertol Hut. It took us 3 hours to reach the water intake, where we were lucky enough to run into Antoine Brenzikofer (a local guide who has bolted many routes in the Val d’Hérens), who drove us back to Arolla.
Well, I hope you enjoyed this quick topoof the W Ridge of Dent de Tsalion and that you found some useful information here. In any case, I absolutely loved this outing, and I highly recommend you check it out. And if you have any questions or comments, feel free to use the comments section below 🙂
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