One of the problems with only using 1:50000 maps is that the distances look shorter than they really are. No although we were relatively fit, nothing prepared us for the distance and hight gain to the hut. However this was also the case later on when I came back to do the traverse of the Weisshorn.
Leaving the valley on the path we climbed up the side on a gradual gradientWorking our way up through the trees.
It was hot and humid as I remember and we all lost a lot of fluids.
At around the half way point you escape pout on the upper plateau, and meadows ... from here you can just make out the hut sitting on the outcrop at the end of the glacier. There is little understanding of how far it still remains to go!