We were not among the early starters .. all heading for 4000m peaks around, but we were not far behind, but needed day light to negotiate the glacier and crevasses.
The first difficulty was to descend the ladders, still very cold from the overnight freeze, and difficult in ski boots.
It was a relief to reach the last section and step off onto the moraine and find our ski lager, to retrieve the equipment.
The first section on the glacier involved a gentle gradient down to the corner where it curved around the corner to go SW. There were a few crevasses to avoid at the start, but after that it was straight forward.
At the corner, things got a little more jumbled, and the moraine forced us up the bank and through the rockier part.
As we came out of the rocky section, and had dropped down onto the lower level of the glacier after the ice had worked it way around the corner. we left the route up to the Aletch bivi hut, and also all the tracks we had been following.
From here we crossed back to the Southern side of the glacier. This was easier said than done, as it was extremely crevassed, and we had to find a route through the obstacle course to the bank.A brief stop for some food and we put the skins on ready for the next section.
Now the hard work started, as we began to climb out up to the ridge. We were not sure we could continue down the glacier, and were going to follow the route to the Konkordia hut in the reverse direction.
Climbing up the bowl we followed the tracks coming down, and soon reached the ridge line. On the way up we had great views back up the glacier to see where we had come from.
The other side was in cloud and it was difficult to see where we could go. the guides were not much use and we were struggling to read the map.Droppign down was also difficult as the snow was south facing and much depleted and very soft.
We struggled down and headed for the the first cable car we saw ... unfortunately this was shut for repair and we had to walk through Riederalp to the other side to the second lift - an unwelcome additional effort, and we all piled into the gondola to ride down to the valley. We should have turned left on the ridge and headed for Bettmeralp... but we will know if there is a next time.
Once down at valley we crossed the road to the train station and bought a ticket back to Grindelwald ... essentially following the route we had used by car ... down to Brig, up and through to Kanderstegg, on to Interlaken, then up to Gridlewald.We finally collapsed into the Standen hotel very tired, and looking forward to the evening meal - which did not disappoint.