Morganhorn, Switzerland

 The next morning the clouds were still there but more scattered. Dave and I decided we would make an attempt at the traverse, from Morganhorn, to the Blumesalphorn, and back to the hut.



The route follows the glacier around the Wildespitz (see previous trip for details on this one), and then over the seracs at the head of the glacier and up the obvious slope in front of you.
The overnight snow had removed all traces of tracks from previous days.
The higher up the slope the steeper it becomes, until you finally reach the summit cone. At this point it is grade 1 ice climbing.

The top was quite insignificant, but narrow and slightly congested as we got there at the same time as a couple of other parties.
The route onward was swathed in cloud, we were slightly nervous about route finding along a arrow ridge without visibility.
 Preservation senses kicked in and we decided that retreat would be the best thing. Going back down the way we had come, following our tracks back to the hut.

 Back down to the valley, as we got lower the clouds cleared, but after the long day on the Eiger and the soft snow it was still a good decision.

At the lake Dave posed for this picture!


The Morganhorn was to be the last route this year... the weather set in with high winds and lots of rain, so we headed home.

Blumesalp hutte, Switzerland

So up the lift and then down the other side to the lake, around the lake up to the head of the valley to the pass. In the heat of the sun all the way, and it is a long way, but a great position to end up.

 The route is spectacular in places with waterfalls and a spectacular lake .. no wonder it is a major tourist attraction.

The trail rises from the lake heading East, through the summer meadows sprinkled boulders appearing through the grass,

From here the track rises up some moraine to reach the higher meadows.
All the time the hut sits on the skyline seemingly still a long way off

 The hut was as I remembered it, and was worth the log walk in. Even better the Outside loo 50m down the path had been replaced with an indoor composting loo.
Unfortunately the weather was turning and some evil looking clouds came over. the next day was looking very questionable, but I fell asleep all the same.

Kandersteg, Switzerland

On our return to Grindlewald we picked up Christine and Dave, and headed back to Kandersteg. The idea was to give it a go in the Blumesalps where it was a little lower and hopefully avoiding the weather front coming through.

 The camp site was juts under the chair lift. this worked during the day taking people up the mountain behind and on to the lake Ochinensee, a popular tourist location.

The bar of the camp site, had an interesting sign up advertising a bunk house. Filed away for future reference ... will come in handy next Spring when we would be back, but for now we had no thoughts along those lines.

Reconnaissance, Switzerland

The following day, I was still feeling jaded, but Dave was keen to do things, so he and Christine, together with Don and Phil went off to the Wetterhorn. So Sue and I went off for a day exploring, we started off looking at the tremendous cliffs in Lauterbrunnen, and then worked our way down the main valley from Interlaken, Kandersteg, and ended up at Lenk. We found a campsite at the end of the valley for the night. Along the way we saw this view ... the Blumesalps. I had been there before, but never got further than the hut, but that is another story.

Return to Grindlewald, Switzerland

The next morning....  Bryon and Chris were up early and off to try the Monch/ Jungfrau double as Dave and I had done the year before. Dave and I took it easy, and left mid morning, together with Sue and Christine, we were going to stroll down to the Jungfraujoch and take the train down. 
The descent from the hut was really peaceful, but the closer to the tourist parts the more congested it got.

Back down at the camp site, there was a surprise as Don and Phil were there, after having had a few days in the hills on their own. This was in the days before mobile phones and these coincides were not planned and just good fortune.

That night as we prepared dinner, the conversation turned to thoughts about how the "seasoned" tourer and the "newbie" differ in their approach ...  we had chairs a double petrol burner stove, chairs and standard fare food. The boys had a single gas burner, and tins. Not sure which was more effective, but the creature comforts do help as you get older!

Eiger, Switzerland

.......

 Not such an early rise as we have become used to, we needed dawn to see where we were going, but even so, we did not want to be first up the ridge. We made a mistake in choosing our departure time, and just got in behind a team or two of Italians, and would have been better off just before them, but we cannot be picky. The day was going to be fantastic, as we set off up the initial part of the ridge - fairly wide here against what we would meet later on. Looking back to the hut always gave a perspective of where we were in terms of the total traverse.


Higher up the ridge  we started to move from scrambling to rock climbing, and this came to the purer form as we reached the grand gendarme.










Here although there was a large fixed rope, as we previous found out it is better to climb than to pull up on it especially with a big heavy pack, and purely use it for occasional assistance.











Some of the steps were easier than others, but at all times you were conscious of the long drop on each side...
After all the tricky rock steps the ridge slackened off and became a snow arête, with a few rocky bits in. So after putting crampons on we "strolled" to the top.

I have to admit that the top of the Eiger was one of the summit of my life.. the views were fantastic, the situation superb, and we felt really good. we even made a brew to celebrate.



This would come back to haunt us later on... We had forgotten totally about the descent and the snow slopes yet to come!



 The initial descent was simple enough, and as the ridge got rocky we abseiled for a couple of pitches and then scrambled down to the first col.

 What we had not counted on was the length (should have checked it properly on the map), the "not so easy" traverse line, the tiredness, the heat of the sun leading to dehydration, and the softness of the snow at this time of day.
The traverse had its challenges in several gendarmes before easing off. All the time heading for the East face of the Monch.
As we cleared the mid ridge and arrived at the col below the Monch, time was passing and it was already late.

The simple snow plod across the head of the glacier to the monchjoch and the hut was never ending. Each step was difficult as we sank in through the breakable crust, but fortunately we got there with out further incident.
To cap this fantastic day we walked into the hut, just in time for dinner, which Sue and Christine had successfully booked us in for, and some cool drinks.

Mittelegi Hutte, Switzerland

Catching the train up in the early morning, the familiar change around at Kliener Scheidegg, and we are moving up the track, tourist stops at the Nord wand  and  then we got out at the Eismeer station, retrieved our  bags and waited for the train to depart. Once the hordes had got back on the train and it had departed for higher points, we could look around and find the exit. An unassuming door at the end of the platform, festooned with notices about "authorised personnel only" and we were in a long dark (unlit) corridor hewn out of the rock.

This corridor exited out of the rock face behind a bank of snow and ice, while Dave and I were debating the best way to avoid the debris falling from above, Bryon and Chris were frantically looking for a lens from Bryon's glacier glasses. After repeated torchlight searches of the corridor failed, in true pioneering fashion, he taped up the lens holder leaving a small hole to see through.  check the summit photos for better idea of this "cludge". Once we were all ready and geared up, a swift exit took us onto the glacier and we headed over to the base of the Mittelgi ridge, the hut not being at the end of the ridge but rather on a knobble at the base of the main summit incline.

On the other side of the glacier the route took a, very faint, ascending traverse basically heading roughly in the general direction of the hut ... no specific trail. The rock was loose and very friable.. so great care had to be taken not to slip, but in general the slope was not excessive.

All the time we got higher and further from the glacier. Looking back to the Eismeer station (or rather the windows in the rock face) gave a good perspecitve of heading in the right direction.
Soon we could see the hut, perched on the ridge above, and a short direct ascent from below and we were at the verandah. This old hut was later removed and now rests down by the train track as it enters the tunnel. but at best was a top ranked bivvi, bunks along the back wall, and a stove in the front corner and door. room for around 12 to 16 people at a push.

We were not the first and definitely not the last, but did manage to get a good allocation of palettes.
There was no warden, and so all food had to be brought and cooked individually, we had some tinned fish and noodles (being easy to cook with the low boiling points at this altitude), and as I remember it some  chocolate moouse stuff that would not set. so was like a chocolate drink. The facilities were rough, but the views spectacular, with a direct view down to Grindlewald, from the seat.

The evenings entertainment was watching the sun going down and acknowledging the helicopter that came up to check all was OK.
Then it was bed and prepare for the next day.