Travel day, Switzerland

We needed a rest day, and after a bit of a debate we decided to return to Chamonix, where we could return to day routes...

So following the route we came to Grindlewald, in reverse, we dropped down into Chamonix.

This side of the pass was grim, there was low cloud all around and the forecast was for cloud and precipitation for the remainder of the week.

After a short conversation we had some dinner and continued driving, through the night to the channel and home.

Faffleralp, Switzerland

We woke up late ...  the night was better, we managed some food last evening, and it stayed down, although we were still rough .. maybe it was the thought of the "dry" toilet ... the Ammonia was in evidence all over the ground floor of the hut, even the piles of cedar wood chips did not hide it.

We could have gone for Abne Flue again to-day, but the energy levels were still low. It was probably just as well as it turned out, and we got up late and had a leisurely breakfast waiting for the sun to get down to the valley.

Itching to get going we probably got the balance between icy top section and slushy bottom one slightly wrong.

The top section was a real rattly bone shaker or a run over the tracks left by previous visitors, who had gone down later in the days.

Still no sign of the sun down here. I was also very glad not to be walking up like a couple of parties we past.

Now about half way down, we were still fighting the tram lines.




Things improved as we dropped to the bottom of the glacier and into the meadows, the snow became much easier.

Then we were down on the flat run out down the bottom of the valley.

There was a portion of poleing then a short "interesting" piece of entertainment as the track narrowed.

We then dropped down to Fafleralp, and crossed the final bridge, and into the car park.

The car park had only just been ploughed, in a small section, and the buses were not yet running. We would have to come back to enjoy that pleasure.

Unfortunately the snow was too patchy on the valley run and we ended up walking down the road.

An so after a bus trip from Blatten to the train station then 3 trains we were back at the mountain hostel. Time for a shower and a general tidy up.

Holandia Hut, Switzerland

1. Overnight, the conditions outside improved, however it was not the same inside our dortoir. Some time during the night Bryon had rushed out, and several additional times..  each time for a longer period .. I did not believe he was just just enjoying the Blues and rock music playing in the toilets.

Something he had eaten, or drank yesterday had disagreed with him, and now he was feeling very rough. I got up and had some breakfast, whilst he rested. However this proved to be the start for me and the food started my stomach rumbling and I had terrible indigestion.... now we were both on immodium.

We could not be a worse position here ...  at least one days climb to get out in any direction, and Bryon was very weak, effectively loosing all of last nights food.

Around 9am we decided that we should make a move up to the Holandia hut - the lowest height gain to get out. If we had know how much it would take out of us, then we should have stayed put, and made the next day a long one.

Dropping down the ladders, and collecting our kit from the depot among the rocks at the bottom.

The first bump, and we are already drained - both suffering from stomach problems, dehydration and lack of energy.

We put our heads down and continued up the slopes. Around about a third up the slope, my stomach finally had enough, and  I left the contents on the glacier. Now I was in a similar position as Bryon.

Looking back to the hut, we wondered what on earth we were doing.. getting exhausted, and needing to conserve water in the heat of the sun did not help as we were getting more and more dehydrated.

At the second bump we could start to believe we were making some progress. However Bryon was flagging, and I was in desperate need of a toilet - I was running around 9 hours behind Bryon. Another deposit on the glacier, and back to putting one foot in front of another.

All the way up, my attention had been on getting to the col, unfortunately when we got there, there was still height to gain to get to the hut, which was hiding on top of a rocky outcrop.

By this time I had moved ahead of Bryon, as we each concentrated on putting one foot in front of another, very exhausted.  After the final step I approached the hut and left the skis at the back ski depot, and walked down the ice steps cut down the side of the hut, to the verandah and the entrance.

I believe the guardian was exceedingly surprised to book us in, and we asked for two 2 liter bottles of water and one of coke. 30 mins later there was not much left. We just sat in the sun and tried to recover 

We had made it to the hut, it was very surprising how debilitating the illness made us and how it completely limited our ability to do anything.

We had plenty of time to study the route down the valley for tomorrow.

Grunhornglucke, Switzerland

We woke up to clouds all around, and very little visibility. We had planned to drop down the glacier East of the hut, and work our way up to Trugberg South summit, then down to the Konkordia platz and so to the Konkordia hut.

After hanging around the hut for a couple of hours, we decided to move down to the Konkordia hut, down the Aletch glacier.

We knew the way back to the Jungfraujoch would be simple to follow the track, and from there we would drop down to the glacier in a similar way as yesterday, before continuing down the glacier.

As we got lower we dropped below the cloud and could see more of what we were doing and where we needed to go.

As we dropped onto the straight tram line runs to the Konkordia platz the sun came out between clouds and we realised that the weather was turning.

We could see where we would have descended from the Trugberg ... saved for another year.

To the West we could see the way up to the Hollandia hut, up on the col on the skyline.

In the other direction we could see the Konkorida hut .. and more importantly the ladders used to climb up there. This was always going to be a effort.

With the sun now out and the fact that we were a bit early to be giving up on the day. We decided to go and have a look over the grunhornlucke at the finstraarhorn. So the skins went on, and we got ready for a climb.

We were glad we had made a move, as the weather was still rough up at the Sphinx.

Bryon did a a quick check of the map ... he thought I didnt know that he was calculating whether we can also nip round the corner.... But I have already worked out that it would be pushing it!
As we climbed up the slope heading up to the Grunhornglucke, we could not initially see the col, but shortly we came over a rise and could see it in the distance.

Head down and slowly, slowly we got higher up the valley, until we were on the final slopes... not too steep, but a final flourish.

Over the col we could see the Finsteraarhorn in all its glory, bringing back memories of our trip many years before.

At the col we could also see the short route to the peak... the long way is down and round the side ... making another 300m of ascent + the bit back to this col .. a step too far.

Setting off back down to the hut .. it was a little hard/ icy, but the surface soon loosened off ....

Back in spring powder...  fantastic skiing. This was a real bonus and justified the decision to push on up to the col.

Other parties were beginning to gather at the bottom of the ladders, as we cruised the last slopes down to the ski lager.

The calm before the storm and a little rest before the last push, a chance to pack away the unwanted gear and stow under the rocks.

Then the ladders.... flight after flight... I tried counting them. Then once I had lost count it was one flight at a time, followed by a rest before the next.

At the end of the ladders there is a tricky section on the rock ...  half covered in snow, and very slippy, before the hut appears - welcoming before us.

Time for a rest and some relaxation sitting on the verandah looking up the route for tomorrow.

We were so pleased at the day we had a rosti with egg to share ...  maybe this was the cause of disaster tomorrow, or maybe it was something we had drunk!

Louihorn, Switzerland

The plan for today was to go back to the Jungfraujoch and make an ascent of a ski peak we had seen in the popular routes of the area. Th eLouihorn was usually used as a route to get down to the Konkordia hutte, but we would return to the Monchjoch (due to the availability of beds)

The sun rise was spectacular as we ate breakfast.
After we were ready we skied back down the track .. very frozen overnight, and a difficult ride in the ridges and foot prints.

Past the station we continued to drop down until we got to the glacier, and put on the skins.

The views down the Aletch glacier were spectacular, and we took a few moments to take in the situation.

The climb started steeply rising through the seracs, and then cut back into a big bowl.

Looking back we could see the day unfolding into a sunny warm day. We continued to follow the well worn tracks as they rose up the slopes.

We were now at a similar height as we started the day at.

From here we moved up to the col, and then turned right to begin the climb to the summit. A little insignificant, but definitely a top, although very rounded.

At the top we were really surprised to see a hot air balloon cruising up the range crossing from west to east.

To the West

To the East

The summit stay had to come to an  end .. we had the descent and then the big climb back to the hut.

The descent was in powder, if I was being a little picky a bit warm and sticky, but a bit of wax soon resolved this.


The bottom of the slopes we again put on the skins and started the ascent. I was not sure I was ready for this

At about half way up I was definitely sure I was not ready for this.

However back at the station we saw this helicopter .. probably no more expensive than the train. The sight of it help me make it back up the track to the hut.

The cloud had descended for the day, and we had made it back just in time.