We were up and ready as the light came over the glacier, showing the route from yesterday. We would be joined by several large parties today so we wanted to be out in front.
Out the back of the hut we were soon climbing up the slopes behind looking to get on the flatter area above.
The flatter area lead past the other frequented peak in this area - the Mittaghorn - and we were grateful to see most of the chasing parties head over that way. The sun came over the peaks around and promised a great day.
Abeniflue was the peak at the end of the bowl catching all the sun. The route we chose went up the gulley ahead instead of along the skyline ... not much in it.
As we got higher in the gulley it got a little steeper, but we were soon climbing out onto the ridge and heading to the summit.
The summit was very rounded and we fiund a suitable place to drop the skis and look around. It was such a fantastic day with hardly a cloud in the sky, we just basked in the location, and the cameras did overtime. |
| Looking East, and South |
 |
| Looking North and West. |
Time to leave, .. we had a debate over the state of the snow and a good optimum time to leave. The sun had been on the slopes for a couple of hours and the surface was softening.
The top if the gulley was still a little hard, but after the bergschrund it was perfect. We had a fantastic ski down to the flatter section.  |
There was originally a thought we could do the Mittaghorn as well, but we passed that in favour of continuing the great snow down to the hut. This was supported by the final slope down to the hut being very soft - and it was only 10am!!!
Back at the hut we sat in the sun on the balcony waiting for the sun to hit the snow over the pass.. where we needed to ski down ... from the last time we knew it would be very hard and icy, so wanted it to soften a little.
As we sat there was a couple of incidents unfolding .. first the army helicopter stopped for a drop/ pick up on the ridge on the opposite side of the valley, and then there was a rescue in the bowl under the hut .. I guess someone slid on the ice and hurt themselves.
At the chosen hour, we headed down ... it was still a little icy at the top but we soon moved into the good surface section in the middle.
Before long we were off the main slopes and fighting down at the tongue of the glacier, trying to pick the most sensible route out of all the tracks.
Before long we were in the summer meadows, and sticking to the trail that linked all the soft snow patches together a few more weeks (days) then this would be walking territory.
As the snow ran out we packed up the skis and walked out down to the village of Fafleralp, where we would join the road at the large car park
As we got to the car park and had one last look up the valley .. there is a great view of the descent .. it give the impression it is not very far, but try climbing up it!
From the car park (unlike the year before) there was a mini bus service to join the regular post bus at Blatten .. only 5 mins after arriving and only just getting our boots off the minibus arrived .. we threw our bags on the trailer and paid the fee (again better than walking down the road as we had the last year.At Blatten we arrived at lunch time... so no buses for an hour, so we sat in the buys shelter and ate our lunch and enjoyed the sun. The bus finally arrived and took us tot he train station at Goppenstein, where we repeated the train journey back to Lauterbrunnen, in the similar way as we did to Grindlewald earlier in the week.
Back at Lauterbrunnen we loaded all the kit into the van and headed back to the coast. .. What a couple of weeks ... twice up to the top and back again!.