Mönchsjoch hut

Day 5 - Tuesday 30 July

Conditions

We'd originally planned to go to the Mönchsjoch hut via the Fiescherhorn, another 4000-er. But we'd been asking others at the hut about the conditions, and were getting less confident about the prospect of tackling either of our two possible routes with full packs. In the end we decided to postpone qualifying for Hard Men of the Mountains^TM status and take the easier, but much longer glacier route via Konkordia. This would get us to the Mönchsjoch hut with three days in hand, and three summits to do - Fiescherhorn, Jungfrau, and either Mönch or Eiger.

We made a reasonably early start at 0500, crossed the Fiescherfirn as it was getting light, and were at the top of the Grünhornlicke by 0615. The descent to Konkordiaplatz was still in shadow, and we made good time to the bottom. None of us had been to Konkordia before, so we were glad to see one of the places of Alpine legend. We had a good view of the flight of steps up to the Konkordia hut, but decided not to spend time paying the hut a visit.

Diamonds

Konkordiaplatz itself was free of snow, and still frozen as we set off towards the Jungfraufirn. Crevasses in our path were easy to negotiate. As the sun rose higher and moved round we started finding more patches of snow. Where the surface was icy, the sun caused almost immediate melting, and trickles, runnels, and streams of water began to run in every crevice. It was easy to see why Konkordiaplatz has been described as "a swamp" later in the day. But on the snow patches the low-angled sunlight was reflected by a myriad of flat ice crystals varying in size from a few millimetres to a few centimetres across, and we were walking through a field of diamonds.

Although there were some larger crevasses across our path from time to time, there was only one which looked a problem. We scouted left and right looking for somewhere to cross, and although I thought there were a couple of places we could have made it, Chris and John kept looking - and found a bridge! It was two wooden planks end-to-end, with cross-pieces to give an impression of something for boots to grip. No handrail. We belayed each other across.

Further up the Jungfraufirn the route moves towards the centre of the glacier to avoid crevasses and seracs on the right. The dome of the Sphinx observatory is in view. From here on you keep walking, and walking, . . . and the Sphinx never gets any closer!

Chocolate

But eventually we were there, hauling ourselves up the last, and surprisingly steep, few metres to the Jungfraujoch station tunnel entrance. There were already plenty of tourists around. Should we ignore the temptations of the café, and toilets with hot running water? Not likely! We barged our way through the throng with our rucksacks, and settled down with three hot chocolates and a curious pastry (courtesy of John).

Time passed easily. Although Chris and I had been here before quite a few times between us, we'd never been to the observatory. So we went there. Then Chris tried unsuccessfully to send an e-mail from a coin-in-the-slot machine. Then we took a daft photo against an artificial backdrop of the Jungfrau glacier. Then we visited the toilets and had a wash in hot water. At last, with nothing else left to do, we headed back for the exit. 40 minutes later we were at the Mönchsjoch hut.

"Kicks over the traces of Hockney's post-perspectival obsession" - Brit. J. Post-modernism "So real you'd think you were there" - Astigmatism Today

Lost

Oh, and if anyone finds my red Suunto Altimax wristwatch/altimeter which I left on the Jungfraufirn after taking it off to put on suncream - and which I didn't miss until an hour later - please let me know. Otherwise it'll remain to puzzle archaeologists in a few centuries' time.

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Last updated 27 August 2002