Day 7 – Thurs 1 August

Down

Up at 0700 – more snow overnight, no freeze – breakfast – down to Jungfraujoch station for first train (0900) – Kleine Scheidegg – Lauterbrunnen – collect bags forwarded from Meiringen – to tourist office to book hotel room – Hotel Oberland – shower, shave, clean clothes – beers – lunch.

Chris, John, Tony in the train down. (Photo – Chris)

Today was Swiss National Day, and the village was celebrating with Rösti Week. Chris was feeling lard withdrawal symptoms, and opted for the Trucker’s Rösti, which came with bratwurst, fried egg, and extra lard. Surprisingly, he was still conscious by the end of it. John and I chose more modestly (well, slightly).

Fireworks

That evening there was a parade through the village, followed by fireworks. There were some private contributions, but the official event took the form of rival displays. First to go was Wengen, high on the rim of the valley. A spectacular display lasting about 10 minutes. Then a similar effort from Mürren on the opposite side. Finally Lauterbrunnen showed what it could do – a third magnificent display with the added refinement of the bangs and explosions reverberating across the narrow valley.

Mountain bikes

Day 8 – Friday 2 August

Mechanic

This was John’s last day, and it was he and Chris who persuaded me that a day’s mountain biking would be fun. The bike shop is next to the Hotel, and after paying we went upstairs to see Ricky, the Ozzie bike mechanic. “Whereya going?” he wanted to know. We told him – bikes on the train to Wengen, up to Kleine Scheidegg, down to Grindelwald, on down to Zweilütschinen, and back up to Lauterbrunnen. “Yerregular bikers?”, he asked, looking particularly at me and thinking, I suspect, that the old man – probably the father of one of the two lads – wouldn’t make it to Kleine Scheidegg. “Sure”, we said. “OK”, he shrugged, “come and look at the bikes.” We could tell he didn’t believe us.

Tourist

The road from Wengen is tarmac at first, then changes to a dirt road. The first part is the steepest, and the first few kilometres had us panting in near bottom gear. Once the gradient eased we began to enjoy the ride. The times on the signposts to Kleine Scheidegg gradually got shorter. We weren’t in any hurry and stopped a few times for a break. A Japanese tourist following the shorter walking path from Wengen passed and re-passed us a few times.

With Kleine Scheidegg in sight, Chris was out in front, then John, then me. The very last few metres of the track are very steep, and in turn we each charged at the slope in super-granny gear, just making it to the top. I passed the Japanese tourist on the way.

Brakes

We had lunch at the excellent Eiger Nordwand mountain restaurant a couple of hundred metres from the frenetic crowds at the station. And then off for the big downhill – an endless swooping, bumping and jarring down the track towards Grindelwald. Brakes were tested to the full, but Ricky had clearly done a good job and no-one had any problems. Finally down into Grindelwald Grund on the tarmac road.

The downhill continued, though less steeply. A dirt road follows the river valley, with occasional sections on the main road. A group of lycra-clad Germans looked askance at our outfits – sweaty t-shirts, rolled-up trousers (well, I wasn’t going to get grease all over my walking trousers), old trainers. We played leapfrog with them, and eventually saw them off convincingly on one of the road sections.

Turn

In our downhill euphoria we missed the sharp turn at Zweilütschinen and ended up in Gsteigwiler before realising we’d gone wrong. We turned back, retraced, and eventually rolled back into Lauterbrunnen to surrender the bikes to Ricky. He looked up from oiling a sprocket as we walked in.

“Howdya get on?”, he asked, looking at our sweat-soaked clothes and the dust-covered bikes.
“Fine. No problems.”, we replied, “It’s a good route.”
“Y’made it, then?”
“Yeah.”

Did we detect a trace of respect in Ricky’s face after his doubts of the morning? Probably not.

Prizes

Later, we awarded ourselves champions’ prizes.

Statistics

Schilthorn (2970m)

Day 9 – Saturday 3 August

Traverse

Just Chris and me now – John had left early in the morning to meet a friend in Zurich and go climbing in the Dolomites. The two of us had already decided to climb the Schilthorn, starting from Mürren. We’d do a traverse of the mountain, going up the tourist path which ends on the SE ridge, and coming down the W ridge. We opted to travel light – one rucksack between us, and approach shoes instead of Alpine boots.

The weather was fair and warm when we set out from Mürren, where the signpost showed 4h 15min to the summit. Cloud came and went over the surrounding tops. The track, tarmac at first, then unsurfaced, follows the route of the Schilthorn half-marathon, the “Inferno”. Major pipelaying works had churned up large sections of the route.

We were rather warm when we reached the Schilthorn hut, and stopped for a drink before carrying on. The driveable road continues for a while, but eventually comes to an end and the path continues more steeply over rocks. One or two sections have steps cut in the rock, and there is a narrow section on the final ridge approach to the summit.

Cloud

The top was in cloud by the time we arrived, but we’d made good time. I’d hit the wall at about 2700m, but still clocked 2h 45min with the stop at the hut. Chris had taken about ten minutes less.

We had a quick look round the crowded public areas, waited an age to buy a coffee at the bar, and had our lunch in a corner set aside for picnickers. We resisted all opportunities to buy James Bond themed merchandise (Schilthorn, aka Piz Gloria, is the one with the revolving restaurant).

Thunder

It was raining by the time we left, and the cloud had thickened into a dark grey mist. We headed off along the W ridge towards a small col known as Rote Härd, about a kilometre and a half away. The first crack of thunder came a few minutes later. The manual says “Get off the ridge”, but that didn’t seem such a good idea. To the right was a near-vertical drop. On the left a steep slabby scree slope disappeared into the murk, threatening a drop to who-knows-where. Back? Just as dangerous as going on. We went on as fast as we could.

The rain got heavier, and a second clap was closer than before. No lightning, though. Keep going, watch your feet, don’t fall, don’t slip. Where’s the col? A third crack, almost overhead, and a sharp sting on the top of the head beneath hood and cap. Still no lightning. Good thing we’d got no metal tools with us. And at last a signpost indicating the route down.

Descending as quickly as we could, the rain eased but we were drenched. Although we’d brought waterproof tops, neither of us had overtrousers. Losing height we came out of the cloud, and gradually the rain stopped and we began to dry out. By the time we got to the Rotstock hut the sun was shining. Inside, we took stock: no damage, though stuff in the rucksack was pretty wet, including the map. We wrung out our socks, spread the map out to dry, and ordered hot chocolate. The Schilthorn restaurant, 931 metres above us, glinted in the sunshine.

Statistics

Day 4 – Monday 29 July

Early

I mentioned that I’m not at my best with early starts. I’m even less at my best when the start is directly and steeply uphill – I just don’t seem to get going. At least, that’s how it was when we left the hut at 4.35, with the aim of the Finsteraarhorn by the normal route.

I was struggling right from the start. Chris and John set a moderate pace up the rocky path from the hut terrace, but I quickly fell behind. They waited where the path levels off at the site of the old hut, and we kept more or less together over the next section of less steep rock. Reaching the glacier we roped up, and as usual I took the lead to set a pace I was comfortable with.

We carried on steadily up the glacier across snow and ice patches, but although the conditions were fine I was finding it hard going. By the time we reached the small bergschrund below the rock rib which forms the SW ridge of the mountain and climbed the short distance to the col at 3636m (known as the Frühstückplatz, or Breakfast Ledge) we’d been going 2 hours and I was feeling pretty tired. By now we were last on the mountain.

Back

Neither of the other two said anything, but we looked at the next section – a steep snow slope up to the Hugisattel, a col on the NW ridge at 4088m. “How long should it take?”, I asked. We reckoned about an hour and a half to stay on guidebook time. “Can’t do it”, I said. “You go on, I’ll go down. We’ve seen the route, and it’s perfectly OK to solo while it’s still freezing.” I stayed to watch them set off, and then made my way back down.

Finsteraarhorn hut terrasse – Grosse Grünhorn behind

Down

Later, I was sitting on the hut terrace in the hot sunshine, keeping an eye on the path down. Chris came down first at a half run, too quick for me to get a photo as he passed through the stone columns which form a portal to the route. But I caught John a moment or two later. They’d done it – John’s first alpine 4000er, and a good one – the highest peak in the Oberland. We had a beer to celebrate.

John’s triumphal return

Statistics

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.

Statistics

Watching the Jungfrau

Day 6 – Weds 31 July

Weather

We’d been lucky with the weather so far. The high pressure that had arrived while we were at the Oberaarjoch hut had stayed with us. But towards the end of yesterday afternoon (Tuesday) things changed. A high haze turned into cloud and thunderclouds billowed up over the Jungfrau and Mönch from the Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald valleys. We didn’t get a thunderstorm, but it was drizzling and murky as night fell.

Up at 0430 and, bleary-eyed, opening the door to the terrace to go to the toilets. Six centimetres of snow! Soft, wet, unfrozen snow. Discussion over breakfast – Jungfrau, or not? The weather looked reasonable – clear, but with some cloud around. Some groups were going to try it, others were deciding not. In the end we hedged our bets – we’d go down to the Jungfraujoch station, have a look at the route, and then decide.

Sunrise on the Jungfrau. (Photo – Chris)

From the tunnel entrance we dropped down onto the glacier and followed tracks towards the start of the ascent. As soon as we moved away from the Jungfraujoch complex we were sinking into soft snow, even on the piste-bashed track. We paused to assess the situation. Fresh snow, no freeze, and we’d already heard one small avalanche somewhere to the south. We all agreed – no Jungfrau today. We’d go a bit further, watch how the other groups were getting on, but not attempt it ourselves.

Grandstand

We watched for a while from near the start of the route, then headed back to the Jungfraujoch, entering at the upper viewing gallery. We sat inside for the best part of an hour with a grandstand view of the parties on the climb, and saw them one by one turn back. We heard later that only one, possibly two, ropes had made it to the top.

Snow

Back at the hut that afternoon the weather closed in again. It was snowing by 1530, and visibility for the rest of the afternoon and evening varied from 50 down to a few metres. It was still warm, and no signs of an overnight freeze when we went to bed. We booked 7 o’clock breakfast.

John below the Mönchsjoch Hut

Route note

My edition of the Alpine Club guidebook Bernese Oberland Selected Climbs, by Les Swindin says

It is sometimes possible (in a very snowy year) to reach the Rottalsattel by ascending SW into the combe directly below the col. The bergschrund below the col is often impassable. This saves about 1hr.

This route was being used when we were there. It looked OK – parties making it to the bergschrund were getting past it near the left side with no apparent difficulty. The only dubious aspect was that any snow- or rockfall from higher up, or from the Rottalsattel ridge, would be funnelled straight down onto anyone on the route in the higher part of the comb below the bergschrund.

Before we start . . .

We met up at Zurich airport – Chris, John and me. John and I were an hour and a half late thanks to Easyjet, so we’d missed our connecting train that would have got us the last bus to the Grimsel pass. Chris had travelled BA from Machester, and was waiting for us.

Chris and I were by now well-established Alpine partners (see previous years’ reports). John, from Kendal, was a long-time climbing friend of Chris. This was his first trip to the Alps, and he was looking forward to using his brand new crampons – complete with mean-looking serrated teeth.

The three of us had got together a few weeks earlier for a training weekend in Snowdonia, where John had been nursing a sprained ankle, and I’d ended up in A&E at Bangor hospital with a badly damaged finger. John’s ankle was still tender, and I had a black leather finger stall to protect my still swollen and inflexible ring finger. Chris was in his usual superfit state of robust health, but John and I agreed he could tag along if he carried the rope.

Our plan was to try again to complete the route that Chris, Agnès and I had wanted to do last year – a traverse of the Berner Oberland starting at the Grimsel pass and ending in Lauterbrunnen. On the way we planned to climb the Finsteraarhorn, Fiescherhorn, Jungfrau, Mönch, and possibly the Eiger. The story of that trip is in last year’s report.

Berghaus Oberaar – Oberaarjoch hut

Day 1 – Friday 26 July

Walk-in

When I’d originally phoned the guardian at the Oberaarjoch hut to book us in for Friday and Saturday nights I’d also asked what time most people left the Berghaus Oberaar to walk up to the hut. “Any time”, I was told.

So now we were at the Berghaus we wouldn’t need an alpine start. We had a leisurely breakfast at seven, and it was twenty past eight by the time we hoisted our sacks loaded with kit for nine days in the mountains and set off down the steps to cross the dam. The morning was cool, with cloud blowing around in the valley and over the nearby summits, but the forecast was for improving weather and high pressure building.

We followed the more-or-less level path along the north side of the lake. It takes about an hour to get to where the tongue of the Oberaar glacier feeds into the moraines at the head of the lake, and the path starts to rise. Soon after, we took the opportunity to get onto the glacier itself, here dry (no snow covering).

Oberaarjoch on the skyline at the head of the glacier

Glacier

Despite John’s disappointment that he wouldn’t get to use his new crampons yet, we scrunched in boots over the gravel-and grit-covered ice keeping within sight of the right-hand edge of the glacier. Our objective, the Oberaarjoch, which had been in clear view earlier, had disappeared in the mist and cloud. Looking back we could see a large group following us, but as the mist closed in on us and visibility dropped to about 50 metres we lost sight of them.

Climbing gently, we crossed several low piles of rock – remnants of rockfalls from higher up being gradually carried down by the glacier. Then a larger pile, more like a rocky ridge, loomed through the murk. John and Chris were tending too far left for my liking – I was intent on keeping right, closer to the edge of the glacier. We took different routes across the rocks, then rejoined. Time for the map and compass, we agreed. A quick check gave us the right line, but we kept the compass handy for reassurance.

As we gained height snow patches started to appear on the glacier. We avoided the smaller ones, but before long there was more snow than bare ice, and then the first crevasse across our route. Time to rope up.

Company

As we put on harnesses, tied on and took coils, the people we’d seen earlier appeared through the mist. They stopped as well. They were a group of 8 Swiss, who formed themselves into two ropes of four. We all set off at the same time, and started to pick our way through a zone of transverse crevasses. Most were narrow enough to step across, but a few were wider with limited crossing points. We and the Swiss started to get in each others’ way, and in the end we claimed space on the heels of their first rope, with the others following behind us.

Our companions on the glacier (Photo – Chris)

We made steady progress, and the mist started to clear. From time to time we could see the col, and by 1130, when we had been on the glacier for about two hours and were well over half way, it had cleared completely.

As we and the Swiss paused occasionally for a breather we played leap-frog with their two groups, and by the time the col was within reach of a final push we were at the front. And that’s how we arrived at the col.

Hut

There was no problem finding the hut – a case of “you can’t miss it” on the rocks a few metres above and to the right of the col. We squeezed into the tiny boot room, already overcrowded with four other people in it, and then into the common room to report in. The guardian was disconcerted – yes we were expected, but only for tonight. They were already over-full for Saturday night, and some people had been told they’d have to sleep on the floor. I pointed out we’d booked by phone for two nights, but it seemed that language problems had led to a misunderstanding.

We were given sleeping spaces for the night, though, and between ourselves we reckoned that possession was nine tenths of the law. We’d leave some kit in the spaces, and wouldn’t move unless forced. The strategy worked, and nothing more was said.

Etiquette

Just one final comment about that night. The Oberaarjoch hut is very popular at weekends – it’s easy to get to, and the Oberaarhorn is a straightforward climb with splendid views. The prospect of sunrise on the summit attracts people who would not normally stay at more inaccessible huts. Hut etiquette was badly observed – loud conversations after lights out, prolonged kit sorting in the dormitory, large helpings of food grabbed before everyone had had their chance. A pity, because as somebody said to us a few days later, “It doesn’t show us Swiss in a very good light.” True, and fortunately a rare problem in our experience.

Statistics

Oberaarhorn – 3631m

Day 2 – Saturday 27 July

Breakfast

The hut guardian had explained that “most people” set off about 5 o’clock so as to be on the summit for sunrise. Then they come back down to the hut for breakfast. It seemed a reasonable idea, so we decided to do the same.

Despite that, there was some breakfast on the tables when we got up at 4.30. Chris and John grabbed some muesli and some bread and jam while I explained to the guardian we’d have ‘proper’ breakfast later. The guardian didn’t seem bothered. We finished getting ready and left the hut at 5.15.

Blurred

My memories of climbing the Oberaarhorn are blurred and confused, which is how I usually feel in the early mornings. The path to the summit via the normal route starts behind the hut toilets, initially up a series of slabby ledges, and is liberally marked with large arrows and paint splodges in dark orange. The quality of the rock on the first half of the climb varies, with plenty of loose shale among the more solid sections.

The upper part of the route is a simple snowfield at a moderate gradient. We alternated between zig-zagging and heading straight up, hardly remarking on the christening of John’s crampons. There’s little variety on the snow slope and the summit comes into view without warning. Oddly, a couple of metres of snow on the summit put us level with the top of the summit cross.

Panorama

“Most people” were right, though. The panorama from the summit as the shadows fell away was worth the climb. The east face of the Finsteraarhorn loomed close on the other side of the valley, with the sun catching its upper slopes. To the south the peaks of the Mischabel and Monte Rosa stood clear above a layer of valley cloud, with the Matterhorn doing a Toblerone impression further west. We took pictures.

Chris & John on summit of Oberaarhorn, Finsteraarhorn behind

Later

Back at the hut an hour later we helped ourselves to bread, jam and cheese, and bowls of tea, and discussed plans for the rest of the day. We’d considered a traverse of the Vorder and Hinter Galmihorns, and even though we thought both might be a bit too much, we agreed to go and have a look. From the Galmigletscher the NW ridge of the Vorder Galmihorn looked off-putting – heavy snow accumulations piled over the ridge, and big complex crevasses away from the ridge edge. Instead, we headed for the Galmilicke, the col north of the Hinter Galmihorn, a glacier walk away.

Chris checks out the Vorder
Galmihorn (photo – John)

The chossy ridge on the Hinter
Galmihorn (photo – John)

Once at the col we started on the ridge towards the summit. This was mostly loose and crumbling rock, about 45 – 50 degrees. As we got higher I decided I was not enjoying it, and called a halt. John and Chris went on while I waited. My altimeter showed 3410 metres, 56 metres below the summit. John and Chris got as far as the fore-summit, but didn’t like the look of the final summit ridge and decided enough was enough. It was down and back to the hut. Our excursion had added 546m of ascent and descent to the day, making 920 metres in total.

Statistics

Finsteraarhorn hut

Day 3 – Sunday 28 July

Névé

An easy walk today, over the Gemslicke col to the Finsteraarhorn hut. We left the hut at 0640, after sunrise, but with the route over the Studergletscher and up to the Gemslicke still in shadow. We made good time on firm névé and easy slopes up to the col. The view back to the Oberaarjoch and Oberaarhorn, with the sun low in the sky, was splendid.

Early morning view of Oberaarhorn and Oberaarjoch

Drop

The view the other side came as a surprise, though. While our way up had been over easy firm snow, the other side of the col dropped sheer out of sight down a scree and rubble filled couloir. We unroped, and spent a few minutes taking photos before setting off.

The descent didn’t seem too bad at first. The path was over soft, loose scree, but we were all used to moving on that kind of terrain. The main danger was stonefall – it was impossible not to dislodge loose stones every few steps, and the couloir funnelled everything down onto the path below.

Crampons

A little way down we heard people coming up, and waited for them to reach us. They nodded as they passed, out of breath with the steep gradient. But they were wearing crampons!! On scree?? What school of alpinism was this? We soon found out.

John was ahead, and Chris and I had stopped so as not to knock any stones down on him. Suddenly he stopped too, turned and shouted something we couldn’t quite hear. He then started inching his way gingerly down, turning to face into the slope. What was going on, we wondered? Eventually he made it to a less steep strip of moraine rubble, and stopped. I started down to join him.

Ice

I’d just reached the narrowest part of the couloir when the puzzle was solved. The thick scree was suddenly no more than a thin covering over solid ice. Not the crunchy, gritty surface of a dry glacier, but loose shale and pebbles on ice. Moving without slipping was almost impossible, as John had found. At least it explained why the people we’d passed were wearing crampons.

By the time we’d all found somewhere safe to put on our own and had descended the last 50 metres or so to the end of the couloir, the short section of the route down from the col had taken us longer than the 2.5km from the hut to the col.

The rest of the way to the Finsteraarhorn hut was uneventful, although the glacier immediately below the hut is quite badly crevassed. We took to the lateral moraine at one point, but this was if anything more risky than the glacier with a good chance of slipping on the loose rubble.

Crevassed glacier below the Finsteraarhorn hut

Statistics

Our original plan was an 8 – 9 day traverse of the Berner Oberland, with some significant summits on the way.

Then there were Plans B, C, D, . . .

And finally there was what we actually did.

The Plan

Our original plan was to start at the top of the Grimsel Pass and walk in to the Oberaarjoch hut, spending the next day “training” on a local peak, probably the Studerhorn.

On day 3 we would cross the Gemslicke, with a side excursion to the top of the Oberaarrothorn, and drop down to the Finsteraarhorn hut. The Finsteraarhorn was programmed for day 4.

Day 5 – up to the Fieschersattel and the Fiescherhorn, descending to the Mönchsjoch hut.

Days 6, 7, and 8 would be Mönch, Jungfrau, and Eiger, with the order and routes depending on conditions (ours and the mountains’). This gave us a day in hand, as we weren’t due down in Grindelwald until day 9.

But it didn’t quite work out like that.

The Full Story

Thursday 12 July 2001

There were three of us – Chris, Agnès, and me. Unfortunately Agnès wasn’t feeling good, and as we walked the road from the top of the Grimselpass to the Oberaarsee dam and then along the lake to the foot of the Oberaargletscher, it became obvious we weren’t going to make the hut.

We decided to walk back out and head for Grindelwald and the Mönchsjoch hut, which would give us the option of reversing our planned route. Spending two or three days in the Mönchsjoch hut would give Agnès a chance to recover.

Tony and Agnès on the Aletschgletscher at Jungfraujoch, about to head for the Mönchsjoch Hut

We arrived at the hut on Friday 13 July. The forecast wasn’t promising – there were flurries of snow, and the (southerly) Föhn wind was bringing mild unsettled weather. By early evening visibility was down to a few metres and the wind was strengthening. We booked breakfast for 7.00 instead of 4.30.

At 7 the next morning it was still grey and blowing strongly, though hardly any fresh snow had fallen. Chris and I decided to wait an hour or so. Agnès’s chest infection was worse – she would stay in the hut. A group of 5 set off about 8.00. We still weren’t sure, but by 8.30 we decided to give it a try – we’d do the Mönch by the shortest route, the SE ridge.

And that’s what we did. 2 1/2 hours up and the same down. The guidebook grade is PD, but the conditions on the ridge probably deserved a “+”. Not knowing the route we started up the ridge in crampons, and climbed about half the route mostly on rock. The visibility came and went – at one point we had a fine aerial view of the tourists milling about around the door that leads from the Jungfraujoch complex onto the glacier. The snow higher up the ridge was mostly soft, and the final summit ridge had impressive cornices overhanging the north face. The wind varied, gusting strongly for a few minutes, then dropping to nothing before blowing up again. We didn’t linger on the summit.

Descending on the soft snow needed care, and we used the anchor posts on the top snow slope. Once we came to the rock we took off our crampons and did the remainder in boots.

And so we completed the only climb of our 10 day trip. Later that afternoon the weather closed in completely, and several inches of new snow fell overnight. Agnès’s infection was getting worse, so after breakfast the next day we trudged through thick mist and blowing snow to the Jungfraujoch station, the train to Grindelwald, and a visit to the doctor for Agnès that afternoon. The rest of the week became a walking holiday based in Grindelwald while we waited and hoped the weather would clear and conditions improve enough for us to at least attempt the Jungfrau. They didn’t.

The unpreposessing exterior of the Mönchsjoch Hut as we never saw it – in sunshine