On Monday, stashing some gear, we left the could-it-get-any-better Finsteraarhorn Hut at the crack of dawn for a summit attempt on the Finsteraarhorn, which at 4,274m or 14,022 is the highest peak in the region. It was a beautiful bluebird day and the cold air made excellent ascending conditions.
Alpenglow on the Gross Wannenhorn, one of the more popular ski descents in the area.
We were the first lot out, but we had a large group right on our tail.
The Grunhorn with the shadow of the Finsteraarhorn on it.
The view down the valley and our end-of-day exit.
The Grunhornlucke - the route from the Concordia Hut that we had taken the previous morning. Looming in the background is the Aletschhorn.
The total ascent from the hut was 1,226m or just over 4,000'. This would be the first time in my illustrious mountaineering career that I had been above 4,000m. The first part of the route is from the hut to the Fruhstuckplatz. This is a rocky ridge which has to be gained before you can hit the glacier that leads to the summit ridge.
The group that turned around the previous day had done so at the Fruhstuckplatz after their guide had triggered a windslab. The slope angle wasn't itself too bad, but any slide here would push you into a very nasty looking ice-fall. We checked it out and it seemed bomber enough to cross.
Despite the elevation, I was feeling good and quite optimistic about the summit ridge.
Optimistic that was until I saw it. The right side of the knife edge wasn't too bad. Just a scramble up a mix of rocks and probably bulletproof snow. It was the left side that I was concerned about - a 5,000' rock wall. There aren't any pictures of it because I was too scared to get close to the edge!
It was an easy decision to turn around, and ski down for a rosti whilst the others scrambled up.
The ski down was good and I had a couple of Frogs to keep me company.
Back in the hut, I waited for the others, keeping myself occupied by stuffing my face. They eventually turned up, having been forced to turn around 25m from the summit due to time constraints. We had been told that the exit from the hut to Fieschertal would take 4-5hrs and we were not enthusiastic about negotiating the numerous ice-falls in the dark. Off we went.
There were a large number of ice-falls but we found a good track to follow. The noise from the cracking rock and ice was incredible.
The valley went on and on....
..requiring the negotaition of a dam.
Eventually the snowfields gave way to ribbons, and then the ribbons gave way to grass.
"Is there any snow left to ski?"
Down to the village.
When we arrived in Fieschertal, we found out that we had missed the last bus to the train station in Fiesch. We managed to hitch a lift from a local farmer. As we approached the town we saw our train in the distance and our driver kindly chicaned his way through the road barriers to get us to the station just in time. 2hrs later I was back in Interlaken. End of tour, end of trip, and end of season.