Bernese Alps (Switzerland), 20-28 August 2017


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Day 8. Konkordiaplatz - Jungfraujoch - Kleine Scheidegg - Im Ruuben.

We followed a track on the snow-covered glacier from Konkordiaplatz. We had to go through a small maze of crevasses but they were much easier to navigate through than those we had to deal with when descending from Lötschenlücke. There were quite a few hidden lateral crevasses on the snow-covered part of the glacier, one has to cross them carefully. We saw many tracks of people punching through weak snow bridges. Sonya also stepped on a weak bridge and punched through. Eventurally the tracks lead to a road near Jungfraujoch, made by ratracks on the glacier. We unrpoped but this was a mistake as behind the corner, just a couple of hundred metres from the snow play area, we saw a couple of crevasses crossing the road. We should have roped up.

The red line shows our tracks before and after the train journey. The arrow shows direction of travel. The dashed line shows the train journey.

Ewigschneefäld glacier early in the morning.

Packing up and waiting for the breakfast to be ready.

Victor and Maria.

While we were packing up, a small group went by. We were soon also on the move, looking forward to coming out on the sunlit glacier. The mountain at the back of the image, near the centre, is Jungfrau.

Yasha and Lova.

Looking back at the Jungfraufirn and Grosser Aletschgletscher glaciers.

Sonya and Ksyusha.

Our route was first on a flat glacier; the Jungfraujoch pass was visible almost from the beginning. The red line shows our ascent (click the "show/hide annotations" button to display/hide the line).

Anya and Igor.

The glacier flows down and down, like a frozen river.

First crevasses...

The maze of crevasses here was much easier to navigate through than the ones we came across yesterday.

The key is to step wide...

The cracked glaciers flowed down into the ice valley.

A bulge in the glacier...

Jungfrau. We saw several groups coming down from the mountain. Zoom in to find one team just under the Jungfraujoch pass on the rigth, and another one walking towards it. We did not go to the Jungfraujoch pass, but turned right to the tunnel leading to the railway station.

Last glance into the world of ice before entering civilised world. We got to a well-trodded road made by ratracks and unroped. We should have continued roped, as there were a couple of crevasses crossing the road behind the corner, just a couple of hundred metres away from the tunnel.

Anya's crampon broke in the morning. This repair did not last long, but the next iteration (using a bicycle spoke) served well. There was another broken crampon earlier in the trip which we also fixed with a bike spoke.

No crevasses any more!

We had a lunch on a busy path. People take a train to Jungfraujoch and come here to enjoy the snow in the middle of the Summer. There are many attractions including sledging, zip wire, restaurants and shops.

We visited an ice cave,

...had a relaxing break on an ice couch,

... and watched the famous Swiss chocolate being made.

A fast lift takes you to the Sphinx, a view point, so we have another look around. The weather in the Lauterbrunnental valley was not so promising.

The very last glance in the wolrd of ice. Zoom in to find our tracks ending at the turn of the ratrack road.

Looking forward. The rain has stopped. Far away, on the right of the middle of the photograph, is the Kleine Scheidegg station which we will soon reach by train.

The train goes through a tunnel which was dug in the Eiger (left) and Mönch (right) mountains more than 100 years ago. The train comes out on the surface not far from the Kleine Scheidegg station.

It only took the train half an hour to go down over 1.5 vertical kilometers. We came back into the Summer. It is so green and warm, compared to the glaciers on the other side of the mountains. We followed a path down through the meadows and forests, to find a good camping spot.

We stopped at a clearing by a stream, pretty close to the path. We picked quite a few mushrooms, and enjoyed bilberries and cowberries.

Hanging our belongings out to dry after the previous night on the glacier.

Day 9. Im Ruuben - Lauterbrunnen.

We got up at 5 am, to make sure we get to the aiport on time. The sun rose at around 6 am. Yasha and Lova took most of stuff from Victor's backpack, and he ran down ahead of the group. He got to Lauterbrunnen and drove back just before the main group descended to the road.

The red line shows our track. The arrow shows direction of travel.

Looking back at Mönch (left) from our camping spot. Sphinx is above the pass on the right but is obscured by the rocks. Zoom in to look at an icefall at the bottom of the hanging glacier on the right. It was quite noisy!

We crossed the Trümmelbach canyon and met a few ibex.

Lauterbrunnen is still far away, at the bottom of the valley. This is our final destination.

A house decorated with ibex skulls.

We repacked at a car park near Trümmelbachfälle waterfall and drove back to Zurich. The trip is over!

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