George Cave

Through the mountain

Our last day of the tour and there was just enough time for one last adventure. We had heard almost by chance of the Tälligrattunnel, a kilometre long shortcut beneath the mountain which would take us to the ski resort and town below. The hut had barely enough signal to allow us to retrieve a likely GPS co-ordinate, but we arrived at the hillside and dug in good faith. Our work was rewarded and soon the entrance revealed itself. The shortcut was ours!

Skiing to Konkordia

Another day of very challenging weather and navigation as we crossed to Konkordia over the Grünhornlücke. I led the route uphill in near zero-visibility, using a rope on the pole to look for terrain changes in the landscape ahead. We roped up for the ski down, which was equally exciting!

Digging on the Wyssnollen

A thick white-out enveloped the whole glacier all day, forcing us to abandon our trip up the Wyssnollen. Instead, we resorted to my second favourite winter activity, digging!

Crossing to the Finsteraarhornhütte

Today was a big day out as we crossed over the range to the Finsteraarhornhütte on the opposite side. The steep approach to the col was filled with the same soft snow we had experienced two days previously on the Monch and we were very grateful for the French guided party in front for breaking the trail!

After summiting the Hinter Fiescherhorn we set off down to the hut through the maze of crevasses, serac debris and must-make turns!

Walcherhorn

A marvellous day of weather in the Bernese Oberland. We were sad to leave Will behind to fix a problem with his skins; the remaining three of us made a day trip to the Walcherhorn across the glacier from our base in the Mönchsjoch Hut.

Approaching the Mönch

Will, Clay, Steve and myself began our week of ski touring with a skin across to the base of the Mönch. The half metre of unconsolidated powder did little to deter us from making a start on the route... until around 40m up when we decided our vertical swim was a hopeless endeavour and we should retire to the hut to plan the rest of our week's touring.