Dodgy weather in the Alps (July ’14)

With 3 weeks in Grindelwald, we had high hopes for this year's trip to the Alps. The Eiger (via the Mittellegi ridge) was high on the list, as was the Mönch traverse, the Jungfrau via the Inner Rottal ridge, and the Finsteraarhorn. However, the weather had other ideas... I once wrote a trip report called 'The Torridonian Alps', with apparently alpine weather in the NW of Scotland - unfortunately this time it appeared to be Scottish weather in the Alps...

With quite a bit of rain, we ended up doing a fair bit of walking & running in amongst the lower hills (Shwarzhorn, Lauberhorn, Eiger trail, etc), and some sport climbing in the valley during brief drier spells (nice limestone crag within 5 minutes of the road near the Gletscherschlucht Hotel). While it was raining in the valley, it was snowing high in the mountains, meaning many of the higher routes were out of condition. The Mittellegi hut was closed, and the advice of the local guides was that the ridge wouldn't be climbable for a few weeks...

In the middle of the holiday we had about 5 days good weather, and during this time we got a few big mountain routes in - the SE ridge of the Joderhorn (D, on the Swiss-Italian border above the Mattmark dam), a traverse of the Mönch (up the SW ridge, AD, then down the SE ridge, PD), and a traverse of the Gross- and Hinter-Fiescherhörner (up the NW ridge of the Gross-Fiescherhorn, AD, then across to the Hinter-Fiescherhorn, PD, and down its SW rib, PD, before a long slog up the glacier back to Jungfraujoch).

The Eiger - looking far too snowy to climb...

1 Eiger

Gletscherschlucht cragging

1.5 Gletscherschlucht climbing

SE ridge of the Joderhorn

 

Joderhorn SE ridge seen from the approach

Joderhorn SE ridge seen from the approach

Setting off up the crux pitch (IV+)

Setting off up the crux pitch (IV+)

4 Joderhorn

 

5 Joderhorn

 

6 Joderhorn

7 Joderhorn

Summit cross

Summit cross

One of the natives on the way down...

One of the natives on the way down...

Mönch traverse

Approaching the SW ridge

Approaching the SW ridge

Crux pitch (III)

Crux pitch (III)

12 Monch

13 Monch

14 Monch

On the summit,Jungfrau behind

On the summit, Jungfrau behind

On the summit, Eiger behind

On the summit, Eiger behind

Starting the descent of the normal route, with the Fiescherhorn in the distance

Starting the descent of the normal route, with the Fiescherhorn in the distance

Fiescherhörner

Alpine dawn

Alpine dawn

On the NW ridge

On the NW ridge, looking across the top of the Fiescherwand

Looking up the NW ridge

Looking up the NW ridge

Looking down the NW ridge, Eiger beyond

Looking down the NW ridge, Eiger beyond

22 Fiesch

On the summit of the Gross-Fiescherhorn

Panorama from the summit of the Gross-Fiescherhorn

View from the summit

View from the summit

On the summit

On the summit

 

On theGross Fiescherhorn summit, Eiger beyond

On the Gross Fiescherhorn summit, Eiger beyond

View to Ochs and beyond

View to Ochs and beyond

Finsteraarhorn from Fiescherhorn

Finsteraarhorn from Fiescherhorn

On the Hinter Fiescherhorn

On the Hinter Fiescherhorn

Grunhorn

View of the Grunhorn on the way down

The long trudge back up the Ewigschneefald

The long trudge back up the Ewigschneefald

 

 

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