Crazy when a Helicopter is cheaper than the train.

 

Doggles our Pilot.

The Jungfrau railway is the gateway to the mountains of the Oberland.  It is also, for its distance, the most expensive railway journey in the world.  From Grindlewald to the incorrectly named "Top of Europe" Station is currently a nice round €200 - one way.  [ I do concede there are deals which can make it less expensive.]

I had often thought there might be another way of getting to the mountains other than the train.  What I discovered is that if there is a party of 4 of you, then it is arguably cheaper and a lot faster to simply hire a helicopter.  

This is what we did:  Michael Ian and Paul and I left Chamonix at 8.00am. and drove to a field next to an insignificant industrial estate near the town of Gampel in the Valais. At first it wasn't exactly obvious where the field was.  At 9.45hrs the helicopter arrived.

some random field...

At 10.00hrs we took off.

11minutes later  we landed just below the summit Abni Flue.

Landing point.

Needless to say all this was very exciting and there was a fair amount of sensory overload, plus it was also very windy and bitterly cold.

Due to the wind we decided not to force ourway to the summit, but instead skied down the vast glacier, threading our way through the huge crevasse's all the way to the Konkordiaplatz.

We stopped to eat our sandwiches, which didn't take long because the wind had increased.  We skinned up to the bottom of the stair- case below the Konkordia Hutte and slowly [due to the wind] made our way the the Hutte.  

The stairs to Konkordia Hutte.

Chilling by the pool.

The Hutte was full to bursting, yet the staff were well organised and both dinner and breakfast were well organised.  Still the next morning we were pleased to find our selves all alone on the vast Aletschglacier as we made our way to Feischeralp.  

We left the glacier by a nice skin ascent to the tunnel, which entranced into the spectacular Feisch valley . We then skied over to Feischeralp and rode the gondola straight onto the station platform where we took the train back to the Gampel station.  Where waiting for us was an Air Glacier pick-up truck which took us back to the car.

Part Two of the Adventure

We then drove around to Les Diablerts where we had some unfinished business from last year, when we had been foiled in our attempt to climb the Aiguille Diablerets due to some violent winds.

With no plan of where we might stay the night - we really lucked out by turning up at an amazing hotel which was just brilliant .  The Hotel du Pillon.https://www.hoteldupillon.ch/en

I arrived down stairs for a pre dinner drink to find Paul making the drinks behind the bar.  The bar was run on a trust basis!  Dinner was excellent where we were all advised to have the Hotel's signature dish - a very elaborate cheese macaroni, washed down with some local vintage red wine.

Hotel du Pillon

View from bedroom window.

After a very comprehensive breakfast [where we were given a demonstration of various boiled egg crackers] we drove up to the Glacier 3000 lift station and headed up through the lift system and then on to the summit of Les Diablerets.

Yet as we got to the top we were enveloped in thick mist.  We hung around for a bout 10 minutes and the missed cleared and we were treated to impressive views.

Summit of Les Diablerts

On our fourth and final day we skied in Chamonix.  It was almost 10 years since Michael and Ian had completed the Haute Route with me. 32 years since Michael and I had climbed Mt Blanc together!  During the Haute Route when we had skied over and onto the Argentiere glacier we had done so in thick mist.  [Plus there had also been the Grands Montets cable car.]. This time we had a cloudless day.

So we skinned up from the top of the Herse lift and then skied down onto the Argentiere glacier before making our way down the piste to lunch at the Cremerie d'Argentiere  my favourite restaurant in the Chamonix valley.

Michael & Ian

Glacier des Rognans

A Ski Traverse of the Oberland.

 

Extrordinary photo skiing of the Trugberghttps://catherinelewisphotography.co.uk/home/

Despite living in Switzerland and being a keen climber and skier Catherine Lewis had not yet been to the mountains in the Oberland.  Last years trip was thwarted by the weather and we ended up going to Italy instead. Hopefully it would be second time lucky - Again she was joined by her friend Kate Ferguson.

We had a plan and followed it.  Catherine and Kate drove from Geneva and we met just outside Martigny with the aim of having a warm up ski tour at my new favourate ski resort: Liddes.  I had been there exactly  a week beforehand and had enjoyed perfect conditions.  I couldn't think of a reason not to return.  

Yet when we arrived it was shut.  Shut for the season despite the conditions still being  immaculate.

I was taken off guard and had a mild panic attack- yet fortunately   conjured up a plan B.  We drove to what use to be the Super Gd St Bernard ski area, but it sadly closed in 2010.  [There is a brilliant short video about the place which is defiantly worth wathchingGhost Resorts]

We enjoyed a good ascent to the "col sud de Menouve" on the Swiss /Italian border.

Catherine & Kate getting excited about crossing the border.

What's more the ski back down was really really good.

The old pylons & our ski tracks.

 Then we drove to Visp and abandoned the car at the railway station.  Afterwhich we took the train to Grindlewald and checked into the Hotel Wolter which is a minutes walk from the train station.

[It was part of the plan because we didn't have any foot wear other than our ski boots.]

Now, we knew the weather forecast for the next day, Wednesday, was going to be indifferent so we had already fine-tuned our plans to take this into account.  We made our way upto the Jungfraujoch via coffee in the exquisite Bellevue Hotel at Kliene Schydegg before stopping for an indifffernt lunch at "The Top of Europe" railway station.  Two Hundred Swiss Francs for a one way ticket - The most expensive railway in the world which always reminds me of the quote:

"Switzerland: A place that works the senses so thoroughly that you barely notice the efficiency with which it simultaneosly working your wallet."

Especially for the poor people who had made the trip in the zero visibility...

Into the bad weather.

Catherine leaving  through the exit door

 We made our way slowly to the Monchjoch Hutte along the semi ploughed track and as we did the weather slowly started to clear and we caught the odd glimpse of our destination.

The Monchjoch Hutte.

The next morning it was a different story:  The weather was stellar.  

view from Monchjoch Hutte.

We left the Hutte at about 8.00hrs and skied down the Ewigschneefäld glacier, where  we then made a gradual climb up to the col just below the Trugberg.  

Arriving at the col below the Trugberg

This set us up with a truely world class ski all the way down to the Jungfrau glacier then onto the Aletsch glacier.

descent from the Trugberg line of descent in red.

We stopped for a picnic inorder to fortify ourselves before the stair case climb to the Konkordia Hutte.

This year there are 400 steps to negociate.  No doubt next year there will be more added.

The 400 steps

Mind you, you can stop half way up the steps to write and send a post card.

Nevertheless once you arrive the Konkordia Hutte is in an  undeniably extrordinary position.

View from terrace at sun set looking toward the Hollandia Hutte and direction Blatten

The next morning the weather was still perfect.  We had breakfast at 6.00hrs and were away just before 7.00hrs. Our plan was to ski down the rest of the the Aletsch glacier and arrive in Fiescheralp.  But before we could do that- there was the matter of negotiating the 400 steps...

Me & Kate at the top of the metal stairs.

At the bottom of them, we collected our skis and headed off down the glacier.  Despite the hutte being very busy the previous night we soon found ourselves all alone in this mind boggling wilderness- still the longest glacier in Europe.

The Aletsch glacier.

Near the foot of the glacier we made a left turn and transitioned from skiing to skinning and headed up a beautiful valley towards the tunnel which takes you into the ski resort of Fiesch.

The skin from the glacier to the tunnel  takes about 40 minutes.

Light at the end of the tunnel -1 km away.

The tunnel is about one kilometer long, complete with a creepy shrine halfway along it.  Once at the far end you find your self in a completely different valley system - a short ski followed by a short walk puts you into the Fiesch lift system.  We followed a long traverse, [which because it faces due south we were happy to complete in the morning ] puts you onto the piste and eventually athe the foot of chair lift which we blagged a free ride back up to Feischeralp.  From here we took a gondola down to the town of Feisch.

Infact the gondala dumps you in the railway stattion!  Half an hours wait for the train, then back to Visp where we picked up the car.  A very satifactory trip.

If ski touring can be better than this - Then show me what it looks like...

Mighty Grand Combin seen from Tour Bavon.

 

It snowed the day before John Young and I were due to meet for our six days ski touring together.  But there after the weather forecast for the next 4 days was perfect.

So on our first day together it was nescessary to let the newly fallen snow settle down and for the avalanche risk to go down before we headed off on any steep terrain.  We therefore opted to head to Combloux and climb the Petit Croisse Baulet.

John on the summit with Mt Blanc peaking through the cloud

Once on the summit we had to decide which way to ski down inorder to find the best snow and most interesting descent.  We choose to head in the direction of Geittaz.  This proved to be a good choice as we found great untracked snow and we had the place to ourselves.  Yet there was a price to pay because the snow did run out leaving us with a 20 minute walk through some very gooey mud.

It was good while it lasted

20 miunutes walk

Followed by a tricky river crossing which I should have in hindsight walked across sans ski and only just made it without a comedy moment.

This could end badly

John having watched, on much bemused, elected to walk ...

The drop into the stream is further than it looks!

On the Tuesday we headed to Liddes.  This is about an hours drive from Chamonix in the village just before the Gd St Bernard tunnel.  The ski tour was absoultly sensational .  We had fresh snow and once we left the "lift System" [Liddes has one chair and two drags], we saw no one - yet had perfect blue skies.

We arrived on the summit of the Tour Bavon where we had a picnic before skiing down the vast comb before rejoining the track which eventually lead us back to the car.

 

The day wouldn't have been complete without stopping at the Fondue Vending machine which is conviently situated on the main road in Liddes. [Best Fondue cheeses I have ever eaten]

 On the Wednesday we skied off the back of Le Brevent, despite it being a 100% busier than the two previous days we still found some untracked cold snow which was excellent. 

 This was a sort of reverse ski tour, because we did most of the skiing first and then skinned back upto Lac Cornu then upto the Col de la Gliere, before skiing down the Combe de la Gliere into the Flegere lift system.  

traversing Lac Cornu

On the Thursday we headed for Les Contamines, where, because we had had 3 days of solid sunshine, combined with cold clear nights - we hoped to find some good spring snow.  We were not dissapointed and were rewarded with some huge long descents on perfect spring snow.

Me on spring snow with Mt Blanc in the background.

By Friday the weather was begining to turn- with the dreaded Foehn threatening to appear.  We decided to stay local and ski off the back of Le Tour.  This proved to be very good, with the added bonus that we had the place to ourselves.

John skiing off the summit of the Tete de Balme with the Foehn weather obscuring Mt Blanc.

Saturday the forecast was for poor weather , so again we decided to stay local and find some tree skiing which was relatively high.  We headed to Les Grands Montets.  Not for the first time this month the weatther forecast was completely wrong -in our favour.  The skiing off -piste was poor so we contented our selves by skiing on piste and then heading for lunch at the always excellent Cremerie d'Argentire - probably my favourite place to eat while skiing at Les Grands Montets.

The many many people heading off on the Haute Route