Trip Reports

Oberland 4000ers - 20 to 27 July 2019

Grunegghorn 3869m - Mark and Pip
Trip Report

Written by Leader Jamie Holding, July 2019

Big mountains: Gathering in Grindelwald with Guides Hannah Burrows-Smith and Richard Dupont, we primed our group of Raija, Pip, Julie, Mark, Ralf and Jonathan for the week ahead. With the promise of stable weather, we knew high temperatures would influence our route choices and timings. An isotherm above 4000m would quickly eat snow and create icy slopes on certain aspects.

The Jungfraujoch railway soon deposited us at the head of the Konkordia glacier, which we descended to a welcome at the Konkordia hut 2850m.

Big days: We made the Finsteraarhorn 4273m our primary objective, the highest peak in the Oberland. The Grunegghorn 3860m provided a challenging and taxing acclimatising peak, with a glacier approach and a final rock ridge.

The Finsteraarhorn offers a superb Alpine ascent. Beginning with a scramble in the dark, a glacier leads to a  rocky, scree covered shoulder, from which a delicate icy slope gives access to the snowy North West flank. Zig zags up this, around crevasses, leads to the Huggisattel at 4088m and the South West ridge. Crampons off for the airy rock ridge and we were all perched on the summit soon after 9am, with clear views of the Oberland and the Southern Alpine chain of mountains. Retracing our steps demanded concentration, back down to the hut at 3048m, where their hospitality refuelled us before an afternoon nap.

Big efforts: The cumulative effect of acclimatising, early starts and disrupted sleep patterns began to take its toll. Another pre-dawn start, to get the benefit of an overnight refreeze of the glacial snow cover, saw us crest the Grunhornlucke 3280m to the first rays of the mornings sun. Our timing ensured the Konkordia glacier was suffiently refrozen for us to tiptoe over the thawing pasdejoie (paddling pools). A cool breeze helped our efforts reascending to the Jungfraujoch and onwards, past the madding crowds, to the Monchjoch hut 3657m.

An updated forecast, news that Grindelwald Guides were restricting the Monch’s narrow summit ridge to 1:1, and  an appraisal of the icy summit slopes of the Jungfrau, were factored into our decision making for the week’s finale.

Big rewards: A later breakfast at 6am saw us embark on the South East ridge of the Monch 4107m. A sunny scramble up the limestone ridge put us all on a rocky perch just short of the summit ridge. Taking turns, one Guide with one client, we approached the final snowy crest. I had talked if it being half the width of a hut table, in places it was less! Konkordia 600m down one side, Kleine Scheidegg 2000m down the other. The exposure wasn’t for everyone and I’m grateful each person made a careful decision to continue or not. Either way, summit or not, we’d had a brilliant mountain experience.

With a mixed Friday forecast it remained only to head to the Jungfraujoch, from the sublime to the ridiculous, and ride the rails to Grindelwald, rewarded by the giants of the Oberland.

Special thanks to Guides Hannah and Richard, for making all this possible,  and to a special group of climbers who responded to the call of the mountains.


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