An easy ski tour in an impressive UNESCO World Heritage landscape took us to the Jungfraujoch in the Bernese Alps in mid-April. So that we could experience the tour without stress and haste, we opted for a 2-day tour with an overnight stay at the Konkordiahütte instead of a day tour. With an easy ascent of just 440 m and a 16 km descent from the Lötschenlücke 3,170 m to 1,540 m on the second day of the tour, the focus is clearly on the descent.
We started the next day at a leisurely pace. It had snowed about 10 cm during the night, but the sun was already coming through the clouds again and the Lötschenlücke was clearly visible. The descent down the stairs was relatively unpleasant, at least for those in ski boots, and could almost be seen as a little warm-up. Baschi then had a proper warm-up, as Peter only realized at the bottom that he had forgotten his skins up in the hut.
Baschi selflessly tackled the 450 m of altitude gain and almost 1,300 steps in the morning and fetched the missing piece of equipment... Well rested and accustomed to the altitude, we then set off leisurely as the last tourers via Konkordiaplatz in the direction of Lötschenlücke. The ascent to Lötschenlücke is fairly flat and easy, but the terrain is beautiful and impressive. The ascent track dragged on like tough chewing gum, somehow the approx. 6 km stretch just didn't want to end. The planned break at the Lötschenlücke came to nothing, as an icy wind was blowing in the almost 3200 m high gap. Quickly put something on, skins off the skis and off we went. Unfortunately, the descent was no fun either. Rock-hard frozen slush, rutted and with deep tracks made the descent difficult. There was no chance of a break in the first windless section, as we were in glaciated terrain. There were impressive crevasses to the right and left of the descent line, so we decided to take our break after the glacier in more comfortable terrain. We skied past steep north-facing slopes into relatively flat terrain with individual larch trees. In spring temperatures in the afternoon, there is an increased risk of avalanches and possibly falling rocks. We kept relatively far to the left in order to have to push as little as possible. We crossed a small bridge to the Gletscherstaffel, from where we could take the road down to Blatten. From there, we took the bus and train, which brought us back to Lauterbrunnen via Goppenstein, Spiez and Interlaken Ost in 2.5 hours.
Conclusion: Easy, beautiful and varied tour with numerous more difficult variations! Would have been a wonderful descent in better snow conditions. Incidentally, this was Peter's ski tour debut. At the age of 64, he was by far the oldest ski tourer at the Konkordiahütte. He fulfilled his long-cherished dream of a ski tour across the Aletsch Glacier and put up a brave fight.
Variant options
1. Ambitious tourers and those who have no problems with altitude acclimatization can take a nice medium-difficulty tour from the Jungfraujochbahn via the Jungfrau or Louwihorn to the Konkordiahütte instead of descending directly.
2. variant classified as a difficult tour:
From the Lötschenlücke or Hollandiahütte via the Mittaghorn to Blatten. However, tourers should familiarize themselves very well with the terrain here, as the descent goes over the rugged Anungletscher.
