With the weather forecast predicting glorious mountain weather and the certainty of a firm blanket of snow, we climbed up with confidence. The only downer was the strong gusts of wind, which forced us to stop again and again so as not to lose our balance. So we made slow but steady progress. At times, the snow was so windswept that it was always difficult to edge up in the steep terrain despite the crampons.
In the upper part of the glacier, we even had to cover a section on bare ice and the idea of ascending with crampons and skis on our backs, as on a summer ascent, was discussed. However, this was quickly discarded when we had to cross a rocky ridge at the "breakfast spot" in the same way to the next "nameless" glacier - the skis on the already heavy backpack gave the wind even more surface to attack and we sometimes had the feeling of being carried down into the valley by the strong gusts. We also realised that we couldn't climb the exposed summit ridge in these conditions.
The last few hundred metres up to the ski depot at the Hugisattel (4088 m) were difficult due to the thin snow cover - the ice axe always in hand, ready to intervene at the first sign of slipping. The gusts of wind had turned into a steady breeze, fleecy clouds were creeping in from the north and a thick blanket of cloud was pushing its way up the Fiescher Glacier from the Fiescher Valley - just like the days before, an extremely interesting weather spectacle. However, the temperature was very unpleasant; an estimated minus 15° Celsius with a constant wind! It was difficult to estimate the actual temperature, but it was so cold that we couldn't take a break. Not even when we arrived at the Hugisattel (4088 m) around midday; we just quickly swapped our skis for crampons, took all the weight out of our backpacks and choked down two or three frozen power bars.
Agassizgrat
Even on the saddle, you could fully savour the exposed nature of the north-west ridge (Agassizgrat). Anyone who has ever seen the Finsteraarhorn from the north-east can imagine the feeling of standing above a 1000 metre high vertical wall. Just like we did a month ago when we were standing on Pizzo Pesciora, admiring a huge black wall on the horizon and Baschi said: "I want to stand up there!"
We hadn't quite made it yet. And the ridge was still going to demand a lot from us.
Due to the long high pressure area in February and the stormy weather in the last few days, the ridge was almost completely free of snow, but mostly covered in a centimetre-thick layer of ice. Again and again we had to climb up metre-long ice gullies below the ridge. We only made slow progress in the combined terrain and didn't allow ourselves any real rest; only now and again did we enjoy the view to the north over Grindelwald to the Black Forest or the Bergemeer to the south with the towering Matterhorn and the mighty Weisshorn.
Summit ...
Without any sense of time, we finally reached the summit (4274 m). However, the advancing afternoon and the cold urged us to take the summit photos as quickly as possible, eat the summit chocolate and descend again towards the Hugisattel. The descent dragged on like chewing gum and when we finally reached the ski depot, the sun had already disappeared from the horizon and the clouds were turning red. During the descent, the views of the surrounding mountains were once again impressive.
The descent was less impressive
A nice layer of harsh snow and no more juice in the thighs! Nevertheless, after a few minutes we reached the rocky ridge at the "breakfast spot", strapped our skis onto our backpacks again and stumbled through the scree. On the other side, we first skied a gully with a straight line before reaching the hut in the last light of day, completely exhausted.
A "cosy" way home?
Due to our tired bones, we decided not to climb any more peaks the next morning, but to return to the car "comfortably" via Grünhornlücke, Aletschgletscher and Eggishorn. But again, it wasn't a "leisurely" day.
After a late breakfast, we set off slowly towards Grünhornlücke. From there, we took one last look at the Finsteraahorn and headed off towards Konkordiaplatz. The descent was not exhilarating, but after yesterday we were glad to be able to swing a little again. To cross the lateral moraine of the Aletsch Glacier, we roped up again and roped down the glacier to Märjelensee. Unfortunately, you can't really call this a descent, as the glacier is so flat that you have to keep pushing. It felt more like the longest drag in the world!
Now came the final ascent towards Eggishorn and again the weather changed and a thick blanket of cloud obscured our view. With the (weather) experiences of the last few days and the fact that we were now back on familiar terrain, we didn't mind this time and enjoyed the descent back to the Fiescheralp ski resort despite the heavy snow cover.
Even the "Closed" signs on the valley descent couldn't hold us back; we just wanted to get to the bus as quickly as possible. We made our way down to the valley through slushy snow with our last ounce of strength. But one last surprise awaited us: it had been so warm for the last three days that there was no more snow much higher up than expected. Halfway down the descent, we had to unbuckle and descend the last 400 metres in altitude on a hiking trail for an hour, which finally gave our thighs the rest.
However, all our efforts were forgotten when we sat down in the car park in front of the bus, took off our ski boots and talked about what we had experienced. It was an unforgettable experience during which we learnt a lot about time, weather, glaciers and the mountains.
To the website of Baschi Bender
