Trip Report – Sustengebiet, Berner Oberland
by Gabe Williams
I picked up my buddy Cary from the airport in Duesseldorf on Saturday night, August 2. Unfortunately his flight from Chicago was delayed by six hours and he missed his connecting flight, so he ended up getting to Duesseldorf much later than planned. This meant that he did not have as much time to relax and get rested up for the trip. We packed our stuff and fell tiredly into bed.
The alarm clock rang harshly at 4:30 am after a short night. Astrid, Cary, and I loaded up Lukas, Astrid's 1983 diesel VW Transporter (Club Joker model) and puttered off. We headed south over Frankfurt, Karlsruhe, Basel, Luzern to Meiringen, where we met my parents (the 'rents). We made great time, considering that Lukas has a top speed of 120 km/h and can sense an incline of only 0.5% from miles away. We ground up some of the steep pass roads in die Schwyz in second gear. Guys on road bikes were almost passing us but we managed to get there in only 7.5 hrs. There has been a real heat wave over here and we were sweating in the 90 degree F (35° C) heat with no AC. We did stop off in Lungern and hopped in the clear, cool, azure water – the lakes in Switzerland are amazing!
We moved the gear to my car and drove up to the trailhead at the Hotel Steingletscher. YM (my mother Judy) stayed in the hotel since she was nursing a sprained wrist and knee from a fall on the last day of the hike from Interlaken to Meiringen. She was in good spirits considering the circumstances and did not seem to mind a few days of rest and relaxation in town.
The path to the Tierbergli hut was short but steep, climbing 2500 vertical feet (800 m) in only a few kilometers (a few miles). I had stuffed a ton of food in my pack including seven apples, a dense loaf of dark bread, a whole 750 g salami and 2 kg of cheese, so I was moving pretty slowly. Cary had also decided to pack everything including the kitchen sink, this combined with generally being tired from the trip made the ascent pretty hard. Astrid and Dad cruised to the hut and checked in. We ambled in quite a bit later and enjoyed a tasty dinner. Anything would have tasted good – I was starving. The evening light on the mountains and sunset were incredible – I really enjoy the peace and quiet and natural beauty after dinner, looking out over the mountains.
The next morning we did a nice warm-up climb to the Gwaechtenhorn, a peak about 3400 m near the hut. It was basically a glacier slog but the views were good and there were some interesting crevasse fields. The trail wound over and around quite a number of crevasses, all of them visible quite well. The biggest concern was the warm weather. The freezing line was at 4300 m, so the snow (and the snow bridges) did not freeze overnight. Despite this everything was stable and we had no problems. The soft snow did make walking a bit more tiresome than usual, since your feet would sometimes sink in or slide back when stepping up. The views from the summit were great – the Sustenhorn, Hinter- and Vorder-Tierberg and far off the trifecta of the Moench, Eiger, and Jungfrau. We hung around a bit, then went back to the hut for a welcome rest.
The next day we decided to climb the Sustenhorn then descend back to the valley. Cary wanted to do a bit of sightseeing, Dad wanted to check up on YM, Astrid had gotten some big blisters from her plastic boots on the approach and wanted a break from mountaineering as well. The climb of the Sustenhorn (3504 m) started off through the same crevasse field as the Gwaechtenhorn but then cut off and headed up a moderate snow slope. We started before dawn and were rewarded with a great show of the night sky lightening, colors fading in and illuminating the horizon with red, purple, and yellow light. Good stuff.
After zigzagging up the face we gained the final summit ridge and topped out. The snow was quite hard and icy in spots since most of the soft, fresh snow had melted. Sometimes I had the feeling of climbing on a giant, hard Snow Cone – after being trampled by crampons the trail was littered with small ice chips. It was just too warm. After enjoying the great views from the rocky summit we headed back down, slogging through the soft snow back to the hut. We were a bit more tired after this climb than after the Gwaechtenhorn – it was a bit longer and higher. After a nice break on the terrace, soaking up the warm sun we descended down to the car. We all noticed our legs a bit from the climbing and descending but arrived at the car in good spirits. We dipped our hot, aching feet in a glacial melt-fed stream, the water was shockingly cold – I could only hold my feet in for 10 sec or so, and afterward they were frozen as if frost nipped. After they warmed up they felt great.
We drove back to Meiringen, met YM, dropped off Dad, and drove to find a campsite. Cary, Astrid, and I stayed in the VW bus while Mom and Dad holed up in the nice digs of the hotel Victoria. Cary was feeling the pain of the high prices in Switzerland – he is used to traveling around Latin America where you can get by on 20 bucks a day, not paying more than a pittance for lodging. He was pretty amazed to find out how much the Swiss huts cost, especially how much drinks, etc. cost. A 1.5 liter bottle of Aqua Minerale costs about $8 baht! Dad brought a water filter and we filtered some glacial melt water. It took about 6 minutes for a liter. That works out to $25 an hour for pumping water ... not bad.
Back at the campsite we took welcome showers, washing off the sweat, sunscreen and general dusty grime. We walked back into town to meet the 'rents, enjoying the evening light playing in the steep limestone walls around Meiringen. Dinner consisted of pizza, salad, and red wine – it tasted delicious!!
Wednesday Mom, Dad and Cary did some sightseeing in Grindelwald and Kleine Scheidegg, getting a view of the Moench, Jungfrau, and the Eiger. Astrid and I took a "rest" day and climbed a nine pitch route near the Grimselpass. This area is known for its fantastic granite friction routes. The valley was carved out by a glacier, the snow and ice grinding along leaving smooth, polished, slabby walls of granite. We planned to do a VI- (5.8+) but after we got out of the car and felt the roasting heat already at 10:00 am we ratcheted down our ambitions and headed for a pleasant IV+ (5.6?) instead. It turned out to be the right decision; the heat was intense as Astrid led the first pitch. It turned out to be pretty tough; the first move was a pure friction move with nothing for the hands. Whew – not being used to the type of rock it was tough. We both used „el mano de dios” and grabbed the quickdraw to get up the polished rock. And this was a 5.6???? We were glad to not have started up the harder route. The route was at least well bolted. We alternated leads, it was a great climb. Once you got used to the rock you could literally almost run up the easier 5.4 slabs, clipping three or four bolts for one 40 m pitch. The heat was pretty intense, though, so we did not want to hang out too long. After topping out we did four double rope raps to reach the base.
We stopped at the grocery store in town and picked up stuff for dinner. Dinner was a home-cooked meal of vegetable/chicken curry, with a salad and appetizer of fresh melon and thinly sliced ham ... mmmmmm. I am getting hungry writing this – I have not eaten dinner yet. We also had cold beers and local red wine, which helped us stay cool in the warm evening air. It had cooled off a bit but was still humid and sticky.
Thursday we had a relaxing morning then caught the train up to the Jungfraujoch. Mom stayed behind in Meiringen, she was enjoying the peace and quiet and getting to know the town and characters quite well. Meanwhile the swelling in her wrist had gone down, the mobility was better and it looks like it will heal OK. Her knee was much better as well. Astrid stayed in the valley also, wanting to give her chewed-up heels a rest.
The funicular railway (cog railway) up to the Jungfraujoch at about 3500 m is exorbitantly expensive (don't ask how much) but it does take about 2500 vertical meters off the hut ascent. I debated where to climb – we had originally planned to stay in the Susten area but decided to focus on some more difficult snow routes than what is available in the Susten area. The warm weather also meant that there was very little snow in the lower elevations, which was a clear disadvantage of the peaks in the Sustengebiet. We bit the bullet and dropped the cash for the train ticket.
We soon were heading up past the Eiger Nordwand, the north face of the Jungfrau and the Nollen Bollwerk route on the Moench. The ride takes almost two hours with a few stops for the hordes of (mostly Japanese) tourists to gawk at the Eiger glacier and peer out of the windows at the Stollen stop of the train. The sense of history at the Eiger is strong; despite a lack of snow and ice the famous climbing sections are easily visible: the second icefield, the Hinterstoisser traverse, the white spider, the final exit ramp.
We arrived at the station in the early afternoon and walked to the Moenchjoch hut at 3650 m (about 11900 ft). The weather, as it had been all week, was clear and blazingly hot. Arriving at the hut we relaxed, sorted gear, ate a tasty meal and hit the sack early. The destination the next day was the Jungfrau, literal translation „virgin”.
The alarm roused us at 3:40. I didn't sleep much and basically tossed and turned all night until the alarm finally released me from the bed. I did have to go outside at midnight to take a leak and marveled the incredible view of the stars and bright moon. We packed up, ate a quick breakfast and were soon crunching along on the frozen snow of the glacier at 5:00. Luckily it had frozen overnight and the conditions were perfect. We switched off our headlamps as the sky brightened, the blackness fading to a cool blue. We were one of the last groups to leave the hut as we arrived at the first technical section of the route behind two guided groups. To gain the Rottal ridge you had to cross over a narrow snow bridge over the Bergschrund or gap between the rock buttress and the glacier, then climb up a 10 ft almost vertical ice slope, then finally traverse a steep snow/ice slope to the rock. After the last guided person made it up (she did not look too practiced with crampons and ice axe, but managed somehow) I climbed up with my long axe and short ice tool, placed an ice screw to protect the second, then traversed across to the belay at an iron post. I was glad to have the second ice tool – it was quite icy and the long axe with the negative clearance pick (typical of most long mountaineering axes) was pretty much crap on the hard ice. Cary and Dad cruised across as well and then the rock climbing began. Cary is not a big rock climber; he does fine but had not climbed much in the past few years. He was wearing plastic boots also, which are not the most sensitive rock shoes. He gamely climbed and scrambled up the rocky ridge. There are a few spots of easy fifth class climbing but it is mostly a scramble. The exposure was big, though, and we took our time. We reached the spine of the ridge and strapped crampons on for the rest of the route.
The route led up the Rottal ridge on perfect Firn (hard snow), following the ridge pretty closely. There are some spots where a fall would pitch you over a steep headwall down onto the glacier so we took care in placing our feet and ice axes. It was not so steep, however, and we soon reached the Rottal saddle. The traverse to the ridge of the Jungfrau was easier than I expected. It can look a bit steep but was actually quite moderate, with a nice broken trail making it even easier. The only danger is icefall from some cornices on the ridge, but they were quite small this time of year (much smaller than when I tried the Jungfrau early in 2002) and did not pose any problems. The next technical section came after the traverse.
We roped up to cross a few crevasses then came up just below the long summit ridge of the Jungfrau. The route crossed another large crevasse, climbed up a short vertical ice step then traversed across a steep snow slope to the knife edge snow ridge. Same drill as before – I led across, placing an ice screw above the ice step then climbing to the ridge. I was rewarded with a great view as I peered over the ridge, seeing the other valley and peaks for the first time all day. I made a belay off my ice axes, since I was on the other side of the ridge I had a good stance anyway and would tend to be pulled into the snow if I had to hold a fall. I belayed Cary and Dad across and we were soon all standing on the quite exposed, narrow snow ridge.
Cary was unsure about continuing; the route climbed up the snow ridge, traversed a steep icy slope then led up a rock ridge to the summit. He was not digging the rock climbing and it looked quite exposed. We discussed the situation and he decided to come along for a look. The route description mentions steel poles that you can use to protect the last rock ridge and I was confident we could belay all the way up or simul-climb if necessary. We gingerly soloed up the steep, exposed snow ridge then belayed each other across the icy traverse. There have been countless accidents on the traverse, mostly from unroped climbers. We protected the traverse using the in-situ iron bar and it was quite harmless.
The last 250 vertical meters to the summit were all rock climbing and scrambling, with only a few short snow fields. We climbed some of the last rock section in crampons, which always takes getting used to. There were some quite exposed sections and climbing up to 5.2/5.3 or so, so I led the hard parts with a double rope then belayed both Dad and Cary simultaneously using a belay plate (Salewa guide).
We arrived on the summit at 12:15 and soaked in the magnificent views. A cold wind blew, however, and we had the thoughts of the descent in the back of our minds so we soon packed our stuff and headed back down. Everyone was doing well, Cary was a bit tired (mentally also from the exposed rock climbing) but otherwise OK. We belayed down most of the rock sections – I would belay Dad and Cary down from the top then downclimb with a belay from below. This meant I would theoretically have a huge fall but at least not fly completely into the abyss if I peeled off. I felt good and completely comfortable with the climbing so it was no problem.
On one short, slabby section we debated whether to belay – Cary had climbed up with no problem. Dad scrambled down then turned to help Cary. He started down, got in an awkward position, his feet slipped and he suddenly tumbled down the slope ... falling into Dad, who had managed to brace himself and catch Cary with an alarmed shout after the 6 foot low angle fall. Hearts pounding they froze on the slab, I climbed down and we all climbed the short bit down the scree. It was an adrenaline shock and good lesson for all us. Cary was pretty rattled and did not trust his feet much after the fall.
We belayed every rock climbing section down the summit ridge, finally ending with me lowering Dad and Cary down to the belay on the icy traverse to the snow ridge. I downclimbed with a belay from below and joined them on the ridge. It was getting late as the belaying had taken time; we also had to set up a couple of belays using slung flakes as anchors.
Back at the icy traverse off the ridge Dad climbed down with me belaying from the ridge, placing an ice screw again at the top of the ice step. Cary followed across, being belayed from me from above and Dad from a stance below. He skidded off the icy traverse but with the double belay only slid down 6 feet or so. He quickly regained the track and climbed smoothly across the rest of the traverse and down the ice step, then stepping across the yawning crevasse. Good job! I followed, cleaning the ice screw and downclimbing the ice step with a belay from below, which meant basically unprotected. A slip would have shot me down into the crevasse, hanging 40 feet below the edge if my fall had not been interrupted by slamming into the snow bridge or rim of the Bergschrund. I used my trusty ice tool and climbed carefully down with good beta from Dad and Cary on the footholds. The slope had been climbed quite a lot and there were good steps for footholds.
We all breathed a sigh of relief (we had completed two of the three traverses, we were off the steep, exposed snow ridge) and roped up for the traverse across the Rottal saddle. We progressed steadily down across the snow field then down the firn fields of the Rottal ridge. The harsh sunlight of midday was yellowing to a mellow afternoon glow. We took our time on the last rock ridge, belaying all the tricky sections. Cary did great and trooped along. The belaying took time, though, and the continual coiling of the rope and belaying never seemed to stop. I also forgot my ice axe at one belay station and had to climb back up 30 m to retrieve it, which cost us 10 extra minutes. We arrived at the final icy traverse around 16:45 and made it across with no problems.
Once on the glacier we retraced our steps across the heavily crevassed surface, paying extra attention to the solidity of the snow bridges after the sun had pounded them all day. They turned out to be quite solid – since the heat wave has lasted a number of weeks any of the weak bridges and snow had already melted. We pushed the pace to get back to the hut before dinner at 7 pm. Unfortunately we had to climb back up 300 vertical meters to the hut (1000 vertical feet) which seemed to take forever. I felt good despite the long day and arrived at the hut at 7:03 pm. Dad arrived not long after, Cary then a bit after. He was pretty bushed. We took off gear, changed clothes and sat down to a heavenly dinner. Dad was pretty beat after the 14 hour day as well, hardly touching his dinner. I felt tired but had plenty of appetite and wolfed down the Spaetzle, Rotkohl, and meat.
I had wanted to do the Jungfrau (no jokes please!!) for a long time – it was great to finally climb it. Despite the one mishap it felt pretty safe – we had good belays on almost all of the hard sections, using rock flakes, buried ice axes as T-anchors, pitons, ice axes rammed in the snow, you name it.
Astrid had meanwhile taken the train up and joined us on the final climb to the hut. It was good to see her smiling face after the long day.
On Saturday Astrid and I had talked about doing a traverse of the Moench (nice route) but decided against it due to lack on info on the route up from the ridge from the Jungfrau and the fact that we did not have much time on Saturday morning before descending. We also got up late, which sealed the decision. Instead we ran up the East Ridge, the normal route. It is by no means a walk up though – it has some 5.3 climbing, very exposed snow ridges and fairly steep, hard snow sections. The sunrise was fantastic, with great views of the Aletschhorn, Gross Fiescherhorn, Jungfrau, and the Eiger. We topped out after 1 hr 45 min (450 vertical meters from the hut) and took in the scenery. It felt quite cold, however, with an icy wind blowing so after letting a guided group reach the summit we tramped down the exposed snow ridge, only 2 ft wide in some spots.
We were back at the hut before 10 and headed down the train station after a quick bite. All in all it was a great week in the mountains... Cary and I drove back to Aachen on Saturday night. After a short night we got another alpine start and headed for the Duesseldorf airport at 5:15 am. At least Cary should sleep well on the plane...
That's the news from here...
Finis
Aachen, August 10, 2003
(erschienen im "Höhenrausch" 4 / 2003)
