Eigernordwand 1

Thursday the clouds hung low over the mountains and valley, and, apart from a few reconnoitering walks, we did not do much. Friday I was up early to hop the 8:17 train out of Grindelwald up to Kleine Scheidegg. From there I walked up to Eigergletscher and began my crossing of the Eigernordwand, the Eiger North Face, albeit on a trail, generally on the 7,000 foot contour, above tree-line and just below the the first bands of cliffs.

Early morning prospects for a good day

The Hotel Bellvue, at Kleine Scheidegg, from which, in

the 1930s, tourists could watch attempts on the

Eigernordwand; I stopped for coffee and a look around

The Jungfraujoch--the saddle between the Monch and the

Jungfrau; on the left is the "Sphinx", the observatory/train

station...the Jungfraubahn takes you from Kleine

Scheidegg up into the Eiger, with a stop on the North Face

itself, then back through the Monch and to this station (we

did this years ago with the girls); the Jungfrau summit is on

the right

By 9:45, the Junfraujoch was clouding up; pity all the

hundreds of people who paid $100 a piece for the view

from "The Top of Europe" this morning

Swiss ingenuity: no tarn where you need one? Just build
your own!

Profile of Eigernordwand, way below the

Eigergletscher

From the Eigergletscher moraine, looking

across the Lauterbrunnen Valley--which is

so far down in the hole you can't see it;

among the cliffs are the Staubbach, the

famous waterfall, the village of Murren on

top, and, above right, in another cloud, the

Schilthorn, which I climbed Monday

A marmot on a rock just below the Eigergletscher

Off the Jungfrau, a flock of Crebain out of Dunland; no,

wait, that's New Zealand; or the Misty Mountains; or ...

Looking across the Eiger glacier to the

summit of the Monch

Lazy Day in Grindelwald

Tuesday we moved from Lauterbrunnen to Grindelwald. Pullling up stakes and driving the 20km took a good part of the day, as did finding and setting up camp at the Gletscherdorf campground in which we are now parked. It is by a glacial torrent, coming down from the Shreckhorn and its glacier, right at the northeast base of the Eiger. We have sort of an angular view of the Eigerwand. The Finsteraarhorn, the tallest of the Berner Oberland group, is just above the aforementioned glacier. We had seen and done the things we wanted to do in Lauterbrunnen, and I had tired of the $wiss anal greed on such spectacular display at the $hitzenbach campground. They charge for garbage, hot water for diswashing, showers,  wifi, etc. Where we are now is about the same price, but everything is included, even wifi. Luxury! And a pleasant and helpful staff too, unlike Shitzenback and Ms. Piggy there. And no tour busses of US and UK college students. But I digress.

Wednesday we resolved to do nothing, and then to rest. We accomplished this by walking into Grindelwald, a quarter of a mile perhaps, doing some grocery and window shopping, and then returning to the campground for a warm afternoon of reading, resting, and internetting under our awning. For dinner we enjoyed a salad and cheese fondue. Gruyere and Emmentaler, bought in the right places, and Kirsch, etc. Probably not many others were doing fondue this evening--we usually do it for Xmas--but we have our customs and traditions to uphold: when in the Berner Oberland, eat cheese fondue, no matter if it's 93 degrees outside. The chocolate course, with Caillier's, bananas and strawberries, is later this evening.

Oh, and Happy Bastille Day, y'all!

In Grindelwald, the Eiger on the right

The Finsteraarhorn, I think, is the one of the right; maybe

the left...

A 1930s tri-motor flies over the Eiger summit

Main street, Grindelwald

One of the world's more scenic putt-putt courses

They do parasailing here too, though not as profigately as

in Chamonix

Evidently Victorinox makes Swiss Army parasails; also

peels potatoes and adjusts valves on Porsches; and

downloads 8G for presentations

Making hay, the old-fashioned way; you have to admire

their work ethic...

Vicki's new camper-sized fondue pot for two

Ascent of the Schilthorn

Monday I climbed the Schilthorn, 10,000-something feet, partly for nostalgia (I had done it in 1979 or 1986, can't remember), partly for the view of the Berner Oberland. I took the cable-car from Lauterbrunnen to Murren, from 2,600 to 5,300 feet, then walked the rest of the way, via the PanoramaWeg. It was the most walking/climbing I have done in a while, but entirely worth it. Vicki spent several hours walking the valley.

The night before, alpenglow on the Breithorn

On the trail the next morning, in cow

country; international language for

electrified fence

Alpine flowers in full riot-gear

Lunch-time view from the trail: the three amigos, Eiger,

Monch, and Jungfrau

Another thousand feet, Piz Gloria, the Schilthorn

Setting for an early Bond movie, On Her Majesty's Secret

Service; George Lazenby as Bond, not Indiana Jones' dad

UNESCO-approved view of the three, from Schilthorn,

and the "village" of Murren below

Breithorn from Schilthorn

Famous sign on the razor-edge trail

Justified, too

Big mountains make their own weather: all

afternoon a killer cloud had clung to the north

face of the Eiger

On To Switzerland

After grocery shopping Saturday in Sallanches and a quiet, drizzly, evening at the Aire de la Fontaigne, near Les Houches, we drove on up the Chamonix valley, bidding reluctant farewell to France and the Pays du Mont Blanc. We stopped at the Col du Forclasz, where we spent one of the more memorable evenings on the TMB in 2005. It had been a long day, starting in Champex, Switzerland, involved picking bilberries, stopping at a mountainside cafe for refreshments, a very long walk, marveling at how far Martigny was below us (a very deep canyon it sits in), another mountainside stop at Bovine, Switzerland, for more refreshments, and then, as heavy rain began falling, the stop at the campground at Col du Forclasz. A couple from Burgundy we had been leap-frogging (nyuk-nyuk-nyuk) all through the TMB helped us set up our tent and shared their hot water for our delicious freeze-dried trekker meal. The next morning--3 days' rain were forecast--we followed them and their advice, hopping a train to the French border, then a French train on down the valley, stopping at Les Houches for a motel night, then moving back to Chamonix as our base for drying out, and then continuing the trek. Kindness of strangers. We ran into them again at Praz Plan a couple days later, back on the TMB, and returned the favor, giving them all our water...they were tenting up high, and dry, and we were heading back down. Speak, Memory.

Col du Forclasz; the campground, such as it was, is just

behind the restaurant

Vicki by the TMB signpost at Col du

Forclasz

The old fortress in Martigny; not one of Switzerland's

prettiest towns

We stopped to walk through a Sunday market at Col du

Mosses...

And drove through much charming Swiss countryside

before landing finally at a campground in Lauterbrunnen;

that's the Breithorn behind the camper

Val du Ferret

On Friday (Thursday was a domestic day, another bus ride into Courmayeur), we drove up the Val du Ferret to piece together the bad-weather day we had in 2005 between Rifugio Bertone and Rifugio Bonatti. This I did on the middle corniche, so to speak, from Arvenin to Bonatti, following a 6200 foot contour mostly, and then back down to the valley. The weather was decent, though a bit hazy.

Monte Bianco and the Aiguilles Noire, from Val du Ferret

Closer up of the summit

Italian side of Grandes Jorasses

And its glaciers

Rifugio Walter Bonatti, the best of all the TMB refuges;

Bonatti was a famous Italian climber

Dining room in the Rifugio Bonatti

Table with a view

Back down in the valley, a trout pond

And, in a clear stream by the path, a fugitive trout

After resting up (Vicki hiked the valley, again favoring her knee), we Tunneled back to Chamonix and our spot at the Aire Grepon.

Val Veny

When we did the Tour du Mont Blanc in 2005, we tented near the Rifugio Elisabetta Soldini, just down from the Col du Seigne, the French/Italian border. The Elisabetta lies at the base of three glaciers, the Petit Mont Blanc, the Estellita, and the Lex Blanche, and even during a wild Alpine thunderstorm that night, we could hear the ice calving, the rocks falling. Or so we thought. Then, about midnight, we were attacked by the red fox, first a jab at the foot of the tent, then a terrible rip at the head, and our food bag being pulled away. (Hey, it's not grizzly country). I held on to the food bag, and we suffered the rest of the night with a 3 foot tear in our little tent. We resolved the next morning to head straight into Courmayeur, for repairs and relief. Ultimately, we repaired the tent with "American tape" purchased at the hardware store. But we took the low road into Courmayeur and missed some of the more spectalcular scenery of the higher "official" TMB route. Tuesday I hiked back up nearly to the Elisabetta, then climbed up to the high route, and followed it back to our campground, via the Rifugio Maison Vielle and the Rifugio Monte Bianco.

Looking up the Val Veny toward the Col de Seigne and

France; the Rifugio Elisabetta Soldini is right center

Other people have been here...

Monte Bianco from Val Veny

Looking up to the Innominata Face of Monte Bianco

Glacier Miage, I think

Blue gentians; flowers all around

Miage Glacier and its huge moraine

Monte Bianco and the Aiguille Noire

The Grandes Jorasses through the trees, and

some of the trail

Dining room of the Rifugio Monte Bianco; time for a cold

Birra Moretti