The Swiss Berner Oberland mountain area is home for many of the most magnificent mountains of the alps such as Eiger, Jungfrau, Finsteraarhorn and the Mönch. To come here has been on the to-do-list for a long time and finally came the chance to discover some parts of this exciting place.
In January, Gorm and I held a skiing course for the British Royal Marines Mountain Leaders. Every year since 40 years now, they are coming to Lauterbrunnen, not far from the city Interlaken in Switzerland for their alpine climbing training. We were invited to join them this year and was met by a fantastic hospitality and friendly welcome as we arrived mid June.
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| View over the Berner Oberland massif from the Schutzenbach campsite with Grosshorn and Brighthorn |
Gorm and I went climbing on the Lobhörner mountain the first day, a limbstone mountain looking like a lobster as it stretches out on the opposite side of the Eiger and Jungfrau mountains. The Lobhorner is more like an alpine climb even though you are no more than 2-3 hours from civilisation.
The traverse is grade 4 and we could climb everything in our mountain boots, up and down small towers and steeper pitches combined with rappels and airy balancing on a narrow ridge. Good fun.
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| Nice approach with the Eiger and Jungfrau mountain view ahead of us |
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| The Lobhörner mountain |
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| The airy exposure on top of the Lobhörner |
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| One abseil out of several on the Lobhörner |
The next adventure was the Gelmerfluhe mountain with the climbing route Saggitarius that had pitches of 6b climbing on slabs and cracks on granite rock. We started out in slight rain and had to keep the focus hard even on the lower, easier pitches, not to slip. As we gained height the weather improved and the upper slabs luckily dried.
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| I'm starting out on "Saggitaurius", in the pouring rain |
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| The Gelmerfluhe mountain with the route Saggitaurius on the highest face |
The very best pitch was undoubtedly the "30 meter crack" (7th pitch), a beautiful hand jam crack that gave the whole climb the extra little thing well worth going for!
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| The 30 meter crack! |
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| The 7th pitch gave us really good crack climbing |
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| Gorms setting off on dry rock on the upper slabs |
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| The 6b slab, no holds, only balance and ...stretch |
Lauterbrunnen is a small village with a nice campsite/resort called the Schutzenbach. The view from the valley up the mountains is beautiful. Unluckily for us now, the weather over the Alps is poor and we've had showers for a couple of days. We're hoping for some weather windows so that we can get up exploring the high altitude area soon.
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| Lauterbrunnen |
After a visit to the village Grindelwald the other day, guidebooks and maps were bought and dreams have started to develop. It just seems to be a mecca of alpine climbing here. Just looking up at the Eiger and Jungfrau mountains from down below in the valley gives you inspiration... if it just wasn't so much rain and snow fall now...
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| The guide book "Plaisir west"covers the nearby region |
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| Topping out Lobhörner |
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| Nice walk-ins! |
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| Gorm following at Saggitaurius in the light rain |
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| Gorm on a wet 2nd pitch |
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| Somewhere on the upper pitches |
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| The 30 meter crack is mine :-) |
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| Coming up after the "30-meter crack" pitch |
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| I'm following on the 4th pitch |
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| Small roads, cows, nature, Switzerland |
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| A sweet day in the sun at Lobhörner |
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| Getting back down from the Lobhörner mountain |
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| Season of flowers and colours! |
What an awesome adventure! I also wanted to try something like that! Thank for sharing this :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this valuable knowledge.
ReplyDeleteI've read a lot of blogs, but I've never seen anything quite like this. Furthermore, I'm grateful for the opportunity to introduce myself through your posts. All you've written has left me speechless. For an instance, I've bookmarked this for future reference because it's still really useful, even after many years. You have defined clearly about how to go for rock climbing is effective and adventurous.
Thank you for sharing this valuable knowledge.
ReplyDeleteI've read a lot of blogs, but I've never seen anything quite like this. Furthermore, I'm grateful for the opportunity to introduce myself through your posts. All you've written has left me speechless. For an instance, I've bookmarked this for future reference because it's still really useful, even after many years. You have defined clearly about rock climbing in Switzerland, instruction & adventurous moments that we can enjoy. It's very good feel to be part of unique mountain adventures.