When I found out I was going to Amsterdam on business, my first European business trip, I almost immediately thought of tacking on a few days so that I could visit the Alps. The only other time I had been to the Alps was in July of 1989. On that trip I went to the Dolomites in Italy, climbed Mount Blanc above Chamonix, France, and then climbed the Matterhorn near Zermatt, Switzerland. The one area on my list that I didn't have time to visit was the beautiful valley where Grindelwald sits in the Bernese Oberland area of Switzerland. Here the Eiger looms 10,000 feet over the town. This mountain needs no introduction in climbing circles as it is probably the most famous mountain in the Alps. At least to climbers and this is because of its awesome 6,000 foot North Face and its colorful history. Now was my time to fill in that gap.

Instead of flying into and out of Amsterdam, I got my flight switched to fly out of Amsterdam on Friday night, after our meetings, to Zurich. From there I would take a train to Grindelwald. The extra destinations didn't make the plane ticket any more expensive because of the Saturday night stay. Flights to Europe are much cheaper if you stay a Saturday night. Hence, I could basically get the flight to Zurich and home form there for no charge. I got permission from Sheri to stay three extra days, only one of which had to be a vacation day. Now my only problem was a climbing a partner.

There were six of us from work going on this trip. Two of them, Steve and Mark, were also climbers though not currently very active. I sent out an Email asking if they'd be interested:

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Since you are both climbers, I'd like to know if either or both of you would like to stay on in Europe for 2-3 days after the meeting and climb a mountain. I know Steve has plans, but maybe the lure of the Eiger will entice him. I'd like to do the Eiger. There are at least two possible routes for us to do: Mittellegi Ridge (5.7) and the West Flank (low 5th class). I've never been to this area of Switzerland and would love to see it. Plus there is an easier and higher mountain there called the Monch that we could do even in relatively bad weather so we should at least get something done.

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Which route to climb

I found one post on the Mittellegi Ridge by Keith Baxter (http://www.climbnet.com/LaFantastique/keith.html.) We corresponded a bit about the route. He agreed that the Mittellegi Ridge was the best route on the Eiger, but he also said, "Early July there will probably be too much snow." Here, much to our chagrin, he was very accurate.

In Colorado there are 54 mountains which rise over 14,000 feet. These mountains are called 14ers and they are hotly pursued by hikers and climbers. Most of these mountains are hikes or easy scrambles and only a few involve fourth class climbing where a rope might be nice. There are no mandatory snowfields or glaciers on any of them.

In the Alps there are 61 mountains which rise over 4000 meters (13,200 feet). These are called 4000ers and are only cautiously pursued by experienced climbers. 4000 meters doesn't sound so high to a Coloradoan. Only 15 of the 4000ers are over 14,000 feet. The highest though is almost 5000 meters, almost 16,000 feet. The highest Colorado peak, Mt. Elbert, is only 14,4?? feet. The 4000ers include ?? mountain higher than Elbert. The easiest 4000er is technically harder and more dangerous than the hardest 14er. Every 4000er requires the use of technical gear, at the very least ice axe and crampons. Almost everyone requires some glacier travel which usually means a rope and the ability to extricate ones self from a crevasse should you fall in. The hardest 4000er is a challenging climb for experienced climbers and takes at least three days. Some require climbing more than 10,000 vertical feet.

Alpine 4000ers vs. Colorado 14ers

Dropped off at the airport, flight delayed an hour, can't make it all the way to Grindelwald, have to stay in Interlaken, took a taxi to the Camping Jungfrau. Went to sleep at 2 a.m.,

Saturday, July 11th: Mönchslochhütte

up at 6:30 a.m. Taxi arrives at 7 a.m. Up to Grindelwald. Check with the guide shop. No one has done the Mittellegigrat this year. Great. This sounds like when I visit the Grand Teton and they tell me that no one has done the North Ridge yet. It sure looks snowy up there. Get on train. At Kleine Scheidegg the famous triumvirate of the Eiger, Mönch, and the Jungfrau.

Each time I visit the Alps I am amazed by great engineering. On my first trip I was astounded by the Telepherique up to the Aguille du Midi and the incredible tunnel through Mont Blanc. In the meantime they had built the Chunnel. Now on this trip it was the audacious Jungfrau Railroad. This electric train tunnels directly through the Eiger and the Monch on its way up to the Jungfrauloch (Jungfrau pass) at 11,300+ feet. The Europeans are like the dwarfs of Middle Earth - they are excellent tunnellers.

History of railway/stuff about Jungfrauloch.

I changed out my jeans and into climbing clothes and we walked out the tunnel into an alpine paradise. The weather was perfect and we ooed and awed and photographed ourselves into a frenzy. Hike on a snowcat track to the hut.

Aletschgletscher - the biggest glacier in the Alps. This glacier runs like a road for 25 kilometers south from the Jungfraujoch. It looked like an Alaskan glacier and is supposedly 700 meters thick. Massive, glaciated peaks appeared all around us. Seracs, crevasses, rock towers, and corniced ridges were everywhere. But there was also a tiny rope tow where tourists could ski a hundred meters. There were huskies and someone was trying to organize them to pull a sled around a track. From the looks of that they didn't appear ready to enter the Ididarod.

We walked east under the impressive south face of the Monch on a snowcat trail. This was probably still on a glacier, but there was no need to rope up on this section as it was a road. The Monch has a monstrous ice fall at the bottom of its south face where seracs tumble over a hundred foot cliff. We saw a couple peel off with a loud crash. The icefall looks incongruous because there doesn't appear to be much ice above it. The ice cliff is at least a hundred feet tall, but above it is only a very thinly ice face over rock.

The standard route up the Monch is rated PD and should only take 3-5 hours according to the guidebook. I couldn't resist the summit and didn't want to waste the great weather. I mentioned to Steve that we should dash up the peak before dinner. We got to the hut in around thirty minutes and quickly check-in with Franny and dumped the excess gear from our packs. We were headed up the mountain by 2:45 p.m. intent on being back for a 7 p.m. dinner.

We went all the way up without crampons. We reached the summit at 3:15. I could barely get on my crampons, for the first time, because my hands were frozen. I switched to my Dachstein mitts and my hands were soon warm. The descent was exciting. We had to frontpoint down a couple of sections, but didn't get out the rope. At the crux section we met up with a couple of Norwegians and they offered their rope to us. "T", as he was known, was clipped into one of the steel posts and his partner, Inga, was clipped into the lower post. I clipped a carabiner around their rope and just bat-manned down the rope to Inga. She was very nice and I thanked her for the use of their rope. Steve soon joined me and we continued down.

We got back to the hut before six o'clock having done the route in about three hours roundtrip from the hut. Franny mentioned that we did the route in a fast time. We assumed this was because, unlike most climbers here, the altitude wasn't a problem for us Colorado climbers.

Climb up the Monch. Three hours round trip.

The entire night the wind is howling and I ignore my beeping watch at 4 a.m. along with everyone else. But I'm forced to get up at 5 a.m. due to a pounding headache. Sleeping at nearly 12,000 feet is difficult and I haven't drank enough water. I grope my way downstairs to retrieve it and the Franny thinks I am heading out. "No, no," I assure her and ask if anyone else has gone. She smiles and shakes her head no. "It is raining so no one climbs. Breakfast is at 7 a.m. on rainy days." I venture outside across the metal deck to use the frigid bathroom and find the weather to be miserable. It is extremely windy and snowing/sleeting. The deck is iced over. I go back to bed and set my alarm for 7 a.m.

At 9:30 a.m. the skies clear. Steve mentions this and says we should go try it. I know I'll go crazy if I sit in the hut all day, but I'm worried about my feet freezing and the wind was still howling and the clouds swirling. That is why a motivated partner is so important. We needed someone to kick us out the door and that someone was Steve.

That night our Yul and Reine split a bottle of wine with us. They explain to us that Jungfrau means "virgin." The mountain is beautiful, but it is no virgin. It is one of the most popular 4000 meter climbs in the Alps due to the railway station on her flanks. They buy Steve a beer (I turned it down) and we talk until late. Our climbs are done, but they need to be up at 4 a.m. tomorrow. They have another round and we take each other's picture. I exchange addresses with Yul in hopes of hearing about his attempt on the Mittellegigrat later this year.

We didn't get up until 6:15 a.m. - barely in time for breakfast. The weather is gorgeous, albeit windy. I was a little disappointed not to be climbing in such weather. In our three days in this area we could have easily climbed on all of them. But alas, my boots were completely soaked and I knew my feet would be cold as soon as I put them on. After breakfast we settled the bill and headed back towards the Jungfrauloch. The Jungfrau was completely clear and it looked gorgeous up there. We tested the crust of snow off the path, the crust that we had broken through all the way yesterday, and found it to be completely hard. We effortlessly skimmed over the top. I was quite surprised that it froze this hard. And jealous once again that we weren't climbing. We could see a couple of parties following our track up to the Rottalsattel. Two of them must be Yul and Reine. They had great conditions for their climb.

exploring the Jungfrauloch alone

Hiking Grindelwald

Lunch and shopping

I split with Steve when I bordered the 2:50 p.m. train to Interlaken Ost. I rode an InterCity express train from there to Zurich airport - no changes and not very many stops. This time I got to enjoy the Swiss countryside. I arrived back at the airport a little after 6 p.m. My plan was to leave most of my luggage at the airport and only take a small bag back downtown when I went hunting for a hotel. First I had trouble retrieving my luggage from the locker. I put in an additional four francs which should have been enough to open the locker. I had been gone less than 72 hours. A quick stop in the main train station office and I had my bags out. I powered up the computer and found that the HTML pages that I saved for some hotels didn't contain any useful information. The information apparently was in a frame and therefore not on the HTML page that I stored on the disk. Oops. Still learning about saving HTML off the Internet.

I consolidated my two big bags into one large locker, deposited five francs, and got back on the train. Once at the Hauptbahnhof (main train station), I found the tourist information center where there were many pamphlets for nearby hotels. I selected a few and walked off along the Limmat River towards Old Town. Old Town is a pedestrian zone of Zurich with numerous bars and restaurants. The first hotel, the Martahaus, only had double rooms available at 96 francs. I walked further to the Hotel Schafli. After checking in at the bar downstairs, I walked up four flights to find the place was a total dump. The room was just large enough for a bed and a sink. There wasn't even a community toilet on each floor. There was one shower in the entire place and you had to pay extra to get any hot water. The floors weren't level. It was loud. I didn't have a towel and they didn't supply one, or any soap or shampoo.

At 59 francs a night, I decided that this wasn't a good choice. I wanted to go back to the Martahaus, but they wouldn't let me check out. They claimed they couldn't cancel the credit card. I knew I could walk out and contest the charge on my credit card. They offered me a better room, dug up three towels and some soap, and gave me a token for a hot shower. I was tired of arguing and took the room. I walked the streets for a bit and had a late dinner at McDonalds before turning in at 11:30 p.m. with my alarm set for 5 a.m.

The bed wasn't quite long enough for me, but the bed couldn't have been much longer and still fit in the room. I didn't sleep well and awoke at 4:45 a.m. Close enough, I thought and got up. I was getting up so early because my flight was at 7:20 a.m. and I was supposed to check in two hours early. I caught the first time to the airport at 5:26 a.m. and retrieved my luggage. I checked in by 6 a.m. and then ate some breakfast.

My one hour flight to Frankfurt went smoothly, but I was not able to get on an earlier flight out of Germany. I had five hours to kill. Luckily the United Premier Club was sympathetic and they allowed me to stay in their lounge where I write this trip report.