Track down my way…

Looking for an unique and awesome experience? Do the Aletsch Glacier Tour! Nominated as my definite highlight of this year’s summer holidays, I spent two days with a team-mate on this glacier. The trip started early on Saturday morning (I had to get up at about 5 a.m.) when we headed for Interlaken, a town encircled from lakes and mountains. Thereafter, the Bernese light railway brought us to the summit of the Jungfrau where our mountain guide awaited us. The building was packed with tourists and the jostle was horrible - we were really happy once we had left for the snowfield! Our guide (Mario) showed us how to put the harness on and then connected us to the roped party. The roped party? Well, overall, we were a group of 11 people, connected to each other by a single rope. Our venturous group consisted of people from almost all over Switzerland and it turned out to be a funny mix…!

As soon as everybody had dressed with sun glasses (the light was extremely lurid due to the snow) and had taken a last sip, we headed for our cabin, the supposeldy best known alpine hut of Switzerland (www.konkordiahuette.ch) were we would spend the night. While we walked on snow at the beginning, the next part was ice only. It’s quite difficult to explain how it was there, but the great view, surrounded by mountains and a huge glacier below, besides and in front of you, was absolutely stunning! The last part consisted of going up a 400 metres high staircase, mounted to the rock face below the hut. Phu! Definitely nothing for people suffering from vertigo!!!

Once arrived in the hut, we enjoyed the fantastic view combined with a chilled beer in our hands! The following diner was excellent, too. In consideration of the fact, that all the stuff (including water) has to be delivered by helicopter, an even bigger achievement. The remaining time before sleep has been spent with playing cards and enjoying some local wine…we had to get up at 5 a.m.! The next day, we enjoyed a rich breakfast (I was surprised, again!) and started with the descend to the glacier. Another two or three hours on the glacier and we left the Aletsch area definitely. Visibly tired from the last two days, we slightly struggled with the last part of hiking towards the cablecar station and I was happy to have a rest after. Back in the valley, we had a last drink together, said goodbye to our fellows and got on the train home. Back home, I was eager to made a stop-over at my parent’s house to tell them about this interesting weekend prior to go to my flat. At this moment, I was really tired from this two exhausting days but in the same moment happy too, to have been able to experience such a exceptional weekend!

If you would like to take part with your eyes, check the following pictures, took by my teammate Andi and me!

http://www.danibaumann.net/wp-gallery2.php?g2_itemId=2431

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 8th, 2007 at 3:02 pm and is filed under Misc. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.