A challenging tour for accomplished skiers and a rare chance to ski one of the Bernese Oberlands' finest summits. During the week we aim to take in other great summits such as the Gross Grunhorn and finally ski the legendary descent down the south face of the Nesthorn. Both your fitness and all round mountain skills will be put to the test on this tour, so expect to see the rope out to reach our objectives.
We offer this itinerary as a private guiding special - with dates by arrangement from April into May. Prices are as per our private guiding rates, up to a maximum of 3 skiers per guide.
Starting Point We start and finish in Brig on the southern edge of the Bernese Oberland. Brig is easily reached by road, or by train direct from Geneva airport.
Sample Itinerary Subject to weather and snow conditions, the plan for the week is as follows:
Day 0
Sat
PM, meet in Brig - discuss plans, sort food and kit, overnight in valley.
Day 1
Sun
Early train round to Grindelwald and the Jungfraujoch, from where we climb Trugberg (3880m) to get a great descent down to the Konkordia hut.
Day 2
Mon
Climb the Gross Grunhorn (4043m) or Grunegghorn and return to Konkordia.
Day 3
Tue
Big traverse of the Dreieckhorn and Aletshhorn (4193m), before descending to the Mittelaletsch bivouac hut.
Day 4
Wed
A shorter day traversing the Geisshorn (3675m) to the Oberaletsch hut.
Day 5
Thu
Day tour from the Oberaletsch hut, climbing the Sattelhorn or Kl. Aletschorn
Day 6
Fri
Climb the magnificent pyramid of the Nesthorn (3822m) before a huge 2000m descent to Mund + the bus back to Brig.
Food and Accommodation We run all of our tours on a guiding & instruction only basis to allow you maximum flexibility with accommodation options. Our recommended hotel in Brig is the Hotel Europe *** which is just 80m from the railway station. You are however free to make other accommodation arrangements if you choose (Brig has various other hotels available). The guide will book all hut accommodation for the tour, which is also paid for as we go along.
Travel Brig is easily reached by reliable Swiss public transport direct from Geneva airport - check out the Swiss Federal Railways website for timetables and information. If you are arriving by train, then you can save a lot of money on this tour by purchasing a swiss travel pass. Various options are available - see the swiss railways website for more info.
Fitness This is a demanding tour which includes 8-10 hour days and roped climbing. You can expect to be skinning for 4-5 hours a day (see fitness level 4).Due to the altitude of much of the route, arriving a couple of days in advance to acclimatise is recommended (Zermatt still has high altitude glacier skiing available at this time of year). We advise you to prepare well in advance with regular training and ideally some skiing.
Skiing AbilityYou need to have completed at least a couple of week long ski tours in the last 3 seasons and be a strong off piste skier in all conditions (see ski ability level 4-5). Roped climbing is also involved on most days to reach the summits, so you need some snow/ice climbing experience too.
Equipment We will supply you with a full kit list. You are responsible for bringing personal clothing, a rucsac and ski mountaineering skis, boots and kit (local hire is available). We are delighted to be working on this tour with Back Country UK, who provide excellent service and advice as a leading retailer of ski mountaineering equipment in the UK.
