The Bernese Oberland Ski Tour traverses the premier high altitude ski touring region of the Western Alps. On this varied and challenging week, we take in some of the finest ski summits in the region, culminating in the famous 2000m descent down the Lotschental at the end of the tour. This is a popular classic aimed at skiers looking for big glacial scenery, great ski summits and plenty of long descents, with the added bonus of some great huts!

Please visit our Covid-19 Ski Information page for Covid FAQs, details of our new participation requirements, travel advice and what to expect on your trip.

Tour Info

The terrain offers flexibility in terms of objectives and is a reliable place to tour in all weathers – as various routes are possible through the range. Two nights are spent at a couple of the huts, allowing lighter packs on some days. The Oberland is ‘must do’ tour, with some of the best glacial scenery in Europe, plus the usual comfortable and efficient Swiss huts!

Trip Reports>  Report 1, Report 2

Suitability

This is an intermediate level trip. To take part you should be at Fitness Level 3 and Tech Level 3 (see our Fitness/Experience guidelines below). You need previous multiday ski touring experience in order to join this tour. The week involves continuous 6 hour days and some big (1000m+) climbs, so you can expect to be skinning for 3-5 hours a day. Type of ascent: we use 30% uplift and 70% skinning – approx 5300m skinning up (all at altitude), and 6700m skiing down on the tour.

Guiding ratio

One IFMGA guide skiing with 6 clients.

Included in price

• 6 days of guiding
• All guides expenses
• 2 nights hotel accommodation in Brig including breakfast.
• 5 nights accommodation in mountain huts, including breakfast and 3 course evening meal.

Excluded from price (see course factsheet for extra cost estimates)

• Evening meals in the valley
• Uplift and local travel
• Lunches and drinks
• Flights and transfers to resort
• Insurance
• Equipment hire

Hotels

Our meeting point for the Bernese Oberland Ski Tour is the Hotel Europe*** in Brig, which is super easy to reach, being just 80m from the railway station in the centre of town. Rooms are provided on a twin (or occasionally triple or quad) sharing basis, but if you wish to book a single room please let us know and we will confirm availability. Any extra luggage can be left until in the hotel until your return to resort at the end of the week. Evening meals can be taken in Brig. Hotel details can be found on our Accommodation page.

Huts

For overnights in the high mountains we will use mountain huts. This tour uses modern and super efficient Swiss huts in the heart of the Oberland’s huge glacier systems. For more info please read the Using Alpine Huts article which provides an overview of typical facilities, average costs to help you budget for lunches/drinks, and general info on hut etiquette.  Also, our Multiday Ski Touring FAQs page answers some of the most common questions we are asked about multi day ski touring and logistics etc.

ABTOT Protected

This trip is protected by ABTOT – Alpine Guides Ltd, Membership Number 5394.  For further information, please visit our Financial Protection page.

Saturday

You should arrange outward travel on Saturday, arriving by 5-6pm latest in time for the briefing at your accommodation. Your guide will run through kit checks and safety routines, as well as hand out any rental equipment, before going on to discuss the current weather and mountain conditions and how these affect our plans. We’ll have maps and guidebooks of the area to show you, so if you’ve any further questions or last minute requests, then this is the ideal time to bring them up. Overnight in the valley.

Sunday

Trugberg (3880m) to Konkordia Hut

Trugberg makes an ideal first day objective en route to the Konkordia Hut. After an early morning train ride round to Grindelwald, the Jungfraujoch Mountain Railway leads right up through The Eiger to 3500m. Along the way there are several opportunities to view the famous North Face – first at Kleine Scheidegg, then again at the Gallery Windows where it’s possible to look right out across the face.

From the top station, a steady skin across to the Monschsjoch serves as a good warm up, followed by a gentle descent down the Ewigschneefeld to where the main climb up to Trugberg begins. It’s a 500m ascent up to the shoulder and depending on conditions it may be possible to do the final boot track up to the ski summit.

The classic descent off Trugberg is via the South Face however, so if it’s already warm it may be best to ski this straight away in order to find good snow conditions.  The Konkordia Hut lies 2km away from the bottom of the main descent and a combination of gliding, poling and maybe a short skin finally reach the infamous hut steps. Due to glacial recession, these are getting longer each year, so it’s now quite a pull up to the hut at the end of the day!

550m ascent, 950m descent ~4-5hrs

Monday

Kranzberg (3666m) Day Tour

Kranzberg is a great ski peak and a classic day tour from the Konkordia Hut. After the initial steep slope up off the glacier, the main ascent is at a very steady angle, making for comfortable skinning all the way.

At 3400m a shoulder is crossed, which leads to the final bowl up to the summit ridge. At the ridge there’s a ski depot, from where it’s just a short climb on foot to the top. The views out across to the Aletschhorn are stupendous.

Back at the skis, it’s time to enjoy the descent, which is just the right angle for doing lots of long wide open pitches. Lower down, a series of little valleys lead to the final steep drop down onto the main glacier. Then it’s just a case of getting back across to the hut and up the steps (again..) for a well earned lunch.

1000m ascent and descent ~5-6hrs

Tuesday

Wysnollen (3590m) to Finsteraarhorn Hut

Wysnollen is often done in combination with a traverse of the Grunhornlucke en route to the Finsteraarhorn Hut. Athough on paper this looks like quite a bit of climb, it’s split into two very steady ascents – the first of which is done in the shade – so overall it’s not an especially long day.

From the top of the Grunhornlucke a short descent leads down to the base of Wysnollen, where it’s time to double back and head up to the summit. This is another very even angled climb, leading right to the top on skis.

The descent is particularly good after a dump of fresh snow, when there are a lot of good powder pitches to be had.

1200m ascent, 900m descent ~6hrs

Wednesday

Gross Wannenhorn (3905m) Day Tour

The Gross Wannenhorn is one of the best ski peaks in the Bernese Oberland and a real must during any visit to the Finsteraarhorn Hut.

The architecture of the mountain is simple – a long glaciated bowl leading to a broad summit ridge. It’s this that makes it such a good ski peak, as the whole of the climb can be done on skis, right up to the summit rocks.

On the way down, it’s generally always possible to find good snow by carefully selecting different slope aspects depending on the current conditions. At the bottom, there’s just the final skin back to the hut where lunch and a beer or two on the terrace await..

1100m ascent and descent ~6hrs

Thursday

Grunhornlucke to Hollandia Hut

This is primarily a mountain travel and relocation day – but we get one good descent as we retrace our steps over the Grunhornlucke and on down to the Aletschfirn, before a long easy angled skin up to the Hollandia Hut.

The route is obvious – just keep on skinning to the col – but the views are a great distraction from the effort, as we pass by the mighty North Face of the Aletschhorn –  a 3 mile long, 800 metre high wall of rock and ice that dominates this part of the Oberland.

800m ascent, 600m descent ~5-6hrs.

Friday

Abeni Flue (3963m)

At nearly 4000m, Abenifluhe is the highest peak in the Bernese Oberland that can be easily skinned to the summit of. This makes it one of the finest viewpoints in the range and a perfect place to start the final long run at the end of a weeks touring.

The ascent from the Hollandia Hut isn’t too long and it’s set at an easy angle for most of the way – ie two other bonuses at the end of a hard week!

The initially the descent returns down past the hut, before crossing the Lotschenlucke and plunging 2000m down into the Lotschental. This is one of the most beautiful valleys in the Alps and finally leads to the road head, where a post bus takes us down to the railway station and back to Brig.

700m ascent, 2200m descent ~5~6hrs

PM return to Brig via train and postbus.

Saturday

Return travel should be arranged from Brig on Saturday morning, after your final nights accommodation.

Other Options

Vorder Galmihorn

The other classic way to ski out of the the Bernese Oberland is via the Vorder Galmihorn, heading down to either Munster or Reckingen in the upper Rhone Valley.

To head out this way, you need to either make an early start from the Finsteraarhorn Hut, or spend a night at the Oberaarjoch Hut (doing this this makes the final day much shorter, but the previous day much longer after skiing the Wannenhorn – take your pick!)

From either hut, the Vorder Galmihorn can be climbed by skinning up the north face and onto the ridge, which leads to an amazing summit viewpoint. A choice of excellent descents are possible, either going straight down to Reckingen, or skiing down past the Galmihorn Hut to Munster. A third, slightly shorter route avoids the climb up onto the Galmihorn by traversing through the Galmilicke instead.

Early in the season or in a good snow year, it’s possible to ski right down to the village.

Your course starts and finishes in Brig in the Rhone Valley, with easy access and good links to the Bernese Oberland, Valais Alps and the SE Swiss Alpine chain. The most convenient way to reach Brig is fly into Geneva, then take a train along the Rhone Valley – Brig is on the main railway line, and our hotel is a short walk from the train station.

Flights and transfers

• Fly to Geneva with numerous budget airlines, for an overview of the best options check out the excellent Sky Scanner website.
• Train from Geneva airport to Brig (1.5 hrs): https://www.sbb.ch/en/home.html (integrated Swiss travel website)
• If you plan to arrive by train, then purchasing a Swiss Travel Pass (details on website above) could save you some money on this course, as you get half fare on the cable cars in many resorts, as well as on the trains and buses. If you purchase a Swiss card the journey from the airport to Brig and back will be included.
• Alternatively hire a car at any nearby airport (2-4 hours driving time).

For flights and other travel options, including train, coach and driving, visit our Travel Planning page.

To enjoy this trip you should be comfortable operating at Fitness Level 3, and Ski Tech Level 3:

Fitness Level 3
You do 3-4 hours cv training/sport per week. At this level you are happy doing a 5-6 hr hillwalk, 40-50ml cycle or 3-4hr mountain bike ride without being totally exhausted. If you are into challenges – then the thought of doing a road sportive, or training to do a 1/2 (or maybe even a full) marathon, wouldn’t seem too ridiculous. On foot: you should be able to do the full Langdale Horseshoe: Langdale – Pike of Stickle – Angle Tarn – Bow Fell – Crinkle Crags – Pike of Blisco – Langdale in a day without finishing up exhausted. On skis: you can skin uphill at 300-400m/hr for 3-4 hrs a day (ie 8-1200m of ascent each day).

---

Tech Level 3
Confirmed Off Piste Skier. You can put down a reasonable set of tracks in powder, but difficult snow types – eg heavy wet snow, crusts, poor visibility or 40dg slopes – can all cause problems (though you can cope with them safely, if not elegantly!) *Equivalent to Ski Club of GB Off Piste Level: Purple – Advanced*
Likely to say: ‘I’d like to handle difficult snow/steep slopes more confidently in better style’
Our Advice: Off piste coaching still useful. Intermediate off piste weeks are at your level too. If you want to get into ski touring, try a touring course or intro level ski tour. If you’re an established ski mountaineer, then intermediate level tours are generally suitable.

To view all of our Ski Fitness Levels and Off Piste Technical Levels, please visit our Ski Ability page.

If you need to top up your fitness for this trip, please see our Ski Touring Training Advice page.

Hut to Hut Touring Equipment List

Just remember, every extra kilo on your back knocks 10% off your enjoyment on the descents – so try and keep the weight down!

Technical Clothing

• Waterproof Jacket – preferably lightweight and breathable
• Overtrousers/ski pants – preferably with side zips
• Fleece mid layer – or equivalent
• Socks – specialist ski socks or a warm loop lined pair of mountain socks
• Wicking thermal top – not cotton please…
• Thermal leggings or ski pants
• Thin inner gloves
• Warm ski gloves or mittens, if you suffer from cold hands
• Warm hat
• Spare fleece/lightweight duvet jacket

Personal Items

• Water container – at least 1 litre
• Personal medications and blister kit – regular meds, zinc oxide tape, compeed and painkillers etc
• Lightweight head torch
• Ski goggles
• Sun glasses – CE rated 3 or 4 with side protection
• Sun and lip cream – factor 30+
• Wallet, passport, Alpine Club/BMC card (hut discount) and insurance docs

Hut Overnight Items

• Small wash kit
• Spare lightweight t-shirt/socks/pants
• Silk sheet liner
• Ear plugs
• (Hut slippers for indoor use, blankets/duvets and pillows are provided by the huts)

Technical Equipment

• Rucsac 35/45l – try and avoid ones covered in too many features, just ski and ice axe attachments required
• Ski mountaineering boots
• Skis with touring bindings – some ‘freeride’ bindings are also suitable
• Ski strap – to keep skis together on your rucksack if we need to carry them
• Ski poles – with good size 5cm+ baskets (telescopic poles are not needed)
• Climbing skins – they come with the skis if you hire your kit
• Harscheisen (ski crampons) – they come with the skis if you hire your kit
• Metal snow shovel – must be a full metal shovel (plastic blades don’t work in real avalanche debris!)
• Avalanche probe
• Avalanche transceiver – must be a modern digital model (older analogue models are now obsolete)
• Harness, with 120cm sling and locking karabiner
• Crampons – lightweight model
• Ice Axe – lightweight model

Your guide will have all other safety kit, first aid and survival equipment.

Recommendations and Advice
Visit the Knowledge Base section of our website, where we publish an annual review of the years best new skis, boots and touring equipment, plus a range of other interesting tips and recommendations. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, please get in touch!

Purchasing Equipment
Backcountry UK in Otley offer an excellent ski touring boot fitting service, one of the best ranges of ski mountaineering equipment in the UK and top notch advice.

Hiring Equipment
Please visit our Equipment Hire page for recommended hire shops in your resort, and Alpine Guides hire equipment price list (safety equipment is provided free of charge on certain courses – please consult price inclusions).

For this trip you must have specialist travel insurance providing medical, emergency search/rescue and repatriation cover for off piste skiing and ski touring, as outlined in the trip itinerary. We also strongly recommend that you purchase cancellation cover, in case you’re unable to attend your trip due to personal circumstances or injury. Please arrange your insurance as soon as your trip is confirmed to run.

Further details can be found on our insurance info page.