Just got back from some adventurous days into the wild – the wild corner of Jungfrau region. This amazing place is for those who want to explore the wild part of the Jungfrau region. You need the level – a good portion of ski-touring experience and stamina! This ski-adventure starts from Jungfraujoch and going east towards Schreckhorn – Aarbivack – Rosenlaui. There is lot to discover around here and off course numerous variants.

Good weather, thick snow cover on the glaciers and stable avalanche situation is off course necessary to ski around here. The conditions need to be perfect. When it is you will be rewarded by the wildest alpine terrain the Swiss alps can offer!

Many mountain huts including Schreckhorn, Gleckstein, Aarbivack and Berglihütte is unguarded which means you have to bring your own food. You have to make fire, chop wood and melt snow to get water. Not for the lazy ones!

Program – Into the wild – the wild corner of Jungfrau region

Day 1: Starting from Grindelwald with train up to Jungfraujoch. From here we ski down the huge glacier landscape of Eismeer. With skins we climb up to Pfaffestecki, from there we ski down towards Schreckhornhütte where we stay for the night.

Day 2: Skitouring up towards Finsteraarjoch and Nass Strahlegg. From here there are numerous ski options down to Aarbiwak depending on snow conditions and weather. Long glacier slopes or steep couloirs.

Day 3: Skitouring along the north face of Schreckhorn to summit of Nässihorn 3741m. Magic sunset and overnight stay at Glecksteinhütte high above Grindelwald.

Day4: Big day climbing the steep slopes under Mittelhorn. Long descent down Rosenlaui glacier to the Hotel of Rosenlaui valley.

Prerequisites – Into the wild

• You have no problem to ski 40 degrees in any type of snow conditions.
• You can with no problem do +1400m per day upwards and you don’t have any problems with kick turns in steep terrain.
• You have experience of skiing on glaciers and know how to do a glacier rescue.
• Your motivated to live the simple life that comes with staying at unguarded huts. Team-work is no problem for you.
• You know how to use ice axe and crampons.

If you want to come along on this ski-adventure but need more experience you can get the right training by signing up on our popular camps or by booking a private session/program:

• Pre-season camp
• Big mountain camp
• Custom courses & personal guiding

Welcome!

The winter is knocking on the door and before I go all-in to winter mode I want to share little bit of my summer alpine climbing season. It was truly amazing.

Normally I start my summer season in late May or early June but this summer I was late! In fact I didn’t start until beginning of July. But from then it was pretty much full-on and I kept on going until end of October.

The summer offered great varied climbing and I was lucky to be able to visit many interesting places. It’s off course hard to put down the whole summer in some words. Here’s a brief summary of what I will share on this post. It’s places I have been visiting & activities I have been doing during the this summer season:

• Mont Blanc 4times
• Chamonix & Aosta valley
• Matterhorn 2times
• Wallis 4000m peaks
• Skyrunning
• Bernina Alps
• Berner Oberland
• Rock climbing & Alpine climbing courses – Ticino & central Switzerland

Mont Blanc 4times

Always a pleasure to spend some time every year on the big white mountain – Mont Blanc. There’re many reasons for me to come to Chamonix and guide Mont Blanc every year. Chamonix is a second home for me and just to be there makes me happy. Its always very rewarding for the clients to summit which makes me very happy also. The light during sunrise and the view over the alps is absolutely stunning.

I can go on with many good reasons to climb this mountain but I think I will save it to a separate post about climbing Mont Blanc. One thing is sure, I can’t get tired of it and I will be back next season for sure! I actually had 6 bookings on Mont Blanc this summer but bad weather and conditions stopped us twice. I have now been on the summit 23 TIMES and I have to say I start to know the mountain pretty well!

If you are interested to climb Mont Blanc next summer or if you want a ski-mountaineering adventure on Mont Blanc upcoming spring, let me know!

Chamonix & Aosta valley

Chamonix is awesome. I lived here for many years and I still have many friends here. It’s always a pleasure to come here for a couple of weeks every summer.

The climbing in Chamonix is very accessible. With help from cable cars its possible to have high quality alpine climbing during the day and be back in town in the afternoon. Arête des Cosmiques is one of the most popular alpine climbs in the world and I was lucky to do the climb twice this summer. I also visited some small climbs on the Helbronner side, Crouchues traverse on Aiguille Rouge side and les Perrons traverse on the border to Switzerland.

Aosta valley is very close to Chamonix and it’s very tempting to go here when the weather is more stable in the south side of the alps than in Northern part. A classic and very popular 4000m summit  I visit every summer is Gran Paradiso. It’s a easy technical summit and works good as an introduction, warm-up or acclimatization. Its also a nice plan B if the conditions is bad on other higher peaks.

Together with Anders and Christine we climbed the summit of Gran Paradiso nice and easy. It was actually too easy. After our climb we where back very early in the valley and we decided to move on to a new place the same day. Following day we stood on the summit of Punta Giordani above Gressoney.

Matterhorn 2 times

The horn of the horn! A summer without a visit to this beauty will give me a sense of longing back. The attraction of the mountain is very strong to every mountaineer. I had 4 bookings this summer but bad conditions stopped us twice. Are you motivated to climb Matterhorn with me next summer? Are you into some intense and physical climbing for about 4-5hours? Bring it on! I’m you huckleberry!

Wallis 4000m peaks and a magic autumn

During the autumn I spent almost all my guiding in this phenomenal area. We where lucky with some fantastic crispy autumn conditions. Perfect weather and temperatures.

In Zermatt you have easy accessed climbing from Klein Matterhorn and in Saas Fee & Saas Grund you also reach some nearby summits with help from lifts. The lifts gives you the opportunity to climb a mountain during a day and then sleep comfortable in a hotel down at the village. A popular and modern way to alpinism and perfect as introduction!

In the Wallis area you also find many mountains to climb without the help from lifts. The reward you get from climbing a mountain in a pure style is well worth the effort. The experience of climbing a mountain without help from a lift will also give you perspective – the body needs more endurance & preparation training. If you’re capable to climb several big peaks in one week without help from lifts – then you’re well prepared, a true mountaineer!

I hade the fortune to have some highly motivated and well prepared mountaineer clients coming to me this autumn and we managed to tick off a serious number of big peaks such as Täschhorn, Obergabelhorn, Zinalrothorn, Alphubel, Nadelhorn, Weismiess, Lagginhorn, Lenzspitze to name a few. All these climbs will be remembered as very special climbs and worth describing in individual posts.

During autumn most of the huts are unguarded and you have to bring you own food. Often you’re alone in the huts and on the mountain which off course is fantastic. This time of the year is truly amazing and to combine that with perfect weather and strong motivated guests was a blast!

Skyrunning

I always try to squeeze in some sky-running coaching and guiding in my calendar. Moving light and fast gives a feeling of freedom which is hard to compare with something else. If you’re a strong trail-runner and use the right equipment(not always the lightest..) you will be rewarded with some great fun in the high alpine! If you combine your endurance with some rock-climbing skills then it will be even more fun!

Andreas, strong trail-runner, have been visiting me a couple of times. We started last summer to combine running with more sections of climbing and scrambling. We had some amazing days together on the trails high above Engelberg and on Hardergrat above Interlaken. This summer we took another step forward. After a warm-up day sky-running in Engelberg on Hahnen and Wissberg we went to Wallis and did a light and fast climb of Nadelgrat – four 4000m peaks in one go! This was the first time for Andreas practicing “classic” summer alpine climbing. The combination of his good footwork and endurance getting from his trail running background and some indoor-climbing training the step into fast alpine ascents on a fairly high difficulty level was not far to reach, apparently.

I’m looking forward to bring more trail runners up in the high alpine in the future. I’m also looking forward to convert my traditional customer base to the world of light and fast activities. I already started. Its actually not hard to convince my clients to lighter gear and more trail-running as preparation. The future points to more one-push endurance mountain activities and I’m looking forward to it!

Bernina Alps

I had the fortune to visit this mountain range twice this summer. Climbed Piz Bernina by the splendid Biancograt and Piz Palü the day after. This 4000m peak is for sure one of the most beautiful alpine ridges in the alps. Thanks the one and only Jimmy for this fantastic trip!

Second time I was here was with Henrik and we climbed Piz Badile by the North ridge. WOW! What a climb. We also had some quality crack climbing around Albigna hut. One of the summer highlights absolutely!

Berner Oberland

The Jungfraubahn is open all year around which gives you easy accessed world class high altitude climbing. If you leave the easy accessed nearby peaks such as Jungfrau, Mönch and Eiger and move deeper into the massif you will find some of the most remote 4000m peaks in the alps. Those giants summits are for mountain lovers only as it normally takes 3days to to climb one each of them. One day walk in, one day to climb and one day to walk out.

I’m lucky to have one true mountain lover as a client! Christian an I spent 4 days in this massif.  Traversing Mönch as a warm-up 🙂 Then we climbed Finsteraarhorn. The highest summit in the massif. It will be a pleasure to come back here and climb another giant 4000m mountain with you again!

Rock climbing & alpine climbing courses

In beginning of July I had a five day “Alpine climbing course” in Meiental and Sustenpass region. This is my home area and perfect place to have this kind of courses. The terrain is varied and you can practice all kind of different alpine technics on glaciers, rock, ice and snow. I do this course every summer and its perfect for those who wants to learn different kind of technics and be more independent as alpine climbers.

Except of the my climbing week I had in Albigna and Piz Badile region which was amazing I enjoyed rock-climb guiding in Furka, above Süstlihütte and Sewenhütte. I also had some days multi pitch guiding in Chamonix.

In beginning of August I had “Advanced techniques and self rescue”  4 day course with Patrick from UK. This course is perfect for you who want to be independent and safe on alpine rock and multi-pitch climbs.

Finally in September I had the fortune to have 3days “Rock climbing intro weekend” in sunny Ponte Brolla Ticino with allround athlete Christian Murray. Perfect place. Sunny and warm good food and very nice rock-climbing.

Summer alpine climbing season – summary and facts

I did 76 guiding days during three and a half month, ended my season 19th of October.

I guided 45 climbs.

I bailed on two summit climbs. We were not very close to reach summit. Nice days anyway.

31 days was either hut approach days, cragging or course days. And I did 3 hut-to-hut hiking days. Thanks Jimmy and the boys for those fantastic days in hiking above Lugano, Ticino.

I did more than 50.000 vertical meter climbing.

With this I want to thank all my clients for a fantastic summer! I feel very grateful. Hope to see you all next season again. I’m already super exited!

All best Tobias