The excursion to Hochjochferner

This year the glacier excursion was scheduled for Tuesday but due to fresh snowfall was postponed to Wednesday. Unfortunately it was cloudy that day so visibility was not great, as the photos will show.

Morning

Early morning on Wednesday the group left by bus for Kurzras where they took the 9 o'clock cable car up to Grawand. As there turned out to be little snow on the glacier, instead of walking down the glacier itself we hiked a trail around it, to meet it again in the valley. Large cracks at the side of the glacier allowed a rare peek at the glacier bed.

Underneath the glacier.

Due to the bad walking conditions on the glacier, we could only see the automated weather station in the distance. Luckily Felix and Arjen filled the gap by pointing out interesting geomorphological features in the landscape, the remnants of the recent deglaciation history of the region.

Not everyone was sufficiently dressed for the cold.

What you lookin' at?!

Lunch at Schönes Aussicht

We arrived at the hut around 11:00, where we enjoyed a proper pasta meal with wine. After lunch, the bravest amongst the group hiked further up to the ridge Im Hintern Eis, at 3269 m (this was optional).

Paul serving spaghetti.

Alas, the weather conditions were foggy making the ascent tough and the reward small. The rest of the group either went down to the village immediately or enjoyed card games in the hut with Hans playing guitar. Although the bus to Karthaus was a bit packed, everybody came back to Karthaus in time for dinner.

Descending to the village.