Jungfraujoch to Wallis

Upside down, curly hair hanging, legs outstretched, Val was doing handstands in his room at 9pm as we were all packing for the ski tour the next day. Myself, Kathelijne and my two housemates Marc and Val were planning to ski from the Jungfraujoch, crossing a few different glaciers and finishing in the Lötschental in the Wallis (Valais).

Even with alarms set and excess coffee time planned in, we still left the house in a rush, driving my bus instead of the casual walk to the train station I had planned. The sleep pixies had stolen my time margin again.

Two train trips and a gondola ride and we were standing outside the Jungfraujoch (3463m) looking down the Aletsch glacier, the longest glacier in Europe.

The train had been packed with other ski tour people which was hardly a surprise at that time of year but it was also an advantage as the tracks in the snow would already be made for us.

The night before I had waxed my skis for the first time in two seasons but instead of the slick, fast sliding feeling I expected it felt like I had applied glue instead. Probably it had more to do with the -10 degrees and snow condition than the wax.

We crossed the top of the Aletsch glacier (technically the Jungfrau Firn) and skiined up the Kranzberg to the Louwitor. Although it was a pretty popular and safe route we…