The Berner Oberland is one of the highest regions and home to the largest glaciers in all the European Alps. While this famed area is largely known for its amazing mountaineering opportunities on such peaks as the Eiger, the Monch and Jungfrau, there also exists amazing ski mountaineering potential here.

This tour is different from the haute route, in that it is actually a loop, which begins and ends in the same village of Interlaken, Switzerland. The majority of the tour will take place above 11,000' offering us excellent snow conditions into the early part of May. We have kept our itinerary flexible to take advantage of the best conditions, though if we find perfect conditions, we have a planned itinerary that you can read below. The goal of this trip is to explore this spectacular region of the Alps and find the best skiing available each day. By spending several nights at the same hut, this allows us to ski one of the many amazing ski peaks available each day as a day trip.

The tour is very adaptable allowing for harder and easier variations most days. In general the tour is comparable in difficulty to the classic Haute route. There are very few places that you are forced to carry skis, unless you opt for some of the peak ascents. The huts are well known for great food and many even have hot showers. The town of Interlaken is easily accessible by train from Geneva or Zurich.

Due to the large number of options available on this tour, we will keep our itinerary flexible to adapt to conditions and the groups desires. The route we are currently planning looks like this:

Day 0 ~ Meet in Interlaken in the evening, run through a pre trip meeting and gear check

Day 1 ~ Leave Interlaken and take the train to Wengen where we will spend the day ski touring with the help of some of the nearby lifts. We will use this as a training and acclimatization day.

Day 2 ~ Ride the worlds highest railway to the jungfraujoch, climb up the Louroihorn, ski down the South face and spend the night at the Koncordiahutte.

Day 3 ~ Climb up over Gunhornluke pass and ski down other side, with a possible side trip up Wyssnollen E Face. Spend the night in the Finsteraarhorn hut.

Day 4 ~ Climb up the Gross Wannenhorn E/NE Face and ski back down to return to the Finsteraarhorn hut.

Day 5 ~ Climb up the SW Face of Finsteraarhorn then up and over Gunhornluke skiing down to the Konkordia hut for an amazing loop!

Day 6 ~ From the Koncordia hut, we will climb up Abeni Flue or Kranzberg and ski down to the Holandia hut.

Day 7 ~ Rise early to climb up Mittaghorn Or Abeni Flue and ski the long descent down to Fafleralp where we will catch a bus or taxi back to Interlaken.

This photo shows the amazing ski terrain accessed by the Jungfraujoch station (seen here in the middle of the photo).

We have found that there are many possible variations to this tour and generally the loop will take most parties about 6 days. We have added an extra day to accommodate bad weather and if unused we will add a peak climb or another day tour to complete the trip.
 

Skills Required

On a tour like this to maximize your enjoyment, the most important skills are skiing skills. While most of the terrain is fairly moderate by resort standards, we typically encounter a wide range of snow conditions. It is important for skiers to be able to comfortably ski black runs at a ski area in any conditions. Further you must be able to perform survival turns (hop turns, stem christie etc.) down steeper terrain and in very difficult snow conditions. Skiers should have some touring experience and be adept at using skins, performing kick turns and skiing with a small pack.

Previous Mountaineering experience is not required though will prove beneficial. We will cover skills such as the use of ski crampons, avalanche transceivers, boot crampons, and ice axes as well as traveling as a rope team. We have factored time into the tour to cover these skills thus insuring a high degree of safety and comfort for all members of the team.

This tour will also demand a high degree of fitness. Obviously you don't need to be an Olympic athlete, as hundreds of people complete the tour every year, though the more fit you arrive, the more you will enjoy the tour. Not to mention having energy to ski an extra run after arriving at the destination hut for the day.  

If you have any doubts or concerns about your abilities or skiing skills, please don't hesitate to call and address them. We will gladly offer training advice or we can arrange for some pre trip training to insure your skills are up to speed before embarking on this trip of a lifetime.

 

Berner Oberland Tour Guiding Fees

Jeff Ward off the beaten track, finding freshies in the Alps.

• 3 - 6 Skiers with 2 Guides - $2500

• April 19-25th, 2010

• 3 Nights lodging in Interlaken
• Hut lodging fees
• Breakfasts and Dinners in huts
• All lifts during trip
• All ground transport during trip
• Use of avalanche transceiver
• Luggage storage while on route
• 7 days of guided skiing with IFMGA certified guides Jeff Ward and Larry Goldie.

• Travel to and from Interlaken
• Drinks in huts
• Meals in Town
• Skier rescue insurance