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The 4139m Aletschhorn is an isolated peak some distance away from the other Oberland 4000nders and as such quite a "prized" summit. The broad easy angled ridge which ascends from the Aletschjoch - first W to the fore summit and then S - is well seen in this zoomed view from the Schreckhorn
and this evening view from the Ober Mönchjoch hut.There are good views of the Northern flank from any of the peaks reached from the Jungfraujoch, but this side is 1000m of steep and icy terrain, and although there are several routes from the Hollandia hut - the Hasler Rib is perhaps the best - none are easy, and I didn't consider any of them.
The Northern flank is best accessed from the Hollandia hut (marked) just above the Lötchenlucke A view of the North face from above the Hollandia hut The routes from the 2640m Oberaletsch hut are all quite long (8hrs + to the summit) - and getting longer as the initial ladder descent from the hut to the glacier surface is increasing at around 6m a year
- now around 200m
The Oberaletsch hut - I have been there several times - but not to climb the Aletschhorn 
Aletschhorn from the hut - The shrinkage of the glacier is very obviousYou get a closer view from below the Distelberg - a rock-climbing peak on the far L of the previous picture.
Once clear of the glacial moraines, you can climb straight up the SW rib or head further L up the easy snow slopes to the N ridgeThe shortest route to the summit starts at the 3013m Mittelaletsch bivouac, climbs glacier slopes to the 3623m Aletschjoch and then follows the ridge shown in the first photo.
Route from the bivouac hut The yurt shaped Mittelaletsch bivouac hutReaching the hut however, proved to be a long day in itself.
The route to the hut starts at Kuhboden reached by a lift from Fiesch in the Rhone valley I did it in August 2003 (the very dry year) and wrote it up that autumn is my local club journal. I have left the account almost unaltered: I titled it "
When the window opens""It started off so well: we caught the first lift to Kuhboden and 20 minutes along the track got a lift through the tunnel to the Marielenhutte - saving us nearly half an hour. Just time for a quick fill up with Fanta (temperatures were reaching 40 C in Paris) and then down to the Aletsch glacier that runs through the landscape like a tranquil river - nearly 2km wide. The descent was much less than I had feared
First view of the glacierEdge of the glacier - we had to get round this pool and up on to the iceWe climbed on to the ice, and put on crampons, but after 2 hours teetering on knife edges and jumping Nureyev-like over wider and wider crevasses we were still no more than 200m out.
On the glacier looking up towards Konkordia Klaus was getting desperate
"we try over here and if that doesn't work we go right back and try somewhere else": I began to see this whole climb as being stillborn, but one more huge leap and things got better: we continued to make steady progress.
On the map the Aletsch and Mittelaletsch glaciers are completely joined, but glacial maps are history these days and we descended into an area of moraines. It was as if a hundred giant JCBs had started to build a new spaghetti junction and then thought better of it. We threaded our way through huge unstable mounds of mud and boulders piled amongst the rotting ice until eventually a track started to ascend the valley through grass and flowers beside a roaring torrent.
Looking up the valley towards the Mittelaletschglacier: The height of the huge scars above show just how much ice has gone from hereAn hour or so later we reached the Mittelaletsch glacier - a mass of hard clear ice, almost flat, covered in gravel and boulders and running with surface water. we followed it for about 3 km until on its R the hut was directly above us - about 400m above us
Directly below it a narrow evil looking scree gully climbed steeply to boilerplate slabs which might give further access upwards. Straight above us was a massive icefall, but to the L a wide crevasse-free depression seemed to lead up above this and allow a traverse back R - this was what the guidebook suggested - so up we went. The crevasses on the traverse were awkward - but nothing compared to what had gone before and we climbed out of a muddy bergschrund on to a terrace.
Eight and a half hours after starting we staggered into the Mittelaletsch bivouac - a sweet little hexagonal hut sleeping 14 people.
There was no spring, but I grabbed a large bucket and filled it with cloudy water from one of the many meltwater streams pouring past. " it's fine as long as you boil it" said Klaus and four mugs of fruit tea, two mugs of soup and a bowl of Spaghetti later I began to feel a bit less thirsty and the bucket was nearly empty. two Italians joined us - they had found a route up the scree gully: Klaus chatted to them in some European language, but they had no stove and no food - I really don't know why they were there.
At 3.30am we set off after the usual quick alpine breakfast put on crampons and climbed the icy glacier above the hut. it was covered in small stones and very hard on the feet. The first flash of lightning came after about half an hour and was rapidly followed by others. Thunder rumbled round the valley and we first hid in a crevasse and then beat a retreat to the hut in pouring rain and went back to bed. The Italians who had shadowed us soon followed.
To come all this way and NOT climb the mountain was sickening but I soon fell asleep. At 7.00am the weather looked better - not great but not bad.
"Can't we wait til tomorrow?"
" It's now or never" said Klaus so ten minutes later off we went again. Up and across the hard stony glacier on to easy snow slopes. After 2 hours at breakneck pace we reached the joch and looked down the other side. A couple of hundred metres along the ridge we reached a rock outcrop and I sank down exhausted.
Looking back E across the joch - the Finsteraarhorn at the backLooking up to the summit The summit was visible but the weather looked threatening. " If we're going to climb this mountain we have to do it fast: do you think you can do it?"
I shrugged - I certainly wasn't turning back
The fore-summit looked quite close but the main one looked miles further away. The angle of the broad ridge was easy to start with and there was a good track in the snow. As it steepened and I began to feel the altitude I started to count the steps to try and make first 200 then 100 and then 50 before stopping to gasp. we crossed a bergschrund, then 20-30m of steep snow ice - good steps fortunately - and we were on a narrow ridge just below the 4086m fore-summit. From below there seemed to be a big drop beyond, but thankfully it was an illusion. We crossed a flat plateau and then it was up the 100m high final ridge - hard snow ice on the L, rotten rock on the R: we moved from one to the other in the swirling mist. 4 hours from the hut and we were there. The mist cleared briefly and I looked down the steep slopes of mud and rotten ice that led up from the Oberaletsch hut. " No way jose" I thought
The descent time was even faster as we charged down the soft easy snow slopes, but after the first fruit tea, Klaus's stove packed up ( These huts don't have stoves as they just keep getting stolen
-) We had four biscuits - one each for dinner and for breakfast and nothing to drink. We just slept til morning.
We had however learnt a lot and the return - descent via the scree gully and a different crossing of the glacier in continuous rain - allowed us to reach the Marielen hut for a mega lunch. Then it was back through the tunnel and down the lift. I screwed up the parking ticket on the windscreen and threw it in the bin"
