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Day 3We slept well, but were woken at about 4.30am by early climbers from the hut crunching past, so we had breakfast and set off about 5.00. There was a big track across the glacier, but the snow in the gully was unconsolidated and we moved to the rock ridge on the L as soon as possible. and reached the shoulder at about 6.30am
Climbing the rock ridge to the shoulderFull Moon over the Jungfrau, Mönch and EigerSunrise and moon on the EigerAt the shoulder - I don't often wear one, but with all these people on a rock peak a helmet is essentialEarly morning views from the ShoulderFinsteraarhornZoomed The Grünhorner appear over the ridgeFiescherhorner above the Fiescherwand, Jungfrau and Mönch Jungfrau Mönch and EigerLooking up from the shoulder - there are already a lot of climbers on the faceThe climb looks quite dramatic, but the Schreckhorn is composed of a compact red Gneiss absolutely plastered with holds and it's no more than a (rather exposed) grade 3 scramble. Speaking about it later to a fellow club member she said " Oh yes - we took the rope off" I can't remember exactly how we did it, but with so many other climbers there was quite a lot of waiting.
Looking down from near the top - that's me climbing the last bitAt the topDouble celebration - both Klaus and I were completing the Swiss 4000nders The top was very crowded but the views were superb - may be the clearest I've ever had in the Alps. I'm showing them clockwise - starting in the East, but I've had to airbrush out one or two stray heads that got in the way
Looking East to the WetterhornThe ridge towards the LauteraarhornThe first section of the ridgeFinsteraarhorn - Strahlegg glacier bottom LZoomed - to its immediate R is Monte Leone - the Saas peaks are far RAll the peaks of the Valais - Enlarged from the last photo - Monte Rosa , Liskamm, Alphubel and the MischabelLooking over the Fiescherhorner: L of The Aletschhorn, the Matterhorn, Weisshorn and Dent Blanche stand out Another enlargement: Further R - The Grand Combin L - Grand Jorasses and Mont Blanc R : Mont Blanc is over 110 km away A final view of Jungfrau, Mönch and EigerThen it was back down: it is of course quicker, but the trouble with being lowered on the rope is that you're not in control and swing all over the place bashing your knees and elbows
I complained so Klaus said "OK you can climb down" - which I did
This is the sort of rock that you want to climb on all day .
At the shoulder we took one or two more photos
Looking back up - other climbers going both up and downFrom the shoulder, looking across the North West (Anderson ) ridge - another way up the mountainA final view climbing down the rib beside the snow couloir - along with everyone else Then it was back to the camp where we repacked the barrels, Klaus phoned Air Glacier to come and retrieve them, and we then walked all the way back to Grindelwald