Easy glacier trek for beginners with an overnight stay in a Swiss Alpine Hut
Adventure Date: 2nd - 3rd of July 2022
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Do you want to take hiking to the next level and start mountaineering? This is your opportunity to join a beginner’s tour to Piz Medel. A perfect tour for beginners that does not require technical experience, but will take you high up into the Swiss Alps and across a glacier to a peak standing at 3’210 meters above sea level. This tour is led by a certified mountain guide who will be responsible for your safety.
Our trip to Piz Medel will be split up into two days, an arrival day and a summit day. We will be staying overnight at the SAC Hut “Medelserhütte” where we have dinner and breakfast included. The Medelserhütte is located at an altitude of 2’524 meters above sea level and is one of the easier SAC Huts to reach. A normal hiking path leads all the way to its doors. The hut itself is a staging point for a variety of alpine tours, both in summer and winter. In our case, the goal will be the summit which gives its name to the Hut, the Piz Medel. The tour is classified as an easy tour on the Swiss scale, meaning that no advanced techniques are required. Most of the way crosses a glacier field, where the main concern is crevasses. But with a trusted mountain guide at our side, we are sure to have a competent pathfinder that will avoid any risk. The rest of the track is on unmarked alpine territory, but no climbing or scrambling skills are needed. If you like the tour, you may want to think about more advanced trips in the future! Read here about our trip last year to the Sustenhorn!
Alpine Tour Itinerary
The currently planned meeting point for this tour is on Saturday at 10:30 by the Bus Stop Curaglia Posta (subject to amendment depending on weather etc.). That is the further we can get with public transport. But we have the opportunity to save ourselves from another 300 meters of ascending. So we will create carpools at the meeting point and travel a bit further. Our guides will lead the way to get us there. Having shortened our hike with heavy backpacks significantly. After an official welcome, we will begin our ascent to the Medelserhut. Depending on our form on the day, the hike will take between two and a half, to three hours. A total of 5 kilometers and about 900 meters of ascending. We are not in a hurry and we can take plenty of time to take pictures and enjoy the great views the Alps provide. Dinner at the Hut is not until 18:30. We have enough time to check in and get sorted before Dinner and take some time to look at the map and discuss the plans for the next. How do you plan a route across the glacier and how do you read the map? Or maybe we have some time to cover other topics as well.
"At the end of June, we finally met again for another high alpine tour. Ever since my first 4’000 meter summit last year, I knew I wanted to repeat the feeling. And while the Clariden is not above 4k, the scenery surrounding it is just as beautiful."
Summit Day
After Dinner is sleepy time. Swiss standards demand that lights out is at 10 o clock. Although this time of year the sun stays out very late and you may go to bed with the sun still out. We try to get some sleep as mountaineering tours tend to start early. There is a multitude of reasons to start early, including the glacier and snowfields still being frozen, making it much easier to get across them. The exact time of breakfast and tour start will be determined by our mountain guide and depend on the conditions of the day. After a short breakfast, coffee, and morning routine, the tour begins with a hike to the glacier. We can leave all our extra equipment in the hut, going only with a day pack. After a short hike, the tour reaches the glacier. Here we take a short break to put on our harness and crampons and create a rope team. The rest of the way will be mostly across the glacier. The total ascends to the summit will take about three hours. Around 700 meters of ascending have to be covered, but at a much higher altitude than before. Ultimately, you will reach the peak at 3’210 meters.
Descending
Congratulations on reaching the peak! This is no small feat and you can be proud if you get all the way to the top! The air here is around 27%-30% thinner than at sea level. Every step takes additional strength to accomplish. If the conditions allow, we take a break at the top to eat and drink something, enjoy the view, and take a summit selfie! But as every experienced mountaineer will tell you, the summit is only half the way. I nthis case, it is even less than half, since the descend will take us all the way back, past the Mountain Hut to our cars. If we are good in time, and the weather permits, we can plan for a lunch stop back at the hut. After grabing all of our left behind gear and grabing some lunch, we will head down to the parking lot. Depending on how fit everyone is and how long our lunch break will be, we should plan to be back at our cars between 1500 and 1600 on Sunday. From there, we will load the car shares and head back down to the town.
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Other Notes and Equipment
Make sure to eat a healthy breakfast before arriving. You will need the strength for the ascend to the mountain hut. This trip does require you to be fit enough to hike up to 900 meters of ascend with your own backpack and equipment, and also descend the full length back down on summit day. We expect to hike approximately 7 to 8 hours on summit day. In the hut, there will be the possibility to buy additional food. Bring enough water, as buying water on the mountain hut is expensive. Crampon ready boots are a requirement. Without them, you will not be able to secure the crampons tight enough for trekking across the glacier. Mountaineering ice pick, crampons and harnesses can be rented with us if required cost for each item are around 25-30 CHF. Pro Tip: I always leave an additional change of clothes in the car for the travel back!
Technical Equipment
Climbing or mountaineering harness, mountaineering ice pick, crampons, crampon ready mountaineering boots
Clothes
Thermal underwear, hiking pants (soft or hard shell), T-shirt, pullover or top layer, down jacket, rain gear (jacket and pants), hat, scarf or buff, a pair of thick and thin gloves
In the backpack
Water and snacks, Sunglasses, Sunscreen lotion, Camera, headlight, extra underpants and socks, extra T-shirt, toothbrush and paste, mountain hut hygiene sleeping bag, trainer pants for mountain hut
Costs
The cost for two days of alpine trekking with a mountain guide comes out to 480 CHF per person. The price includes the mountain guide for two days, one night at the Medelserhütte with breakfast and dinner. Vegetarian options are available, but have to be requested ahead of time. Not included in the costs are your travel to and from the event, as well as any personal expense for snacks or drinks during the day and rental equipment. Mountain guide Tips are optional and at your discretion.
Cancellation policy
Registration is confirmed once we receive your payment. Cancellation cannot be refunded for this event because the mountain guide is booked. If the event is canceled from our side, a full refund will be issued.
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