A fantastic first glacier tour and easy 3000+ meter peak that is technically not difficult but does require some good condition, especially on the way down. You need a mountain guide and appropriate equipment for this tour.
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. The path itself leads over a glacier for more than 4 kilometers. Straight out of the hut, you are on the glacier and the incline isn’t so bad. But I am getting ahead of myself. Let me start at the beginning. We met on the Urnerboden, the starting point for our Adventure. A place where cows roam freely on the street and have the right of way. It can be reached simply by car in about an hour and a half from Zurich by car. There is also a PostBus that can get you there, and is essential for getting back here, in case you arrive by car.
The group assembled in the restaurant just above the Fisetengratbahn at around noon. As the sun was burning down, we decided to still have another drink at the restaurant and get to know each other. We were a total of nine people, including the two mountain guides. after a couple of waters and coffees, we took the cable car up the first 500 meters of height so we wouldn’t have to cover it on foot. Already at this point, we had a fantastic view of the mountains around us. Ahead of us lay a hike of about 6 kilometers and an ascend of roughly 600 meters. All in all, an easy warm-up hike, classified as a T3. A normal mountain hike with no technically difficult bits. The first day destination was to get to the Claridenhut before dinner. We were not expecting any difficulties.
From the Cable Car we hiked for about an hour and a half before our first break. As the Fisetengrat is close to 2’000 meters already, there are no more trees go give any shade. We were hiking in the midday sun on one of the hottest days of the year. We took our time. We didn’t have any time pressure and so didn’t worry about it. The path was mostly smooth going. We had to cross a couple of streams and some of the hike go across stone slopes. Most of the hike was pretty flat up to that point.
After the break though, we hiked to the back of the valley and pretty soon it began to go up very steep in serpentines. The last kilometer of the hike goes up almost 400 meters vertically. An exhausting end to the otherwise enjoyable hike. The only upside was that soon after the climb started, a cool wind would descend from the snowfield above, helping out with the toughness of the path. Once the final climb is done, we just had to cross a leftover snowfield before arriving at the Claridenhut.
After checking in, putting our stuff away, and having a beer, it was already time for Dinner. It was a hearty dinner, including mashed potatoes. Food never tastes better than after such a hike. And after dinner and a schnaps, the tiredness sets in quickly. Most of us went to sleep early, as we all knew the program of the next day. and so it was lights out before ten.
The second day began early, 4 AM early. Our mountain guides were kind enough to convince the Hut manager to put out breakfast for us to pick up ourselves, even before any of the staff was awake. Even then, we were not the first ones. As we slowly trotted into the dining room, the first group of two was already leaving. It is important to be on the glacier as early as possible. More on this later. We had ourselves a bit of bread and filled up our water bottles with the Hut Tea, which is usually included in the overnight stay in alpine huts.
As we headed out the door before 5 am and before sunrise, we put on our crampons directly outside the hut. the Snowfields still came up practically to the hut and so we could get used to walking on crampons again straight away. the first 40 Minutes were still on snow, so we had no need to rope up. As we approached the start of the glacier, the sun started to come up and we decided this was the perfect time for a break and to rope up.
Most of the path ahead of us was pretty flat. we could see far into the distance that we had to cover and only, in the end, did it seem to ascend around a turn in the glacier. You could see the paths the melting water had already imprinted and it looked like a thousand streams following the flow of the glacier. We made a good pace across the glacier and stopped again after a bit more than an hour of walking. it seemed we had covered a bit more than half the distance and height in that time. The sun was already out though, and while the snow was still hard for the moment, it was only a matter of time before it would start to become soft, causing the hike to become ever so difficult. This is why you always want to be on the glacier early.
After another hour, we seemed to be just short of the peak. We had covered most of the glacier and were before the final ascend. another 200 meters of height difference lay between us and the summit. But this also meant that we were now at an altitude of 3’000 meters and you could definitely feel the thin air now. The ascend was hard and slow and it took us almost another hour, but finally, we had reached the summit of the Clariden, and it wasn’t even 9 am! We were thrilled :D. The views we had so far were amazing. Check out the pictures below!
Yes, we were thrilled. We did not realize how much of the work still lay ahead of us! To start off, the descend had a via ferrata ready for us right after the summit. While technically not so difficult, we really had to watch out. A false step could have severe consequences as large drops were flanking us both left and right. We did secure ourselves to the cable though, so no one was too worried. But going down is somehow harder than going up and required a lot of concentration. It took us a good hour to get through, and once that was done, another ascend presented itself. We were mentally not prepared to go back up. And while the climb wasn’t long, it was steep and exhausting. but then, we were on the Clariden Vorgipfel – so two peaks for the price of one!
The Descend
From the Vorgipfel, it was another thousand meters of descent to go in order to get down to the Klausenpass. We tried to skid down the snowfields on our butts whenever we could. It still felt like a long stretch. After nine hours, we finally arrived at our destination. we were all very exhausted and were happy to have arrived. From there, we just had to take a PostBus back down to the Urnerboden.
Packing List:
Thermal Underwear, Hiking pants, Hiking Shirt, Soft shell Jacket, Crampon able hiking boots, Hiking backpack, ca. 35-50L
Backpack Contents:
Reserve underwear in waterproof Ziplock, light warm Pullover, Water and bottle ca. 1.5 Liter, Hip flask, Personal Medizin, Snacks, day 1 and Snacks and Lunch day 2, Crampons, Pickaxe, Climbing Belt, Camera, Hygiene sleeping bag (wool or satin), Hygiene articles (toothbrush, Deodorant, etc.)
