An easy glacier trek for beginners with an overnight stay in a genuine Swiss Alpine Club Hut
Adventure date: 26 - 27 June 2020
The Covid Summer of 2020 had seen a relaxation of regulations and so we took advantage of this window to go outdoors and attempt a beginner’s alpine tour at the beginning of mountaineering season in Switzerland. The Sustenhorn lies in the heart of the Uri Alps, on the border to the canton Bern. With its height of over 3’502 meters above sea level, it falls fully into the category of an alpine peak. The summit and surroundings are covered with snow all year round. The peak is flanked on two sides by glaciers and from the top, you can see the beautiful Bernese Alps. A trek to the top takes you into this world of eternal ice. From the Tierberglihut it is a trek of a couple of hours to the top. Almost the whole way is covered by glaciers. The ascend does not have any steep or difficult sections and the whole ascend is technically easy. The route is classified as “Wenig Schwierig” by the Swiss Alpine Club (SAC), the second-lowest category. However, you still need to be reasonably fit for this hike. It is still an ascend of more than 700 meters of altitude from the Hut to the summit, starting at 2’795 meters. At this altitude, the air has 30% less oxygen than at sea level, making everything a lot more exhausting than you would expect. While 700 meters ascend does not sound like much, it is a different story at that altitude.
Arrival
Our meeting point was the mountain Hotel Steingletscher on the Sustenpass. If you are very fit and an experienced mountaineer, you would be able to spend the night here and do the tip to Sustenhorn and back in a day. But this out of scope for our level of fitness. Our tour plan was to hike to the SAC hut Tierberglihütte on Friday, spend the night, and Summit the Sustenhorn on Saturday.
As the initial hike to Tierberglihütte can be done in a couple of hours in good conditions, the plan was to meet in the early afternoon and get to our sleeping place around dinner time. The weather had other ideas, and Thunderstorms were forecasted in the area after lunch. This is always a danger in the mountains and not a rare occurrence in summer. So, we re-planned to meet earlier, at around 10 am instead.x
I always arrive a bit earlier for these types of events to make sure that I am available for a call, in case anyone is struggling to find the meeting point. It is always a good opportunity to also speak to the mountain guide in person about the current conditions and tour plan. After gathering the group together and a quick coffee, we jumped back in the cars and drove to the parking lot Umpol, from where we started on the first leg of our journey.
The Tierberglihütte has many adventures to offer, the first of which is the hike to get there. The hiking path is officially classified as a T4, an alpine hike. There is also the option to take an extended Via Ferrata route. The Via Ferrata alone is worth a visit. With a Difficulty rating of K4, it is not for the lighthearted and previous via Ferrata experience is essential. The route ascends through a total height of 510 meters. But because we were early in the season, the Via Ferrata was not yet open. We had inquired about the status ahead of time and thus left our Via Ferrata sets at home and took the standard hiking path.
The Alpine hiking path ascends through 700 meters and it is roughly three kilometers to the hut. With good fitness and constant hiking, you should be able to reach it in about two hours. I recommend planning in another hour or so, just to have a bit of buffer and time for pictures. We were early in the year and there were still a couple of snowfields that made the ascend trickier than we had expected. Having our alpine equipment with us helped a lot but is not usually a requirement for this part of the adventure.
We reached the top at around half past one, having taken our time through the snowfields and stopping here and there for pictures and drinks. Luckily, the sky remained blue and there were no signs of storm anywhere. We settled into our room, that we had to ourselves, thanks to Corona, and had an afternoon pie. Every SAC hut has its famous pie that they bake. In the Tierberglihütte, it is the Haslichueche, a type of hazelnut cake, and a must-try if you have a rest here.
Since my groups are geared towards beginners, any spare time is always a golden opportunity to talk about mountaineering basics with our mountain guide or discuss gear choices and other tips, tricks, and tours. Time flew by quickly and before we knew it dinner was served. We were so hungry and preoccupied with dinner and conversations, it was only halfways through dinner that we realized it was storming outside. The thunderstorm had snuck upon us and it was a pleasant feeling being in the dry and warm hut, while it seemed the world was ending outside. After dinner, the storm subsided and gave us an opportunity for sunset pictures. Before going to bed, we discussed the wake-up time and plan for the next day. Again, rain was forecasted. We decided to get up and out as early as possible. Breakfast was set for half-past four.
Summit Day
The first night at height is always uneasy for me. Sometimes it feels like I am unable to sleep at all. An old Mountain guide joke says that the night rest is not for sleeping but just a dedicated time to sober up. And so, without feeling perfectly rested, we got up at four in the morning and got ready for a quick breakfast. This early in the morning I can barely eat anything, but you need to force yourself to eat. The Summit attempt will ask for a lot of energy and your body better have a source of carbohydrates to provide it.
The days before had been extremely warm. We had another record-breaking summer in 2020 in terms of temperatures. Afraid that the snow would not freeze overnight, our mountain guide kindly thought of bringing snowshoes along, rather than just crampons. The fear was unfounded though, as we found the glacier nicely frozen at around five in the morning after a short descend from the mountain hut onto the glacier. We put on our crampons and started our hike towards the summit of Sustenhorn with dawn just breaking across the horizon.
The ascend itself was uneventful, which is usually a good sign. As our target summit lay to the east, the sun was rising behind the ridge we were approaching. We were quite happy not to be in the light already since it was plenty hot without the sun. We were making good time, taking just one small break for snacks and drinks, and managed to reach the summit in a bit more than three hours.
We spent about half an hour at the summit, enjoying the view around us. The weather was perfect with no clouds in sight. All of us had some snacks that we brought with us and some water. Apart from us, there was only one other group at the top, but we could already see many more on the way. Another reason to start early for sure! After all of us had taken enough pictures, relaxed a bit, and regained our strength, we started to descend.
Walking down is much easier for me than ascending, although many people feel the opposite way. However, the way down takes a lot less time. We decided to not break again on our way down and managed to get to the hut at about eleven-thirty. This was exactly in our time plan, as we had expected a potential rain shower to come in at around noon. So we were up and back before that.
Another break was had at the hut and the opportunity for lunch. We packed the rest of our stuff that we left at the hut, as to not having to carry it to the summit and back, before heading back to the parking lot
Most accidents happen on the descend, so be vary that the adventure has not yet finished. Ascending tough terrain is usually easier than descending it, and with all the technical equipment on the back, the backpack is also heavy. We also had the snowfields still ahead of us that we also crossed on the way up. Today we would be descending them and it was already afternoon. They were wet and the danger of slipping was there. But of course, we could use our axes to secure ourselves.
After another tiring and exhausting descend, we arrived back at the parking lot Umpol. It was a long and exhausting day, getting up before five, walking up to an alpine summit over a frozen glacier, and back down over 1’400 meters. We went from the eternal ice of the Swiss Alps, back down to the summer season in the cities.
Having a lucky break with the weather made this adventure a fantastic weekend in the Swiss alps. Join us next time for more!
