A spontaneous decision to take Friday afternoon off, why? The skies where blue, the forecast of a clear night, and the chance to sleep out under the stars one more time before winter kicks in.
So I packed up, new Bivi to try out, and headed down to the local train station. Luckily we have a great outdoor shop next to the station so I popped in to get a packet of dinner and breakfast, Reindeer stew for dinner and Porridge with figs and blueberries for breakfast, we are set! Being late in the day to get up high enough to where I planned to sleep the night and before the sun sets, I cheated and got the mountain train up to Pilatus. Here I would have a 30 min walk and down 200m to my planned night spot. Thinking this was to easy, I took a quick tour to the top of Tomlinshorn 2125m, so at least I got an hours walking in before getting dinner on the go. I think the pictures below speak for themselves, a great evening, not to cold, a load of stars, a bright moon, breakfast on a peak, an adventurous 5hr hike, with plenty to see and admire along the way. Sometimes being spontaneous pays off!
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A journey has begun, 4 of the RCL Pink Panthers took part in the first ever junior rugby tournament held by RCL the other weekend with great success. Only being a few for the time being, the boys played with RC Zug and finally got a taste of a real rugby game after months of training (some of them years of training!). No injuries, lots of smiles and to top it off Roy ran in his first ever try in a game, and to make it even more memorable someone got it on video... definitely got his fathers gene’s that showed in his hand off and a dummy to score. Well done all of you. A big thank you goes to the RCL PP coaches for all the time and effort put in, you must be very proud. 8/31/2020 0 Comments Roy with the RCL Pink Panthers...A great joint training session for the RCL Pink Panthers in Würenlos on Saturday, with U14 coming from Basel, Zurich, Würenlos and Luzern.
Approx 20 young boys and a couple girls really enjoyed the training session, learnt a few new things, but most off all had a great training in the rain. 7/27/2020 0 Comments Family rugby training session...A lovely Sunday afternoon and what better than a couple of hours rugby training with the kids. I haven't been on a rugby field for sometime now, let alone run around with a ball passing and kicking... wow but it was great fun.
A lot of that comes down to the team work with Roy and Annika, who also needed a wrestling session as well 😜. Thanks to those two I really had a lot of fun, we even did some sprints to finish the session off... haven't done those for an either longer amount of time! And so we come to our final day, and the longest/highest peak to climb. After a short tour planning on Thursday evening at the Britannia Hut and an evening shorter sleep we were underway at 3am With head lamp turned on we set off to our destination, Mt. Strahlhorn 4190m.
All in all we were under way for almost 11hrs, with a 20m small ridge to the peak (in ice crampons) the adrenaline was there! Reaching the peak at 9:45, and a few breather stops we turned around to head back, the frozen snow from the morning turning ever more into soft sinkable and hard going. Luckily we carried the snow shoes exactly for this... it’s all in the planning! Up at 5:30 and out the door at 6 to take on the Mt. Allalinhorn 4027m. Not as high as yesterday's but a touch challenging technically and a longer hike. After we had got to Saas-Fee we found out that no lifts were open to the public! Luckily they did for mountain guides and the guests 👍🏻. The hike was a lot steeper than the Breithorn, the Glacier very intimidating and at the top a 50m 'Grat' (ridge line) to the top... 50cm wide!!
And the view... just look at the pictures! Once we were half way down then there was the added 1hr walk around to the famous SAC Britanniahütte at 3030m, our base for the night to taken on the Mt. Strahlhorn 4190m tomorrow. Up early and the first lift to Kleiner Matterhorn (cheating with the elevation a bit) but what a day! A group of 6 plus the mountain guide 'Danu', it would be the first 4000m plus peak for four of us. All went smoothly, all of us made it up and down the Breithorn (4164m) and now down the valley a bit then up to Saas-Fee. Tomorrow its up to the Allalinhorn, 4000m + number 2!
Day 2, on the Glacier roped up and learning loads. Rope work, understanding glaciers and there crevasses, a bit of ice climbing, breaking your fall down a snow field (head first too!), loads to take in but perfect weather and a great mountain guide!
It's started, after the long wait since signing up its finally underway. Day one started with us all introducing ourselves and then on to some knots. Loads of knots, loads of rope work and how we should walk together on the glacier. All extremely interesting with lots of little tips fron our mountain guide Daniel.
I think we have hit the jackpot with the weather this week, but you never know till you are up there. Another lovely hike up to the Kröntenhütte, this time with Roy and Nadja along for the ride.
Saturday was lovely and Sunday was a day walking down in drizzly clouds, and quite slippery too. |
AuthorChris, Sarah, Roy and Annika blogging around to keep in touch with family and friends all around. Archives
May 2023
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