4 Days in the Bernese with Mönch, Agassizhorn and -joch, Nass Strahlegg, Studerhorn (almost), Grunerhorn

Amazing adventure in the (most?) remote part of the Bernese. A lot of great descents and summits despite the low amount of snow this year and the heat wave in the valley. Certainly the highlight of our ski touring season!

One goal of the outing was to ski the Lauteraarhorn S-couloir, an esthetic, steep line leading nearly to the summit of a remote 4000ers, very attractive. But the access to the Aarbiwak seems super annoying from most directions, especially the Grimsel. Last winter, while we were at the Bordierhut, a guy told me about this hidden couloir of the Agassizjoch as an elegant way to access the Aarbiwak. You don't find much about it online (conditions, steepness, rappel,...): nothing on C2C and only sparse information on the german-speaking counterparts. Therefore, it will be quite a cool exploration. Besides, the exit via the Grunerhorn and descent towards Goms seemed cool and so the trip was planned!

Overall 3 of the 4 days worked out exactly as planned. The Mönch S-face was cool though certainly too late skied. The Agassizjoch is skiable (though steep),there is an installed rappel and it is indeed an elegant way to access the Aarbiwak in combination with the Nass Strahlegg/Finsteraargletscher. Also the exit via the Grunerhorn is cool and elegant. Just the long descent to Münster is too much E/S that it would be in good conditions in that weather but we got super far down on skis.

Seeing the full Lauteraarhorn S-couloir from the Nass Strahlegg on D2 didn't convince us to attempt it the next day: Several sections seemed rocky with passages of maybe 2m wide as well as traces of wet slides. Moreover, a group descended it that day after 14h! and did probably nothing good to it. Even though it was probably still skiable, we decided to come back when conditions are better and rather have fun in untouched, more shadowy terrain on the other side.

Besides: Apparently, we have met Steph and his friends at the Aarbiwak, who did the Lauteraarhorn and another line towards the Studerhorn/Altmann next to ours of D3! @Steph: C'était vraiment sympa de t'avoir rencontré! À la prochaine!

Overall great spring skiing conditions. With the zero degree line >4000m all the time and many descents being E or S, good timing was essential, which worked out quite well but not always. The snow coverage is sufficient for covering crevasses but overall well below average for the time of the year, which let us renounce on the Lauteraarhorn S-couloir, planned for D3 (see comment below). Details:

D1: Straightforward progress on the SE-ridge of Mönch, only a few rock sections. Descent of S-face at ca. 12h already too late with soft snow, sluff control was important, no problem with the bergschrund. The face is not in ideal conditions, the ice comes out in the middle. Pretty nice skiing then on the glaciers towards Finsteraarhornhütte. D2: Straightforward ascent of the Agassizhorn (beautiful summit), still frozen snow for the short descent to the Agassizjoch. 15m rappel into the steep Agassizjoch E-couloir with skis attached. It was already a bit too soft (8h30) but not too much sluff, quite many rocks around, no problem with the bergschrund. Short reascent to the Nass Strahlegg and amazing firn descent on the Finsteraargletscher. Short reascent to the Aarbiwak. The moraine below it is dry for ca. 30m. D3: We had some fun around the Studerhorn and Grunerhorn. We first did a really cool ENE-ramp towards the Studerhorn but stopped at the top plateau to save some energy. Then, we did the really cool NW-bowl and -couloir of the Grunerhorn, which also allowed us to explore the descent on the other side for the next day. Great firn conditions all the time. D4: Again straightforward ascent to the Grunerhorn except for one steep and exposed traverse on ski crampons which took some attention. Short descent of the S-sided mixed terrain not so easy with heavy backpack. Some nice skiing and short uphills to the Galmilicke via the Oberaarjoch. 15m rappel on the E-side of Galmilicke. Great skiing down to 2900m, followed by slow snow to 2600m, canyon-skiing in the Bläggibärg couloir to 2000m, using final snow fields to 1650m, not even 3km to walk to Münster, great!

D1: 9h30 - 17h15 D2: 4h - 12h30 D3: 4h30 - 14h30 D4: 3h30 - 13h

Everyday hot (zero degree >4000m), sunny and almost no wind.