My trip to switzerland

This past summer, I spent 2 weeks in the Valais in the Swiss Alps. As a child, my dad visited Switzerland every year, usually staying in the same small village. I had been to switzerland twice prior to this past summer. Normally, my family and I just went on hikes with little equipment besides a backpack and hiking sticks. We never traversed anything more serious than roped ledges or occasionally some small cliff-like rock structures with spikes drilled into the rock face for footholds. On this past trip, my 10 year old brother (who is a really fit swimmer), was eager to go on long hikes with my Dad and I. Most of our hikes ranged from 8-12 hours. Some were more serious, where we stayed focused and tried to limit our time hanging out and taking pictures and simply cover as much distance and altitude as possible. Some hikes were more relaxed, where we stopped to play in the fresh cold glacier water in the creeks. My Dad, who had years of experience in the Valais, knew where the best trails were and where the least touristy areas were. We were able to avoid the crowded, ridiculously expensive touristy areas, and enjoy the peaceful Alps undisturbed (and for little cost besides the ridiculously priced Swiss food). On many of these hikes we only saw people every few hours. I was very glad to wake up, pack, hike all day, return home, eat a late dinner, and go straight to bed. I always yearned, however to try out something more advanced.

  This past summer, I had a great opportunity to try something a bit more serious. My aunt's Swiss boyfriend is a semi-professional mountaineer, and he was willing to come down to our Chalet to take my dad and I on a couple serious hikes. He showed us some equipment to rent, including climbing harnesses, crampons and ice picks, and we learned how to use them. We then prepared for a huge hike that would prove to be the best of the entire trip. We got up before 6 AM and each packed warm clothes, several sandwiches, and all our gear and drove out to Saas Grund, a very touristy town near a cluster of the highest peaks of Switzerland. We took a bus to Saas Amagell and then on to Stausee Mattmark to one of Switzerland's many water dams (the primary source of power in the area). Many of the touristy towns are car-free to  keep the air cleaner and also to increase revenue (they couldn't fool us).

We hiked uphill for a couple hours, reaching a moderate peak To give you a sense, there were several snow patches, and it was the end of July. We then hiked across a large snow field, maintaining a pretty constant altitude, until we reached the Allalin glacier. We put on crampons, and harnesses and grabbed our ice axes and we crossed this glacier, which was almost completely flat. We almost had no need for our gear. We then crossed a large moraine in between the Allalin glacier and the Hohlaub glacier, and then put our gear back on as we crossed the Hohlaub glacier. this glacier was covered in crevasses and holes at least 20 feet deep. In addition, there was a large river to cross flowing through the glacier which was partly concealed under ice. It really was a sight like no other. Traversing the Hohlaub glacier was an experience I will never forget. Even though it was a cloudy day, the rich blue ice in the cracks and the was small streams flowing through them were indescribably beautiful. We hiked uphill to the Britannia Huette SAC, a mountain cabin used by serious mountaineers to sleep overnight and wake up hours before sunrise to mount the highest peaks of the Alps. Cabins like these received supplies via Heli-drop and were powered by solar panels on the roof. We crossed a couple more snow fields, following a trail closed due to avalanche warnings. In our defense, it was our only choice or we would have been hiking until after nighfall, at which point things got seriously dangerous. We then finished the hike at 4:58 PM, unscathed by avalanches ending up at a cable car line leading to Saas Fee, just making the last ride by a couple minutes. It had only been a nine hour hike, but nonetheless, it was the by far the best one of the whole trip. It had been one of the most exciting days of my life, and an extremely memorable experience.

If you are curious, you can see a picture of me and the glacier on my Facebook wall.
I'm not sure this link will work, but you can try it:
https://www.facebook.com/lyle.regenwetter