Euro 2014! Day 7

Day 6

The hut wardens asked if we wanted breakfast at 3am or 7am.  Since breakfast unfailingly consisted of cereal, little packets of bread and jam, and required no effort from the staff at all I asked if it would be OK if we just got up at 5am and looked after ourselves.  The lady said that would be fine but made it clear that we would have to get ourselves up, I said that would find a way to tough it out.

We wanted an early start for this day because in terms of distance and altitude it would be the biggest day of the trip.  The plan was to continue up the glacier and drop down to Gnifetti Hut back on the Italian side of the mountains.  The pass we had to get over was over 4100m and would be the highest altitude we would have to deal with.

Once again we were made to feel like slackers, getting up at 5am we were faced by the breakfast remains of other parties and after a sleepy breakfast and a bad cup of coffee we were on our way.

Sunrise with Matterhorn in background

The route heads up the left side of the glacier to avoid going under the imposing Northest Face of Mount Lyskamm which has the charming nickname Menschenfresser (man eater).

Once again the wind was the enemy and as we reached the pass there was little time for talk as we put our heads down and carried on in hopes of getting shelter on the southern side of the range.  Reaching the top it was very windy and cold and when I needed a hand finding the way all I needed to do was find Jesus….I did and it worked, he is located just above the slope that leads to the hut on top of a rock.  The bivi in this photo is not Gnefitti Hut.

 Gnifetti is further down and even more precarious.  Gnifetti Hut is an improbable location, like some sort of cartoon it sits precariously on a cliff top propped up by decades of additions and repairs.

Access up and down the cliff to get to the hut is the trickiest part of the day.

View from the bedroom

This hut has been added onto so many times it is rabbit warren of stairs and halls.  If you are on the deck and need to to get to the toilet you better have some time, see below.

GO TO DAY 8