Our biannual Fletschhorn-Weekend

The Fletschhorn region holds a special place in the history of IAFL: many amazing moments were enjoyed in its lonely valleys and particularly its hut, the Fletschhornhütte, located at the end of a beautiful ridge at 3'041m between the Saas and the Simplon region.

Two years ago, Jozef and I stumbled upon this remote and almost forgotten hut by coincidence. On an unforgettable two-day ski tour from Gspon to Visperterminen, it accommodated us for some well-needed rest. The final approach in the dark and the steep descent down the Simelipass will forever remain in our memories.

Half a year later, we were joined by Lucas and our friend Michele on one of his first hikes. Followed by a curious herd of cows all the way until the ground started being covered by snow, we arrived at the hut at the perfect hour to experience a stunning sunset.

In January of this year, we embarked yet again on an adventure to reach our beloved hut. This time, additionally to Lucas, also Timothée, Camille, Nathalie, and a friend called Maxime joined us. With such a big group, we've spent a particularly fun time in the hut and which was contrasted by the interminable descent down to Saas-Balen.

So this autumn, Jozef and I already return to this remote and desolate location for the fourth time, and are joined by Timothée, Camilo, and our special guest Bruno who would gather his first alpinism experience by climbing the steep glacier to the Senggchuppa. But let's start things off at the beginning.

Sunshine and autumn colors on the way up

This year, we decided to approach the hut from Saas-Balen. This is the most direct hike up, but at the same time also the steepest. Powered by the radiant sun rays, we swiftly made our way up to the Siwibode, a stunning plateau roughly half way up to the hut. The larch trees there carried beautifully yellow needles.

We took a long break to eat our lunches while our eyes were feasting on the beautiful yellow, orange, and green colors of the trees.

From here on, the terrain becomes trickier: The wide and gentle hiking paths in the larch forests suddenly transitioned into a rocky and wild glacier-valley, forcing even Timothée to put on his hiking boots in favor of his flip-flops.

Exhausted but happy we finally saw our goal in the distance, gently embedded into a rocky slope, overseeing the whole valley: the Fletschhornhütte.

A sunset like no other

While we were gathering snow to melt into water and lighting the fire, the sun's rays first turned yellow, then orange, and finally red—the sunset was imminent. Dropping whatever craft we were working on at that moment, we quickly started climbing up the ridge extending from the Fletschhornhütte towards west.

The ridge above the Fletschhornhütte is gentle, with solid, high-quality rock—a real pleasure to climb white the colorful evening-sunlight shines on our faces.

What waited for us at the first unnamed peaks along the ridge cannot be put into words; the sun slowly sets behind the Weisshorn, slowly withdrawing its last light of the day from the steep glacier flanks of the Mischabel chain, painting the seracs of the Alphubel red, and finally allowing the night also to settle over the Monte-Rosa massif. More than half of the 4'000ers in Switzerland are visible from this unique point, ranging from the Cabana Margarita, the highest hut in the Alps, over the Dufourspitze, the highest peak in Switzerland, to the legendary Mischabel and Weisshorn massifs, of which many summits we could already experience ourselves, and the finally the distant giants of the Berner Oberland.

A cozy but exciting evening

Guided by the residual light of the sun below the horizon, we reached the warm hut where a generous amount of cheese was melting on the stove in the creation of a delicious "fondue fleurs vaudoises".

Having filled our bellies with Timothée's delicious mixture, we slowly creeped our way up to the sleeping room. However, our sleep would still be postponed by a couple of hours, since we had some unfinished business to attend to in this hut: watch a full horror movie. This time, we would try to watch American Psycho.

Deeply disturbed by the confusing and brutal movie, we covered ourselves with multiple layers of blankets and started sleeping. Or at least tried to do so. It's always hilarious to hear all the stories of how each of us experienced the night. Some of us barely caught an hour of sleep, while others were fully rested and ready to get out on another adventure.

Climbing the Senggchuppa

We squeezed down a few slices of Nutella-Zopf and started our journey into the cold morning hours. Our goal was the summit of the Senggchuppa, a relatively rarely climbed mountain cumulating at 3'607m high. The conditions on that day made progress quite slow. On the glacier, a big crust covered a layer of soft snow, such that with every couple of steps, we sank all the way to our knees into the snow.

For hours, we braved the difficult conditions and mastered the steep east-slope of the mountain without major problems. All along, we were rewarded with a stunning sea of clouds covering the entire Po valley.

After a little snack on the summit, we attacked the difficult and steep way down the glacier with a stunning view towards Italy.

We fled the cold winds and quite soon made our way through a long field of rocks back down at the hut for a second serving of the delicious fondue.

We cleaned all our traces in the hut and hung around a while to enjoy the warming afternoon sun-rays in front of the hut. A seemingly interminable hike through beautiful autumn meadows and colorful larch forests ended our trip in Gspon.

In good spirits but exhausted from the long day, we took the train home—not empty-handed, but each with our post-adventure snack of preference.

Thus, for the fourth time, the biannual Fletschhorn-weekend has been an unforgetable experience: The beautiful views, the deep conversations, and the relaxing hours in our favorite hut makes us come back over and over again. I can't wait for our ski tour in winter!