Swiss Alps 1999

Climbing Helmet advice

Swiss Alps 1997

Lauterbrunnen At the end of June 1997, Bernie, Steve and myself headed off to the Swiss Alps for a couple of weeks. Bernie and Steve did all the driving of course (I don't drive) while I navigated. We initially headed for a campsite at Lauterbrunnen, recommended by Steve's parents. We recovered from the journey and did a couple of day walks from there whilst making plans. This part of the Swiss Alps is a lot quieter than most others, especially early in the season.

Lauterbrunnen Hikes

Fafleralp & Abeni Flue
We decided to drive around to Fafleralp at the end of the Lotschental valley. We headed off up to the snout of the Langgletscher. It was interesting to see how rapidly the tree size decreased as we ascended to the glacier. We had lunch and played on the glacier on the way up to the SAC Hollandia Hut. This was still closed, so we stayed in the winter room, doing our own cooking. There was no one else around. Next day we made our ascent of Abeni Flue (3962m). A straightforward glacier climb (Grade PD) and returned to the hut. Wonderful views from the top out across to JungFrau and Konkordiaplatz. Swiss Landeskarte 1:50 000 No.264 (Jungfrau) covers the area.

Approaching glacier snout	On the glacier. The hut is on the first top to the left of the coll on the skyline	Steve on Abeni Flue	Me on summit

The weather turned, so we headed down and drove around to a small campsite at Morel by the Rhone. Next day we took the Bettmeralp cable car up to Bettmerhorn. From here we walked down to a flat area near the edge of the Grosser Aletsch glacier. This really is the views you expect of large alpine glaciers sweeping down. We set up camp here. Our plan was to cross the glacier the next day across to the Mittelaletsch bivouac hut before attempting Aletschhorn. Therefore we depoted the tent when we departed across the glacier. We had also left helmets as the route was basically glacier.

	Next day we crossed the Grosser Aletsch glacier and entered the Mittelaletsch valley. It was slow going and the weather deteriorated during the day. As we approached the hut, it was cold and snowing. We hit a bad band of crevasses with soft bridges as we were in sight of the hut and elected to scramble up the rock to the hut. Immediately below the hut was a small rock step which Bernie and I scrambled up. Steve wanted clipping in to a rope to come up, so we set about rigging a belay.
Bettmerhorn ridge			Grosser Aletsch Glacier

There was scree and a lot of loose rock. We managed to find a boulder that was firmly wedged while Steve sheltered under an overhang as we were knocking loose stones down. When we dropped the rope down, there were only grunts coming from Steve, although I could see him. I went down to check out the problem and found he had been hit on the head by one of the stones (he later remembered coming out from the overhang to swing his arms to warm up). He could physically function but his speach was totally non sensical. There was little I could do for the head injury apart from sticking a hat on and I managed to get him prussiking up the rope. At the top of the crag I handed him over to Bernie while I went ahead the short distance to the hut. It was a great relief to see a radio antenna on the hut. There was no one there, but I managed to get through on the radio and relate our position.

It temporarily stopped snowing and the cloudbase was a few hundred feet above us. Luckily it was still clear down to the glacier. With my surprisingly detailed weather observation the rescue services dispatched a helicopter and doctor while we got Steve inside the hut keeping him conscious and warm. The helicopter couldn't land at the hut so he had to be slung underneath with the doctor until they put down on the glacier to move him inside and take him down to the hospital. Bernie and I were left in the hut for a very solemn evening after retrieving the rope and Steve's rucksack.

Mittelaletsch Hut

It snowed all night and took us a long time descending next day with three people's gear. We crossed the glaciers and retrieved the tent for the climb back up to the ridge. We rushed to make the last cable car and found that the top ones hadn't been running because of the bad weather, so we had to continue down to Betten to get the lower cable car. We finally made it to Sierre hospital, where we managed to understand that Steve had been moved to Sion for a scan. We were allowed to see him straight away. A chunk of his scull had been pulled back out and pinned. Over the next few days we stayed at a nearby campsite and visited him everyday helping to bring back his speech now the pressure had been removed from his brain. At the end of the week the doctor said he was ok to be driven home and has recovered well.

Lessons? Helmets would have easily prevented the accident. There are very few true 'non-rock' alpine routes and even then you can argue helmets should be worn. The end of a long tiring day and poor communication along the rope contributed to the cause. We were lucky that it was close to a hut with a radio and the weather allowed a helicopter rescue. We all feel we've had our chance and we should learn from it.