The weather was crazy. Before and after Easter, one Foehn storm followed another, sometimes with lots of snow, especially on the southern side of the main Alpine ridge. The storms and 5 ski tourers froze to death in a storm on the Tete Blanche near the Matterhorn. On Easter Monday, 3 ski tourers lost their lives near Zermatt due to the high risk of avalanches.
The strong winds and large accumulations of drifting snow made route selection and planning very difficult and often impossible.
On the way to the highest Bernese summit, the Finsteraarhorn, we waited in vain for better conditions with our friends, the Hefti farming family in Grindelwald. Alegra used the time to help in the barn and got a new rope from mountain guide Johann Kaufmann. –

Sabine and the younger children were already back in the far north of Norway for “Save the Arctic” and had great camping conditions. Noe dared to take his first steps in the snow after 3 months following his knee injury. He looked after Mia and Vital and so Sabine was able to climb the Storhaugen.

In Switzerland, on the other hand, up to 180 kilometers per hour were measured on mountain peaks over Easter. Andri also injured his ankle playing football, which meant he could no longer wear his ski boots – so Alegra, Andri and Dario decided to use the weather window at Lake Constance as a bridging alternative and collect exemplary projects in the border triangle of Switzerland, Germany and Austria. They cycled 300 km around the entire lake in just under 3 days, always following the shore. Thanks again to the “Swiss Youth Hostels” in Kreuzlingen and Stein am Rhein and “Rent a bike” for making this project possible.

On Easter Monday, the danger of avalanches reached its peak. So we waited until Thursday until the situation stabilized and joined by Jeremy we conquered the Breithorn as the first 4000-metre peak for Alegra. Via the Schwarztor between Pollux and Rocca Nera we climbed up to the the Monte Rosa hut.

The Monte Rosa hut stands like a diamond in this fantastic glacier world. It is our example in the canton of Valais for the use of renewable energies. Here is an interview with hut guardian Kilian:

From the Monte Rosa hut we climbed up towards the Dufourspitze shortly after 4 a.m.. We made good progress and made the ski depot slightly below the ridge saddle due to the cold and wind. The long summit ridge was exposed and a little windy. We reached the Dufourspitze, the highest peak in Valais and Switzerland, after about 5 hours. A great achievement for 12-year-old Alegra, considering that shortly beforehand we were cycling around Lake Constance at an altitude of 400 meters and were therefore not very acclimatized.

We then only stayed briefly on the summit and did not put out the TOPtoTOP flag because the danger of avalanches increased as the day warmed. At 2000m it was already 12 degrees, at the very bottom of the valley it was 28 degrees Celsius, – this at the beginning of April!

What was also impressive was the retreat of the Gorner Glacier. A few years ago the glacier came into the gorge and now a plain is already forming (see last picture).

Now would be the right time of year for high-altitude ski tours. This year the weather was abnormal. Nature didn’t allowed us to climb Finsteraarhorn and Bernina, our two last tops of 26.
Mountains remain and we’ll try again when the conditions are right… There comes also a good message with it: “Respect for nature!” This is probably the most important message we want to pass on. – But for now we’re focussing again on “Save the Arctic”. The arctic summer is short…..