After the Topper Sailing World Championships, our next goal was to reach the two remaining TOPs of the Swiss TOPtoTOP 2.0 project, as well as to help with a polisportive camp in Tenero.

It took Andri and Dario a day to get to the Finsteraarhorn hut. On the largest glacier in the Alps, the Aletsch Glacier, they were shocked by the amount of meltwater. The huge area of the Konkordiaplatz, where several glaciers meet, was free of ice and small pools of meltwater were forming. This means that this huge “ice factory” has been shut down and is no longer producing ice!

The next day, Andri and Dario were the first rope team that day to reach the summit of the Finsteraarhorn at 4274 m, the highest peak in the canton of Bern. They were already back at the hut at 10:00 a.m., where some other climbers only arrived 8 hours later.

The traverse of the Jungfrau region continued over the Fischergletscher and the Oberaarhoch to the Grimsel Pass. Together with Noe and Sabine, we then headed down the canyon towards Meiringen. Many thanks to Johann Kaufmann and his team from Outdoor.ch for the canyoning equipment.

Meanwhile, Alegra was working on an alp above Grindelwald. Together with the dairyman, there were only two of them with up to 40 cows that had to be milked twice a day and then there was the work of making cheese.

The next day, we continued on to southern Switzerland to the youth and sport camp of the canton of Obwalden. Sabine helped her colleague Ursi to cook for around 100 children and sports leaders. Andri and Dario, with the support of Sabine, introduced the children to rock climbing. In the afternoon there was wind and ideal conditions for sailing.
It’s fun and important to bring children closer to nature through outdoor sports!

Another bravo for Vital: Vital had too small mountain boots on the last mountain and walked the 1700 meters to the summit barefoot.

Now it’s back to the Arctic to sample. Salina lived also there this summer with Sami people for her Matura thesis.

So all that remains is the 26th TOP, Piz Bernina… Next time we come south, let’s hope the weather and ice conditions are good so that we can finish the Swiss TOPtoTOP project 2.0?