Day 7 - Snow & Ice Day 2

Another early start with breakfast at 7am. I have to admit waking scouts up when fast asleep is fun!!

Breakfast was a challenging affair if cold porridge (!) and dry bread. But we all force fed ourselves.

We then wrapped up once again and went back onto the ice for ice climbing.

The sun gradually rose behind the mountains and more beautiful 360 panoramic views. 

We each did 3 climbs - two ice axes, one ice axe, no ice axe. Joe, Matt & Theo achieved all three successfully.

Lewis, Becca & I only achieved the first two.

We then went back for lunch and hiked back down to Oeaschinensee. Where we left the rest of our group and we took the Gondola back down. After watching a helicopter land beside the lake.

We stopped off at the shop for more chocolate then back to the chalet. Fortunately the rest of the troop were still on the high ropes so we could shower & chill in peace. 

I have to confess it was a very tough two days but the views made up for it.

Day 6 - Snow & Ice

Matt & I took the 4 over 14's on the snow & ice trip. This involved yet another early meet time of 7.30am. We packed out overnight bags the night before.

We took the bus then Gondola up to the Oeschinensee (very large lake), where our hike commenced. It was a beautiful sunny day and we trekked for 4 hours up a steep mountain path gaining about 1,000m. The views were spectacular and the lake got smaller & smaller as we ascended.

 We arrived at the Frundenhutte at lunchtime and sat on sun loungers to eat our lunch overlooking a glacier.

After lunch we wrapped up warm and put on crampons, took our ice axes and got roped up to walk along the above glacier. It was surprisingly cold consider the heat earlier. We then all did crevass rescue which involved each of us being lowered down a crevass whilst another rescued us. Very strange experience!

We then learnt to walk up & down an ice hill which was very difficult - sending Lewis tumbling, but the fresh glacier ice prevented any major bruising.

We then went back to the hutte where we each demolished a bar if chocolate and 3 plates of pasta each! A tough energy sapping day!

We played Tonga during the evening (Joe & I won for the record!). Then I went to enjoy a peaceful sunset alone.....until joined by the scouts! It was still lovely.

We then went to bed & silence from 10pm, which was no problem as all shattered!

Day 10 - Rodelbahn

Today we had a nice and relaxed morning; we didn't wake the kids up till 9am. We let them have an easy morning then this afternoon we got the gondola up to Oeschinensee to ride the Rodelbahn (toboggan run). I get quite some momentum up but it still takes a good 70 seconds or so to do a complete run. Really good fun though. We were planning on going down to the lake to have a swim, or at least a paddle, but the weather closed in and we had to head down to the town early. The kids mooched around spending all their last few Swiss Francs. Back up to the chalet for a little tidying and dinner then off to bed at 10pm. Tomorrow will be a hectic day.

Day 9 - Glacier Hike

Hello, from sunny Kandersteg. Firstly, apologies for the break in service, but we've had wifi issues and Josh has added some bits but had to go to hospital yesterday with an abscess. He's OK, and we're hoping to have him back later today. Yesterday we were up at 4.45am and got trains to Frutigen then Spiez then Brig. From there we walked to Brig Bahnhofplatz (across the road) and got the mountain railway to Betten Talstation then cable car to Bettmeralp where we met Bernhard & Peter Stucky, our guides for our day. The daay involved walking on the Grosse Aletschglacier, which (at 23km) is the longest in the Alps. Apparently it weighs about 27bn tons! Unfortunately I wasn't actually on this walk; me, Roger and Mick accompanied Jack (who was injured) to a gondola then up to Bettmerhorn, where we were able to watch our group on the ice and enjoy a bowl of chips. We were back an hour earlier than planned and had dinner then went to the International Campfire. Bedtime routine was very good - they were all so exhausted! Some spectacular photos later...!

Group Photo

Alas Dave was taking the photo. Hopefully one to follow that includes him as well.

Day 8 - High Ropes - Swimming

Day 8 - High Ropes - Swimming

We started of the day with the swimming pool, after getting changed we all plunged into a pool that we were promised was 28 Centigrade; it turned out to be more like 28 Fahrenheit. The scouts had lots of fun with splashing and inflatables.
The under 14's went to the High Ropes course on wednesday. There was lots of fun to be had for all, even those who weren't keen on heights (such as the leaders). There were 6 levels and most got to level 3 with only the bravest getting to level 5. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to try level 6. High points of the day include