Schwarzhorn, last hike of the season!

We made it!! Final hike, final peak! Schwarzhorn, with Sam, a mate from England that made it to the top with me! Second hardest hike I've done so far, considering that the summit is at 2930 meters. This time we traveled to Grindelwald, then took a cable car up to Schreckfeld, the last stop before First. We started the hike at 1955 meters.

A picture from the hike:
Notice the back and fourth around First, that's because 20 minutes after we left this station, I found out I forgot my towel there, and had to run back to get it, adding another 2 km and 100 vertical meters to my hike...

Start of the day in video:

Here's one nice picture from Schreckfeld:

Then, we walked up to First (2168m) to have lunch
Sam and Me:


The morning view was fabulous:


After finding out about my lost towel, and a 20 minutes run on the mountain back to get it, we finally get back in gear for the summit


At about 2200 meters, i set up a nice Inukshuk


Sam reflecting on the fact that putting a battery in your mouth is not good for your health, after seeing me do so:



We can see the sign "pointing" at the top of the Schwarzhorn
We still have lots to climb...


After a pretty hard rocky 600 hundred meters...


...we get to a ridge, between two cliffs. The final climb is about to start, and breathing gets really hard. Every couple meters is very strenuous, and we both feel light-headed by the lack of oxygen.

Just before the ridge, a view from where we started. You can see the middle lift station down in the valley on the left, where the previous picture was taken.



The ridge in video



and in Photo:
(this was the actual path, with cliffs on both sides)


We had to go down a really steep (90 degrees) flank with a chain! Hardcore hike!



We turn around looking at what was left...so close, but at the same time, so far away...



We finally get to the top of the Schwarzhorn(2930m), 975 meters higher than the starting point, about 2h30 later. The view is quite amazing, and we can even see all the way to Lake Brienz, east of Interlaken.

In video..



and in Photo:








Sam with Grindelwald down the valley (our final destination), and the mountain Eiger in the back



Then, we had about 3h to go back down about 1875m to Grindelwald, in order to catch the train. We did the first rocky part pretty fast (45 minutes), and then stopped at this stream to have a bit of water. Stream that is the very probable cause for the most serious stomachache I had to endure in quite awhile, the following night. Sam drank too, but fortunatly, turned out alright for him.



After this quick (poisoned) water refill, we get in second gear, and run down the last 1200 meters in about an hour!!
Almost down in the village:


Sam trying to keep pace!!



We finally get to the beer in Grindelwald after about 7 hours on the mountain, about 6 of them either walking or running.



6h00, 1000 vertical meters, 20 km.
Schwarzhorn!!


Another great hike, a beautiful way to finish the season!!!