Almost as a tradition, we head out some days every year to go skiing with some of my best friends. This time, we decided that this year we would try to do a ski touring weekend. After a long search and many considerations, we finally found the perfect place for this trip: the Wildstrubel region, whose every corner we would explore for four days from the mountain hut called the Lämmerenhütte (2502m/8208ft). The weather, the views, the tours, and – foremost – the social interactions made this the best weekend of my life.

Approach Lämmerenhütte

Wednesday, late in the evening, Leo and Susanne arrived at our place. They came all the way from Amsterdam to join us for the weekend. We slept a couple of hours, and then took the bus in the direction of Leukerbad. From the first day, also Bruno, Nathalie, and Camille would join us. In Leukerbad, some of us rented ski touring gear for the weekend, and then we took the cablecar up to the Gemmipass, where we set out to reach the Lämmerenhütte later in the afternoon. This tour took us quite a bit longer than expected due to the heavy backpacks, some issues with the rented skins, and a rather steep and icy section just before the hut. Half a roll of duct tape later, we finally reached the hut. We installed ourselves, Camille gave a small avalanche primer for the touring novices among us, and we enjoyed the beautiful evening colors.

The Bietschhorn illuminated by the last sun rays

Sunrise tour Roter Totz Lücke

The next day we woke up early. We had breakfast at 5:30am and wanted to reach the Rote Totz Lücke (2803m/9196ft) for the sunrise. We were not disappointed. The thin clouds broke the sun-light in such a fabulous way, that the sky appeared as if it was on fire.

The colorful sky towards the Torrenthorn, just before sunrise

These colors helped me shoot some beautiful zoomed-in photos with my Fujifilms X-T30 camera, particularly with the telephoto lens I have recently purchased.

The Weisshorn and to the left of it the Bishorn

Unfortunately, the wind was very strong that day. We had to find shelter to take off our skins. In the process, Camille found an incredibly beautiful composition.

Interplay between the sun and the snowdrift

In fact, I was so distracted by the beauty of this sunrise, that I let go of my skin-bag, which subsequently flew off in the wind, never to be seen again.

The Daubenhorn, kissed by the first sunrays of the day

After a nice and flat descent, we arrived back at the hut, and killed the time with some Rock’n’Roll dance lessons by Bruno, while we waited for Jozef, Alex, and Maxime to arrive in the hut.

Stäghore

In the afternoon, we altogether set out on a tour to the Stäghore (3147m/10324ft). This mountain is easily summited from the south along its flat and very tame glacier. Once we reached the summit, the winds were so strong that we were almost blown over. I may have never had a tougher battle than when I took off my skins. They went all over the place, just not in my backpack.

Scenic view to the Grossstrubel

Back at the hut, Lucas and Otto joined us to complete our group. Together, we had a delicious four-course meal for dinner, and spent the rest of the evening talking together and playing card-games. In between, Alex gave an interesting recap on crevasse rescue techniques.

Wildstrubel

Also on the second day, we ate breakfast at 5:30 am breakfast and then set out for the main summit of the Wildstrubel massif: the Wildstrubel (3244m/10643ft). The weather was a bit more cloudy. Nevertheless, the sunrise yet again did not disappoint us.

Sunrise colors on the way up to the Wildstrubel

Over a long glacier, we approached the summit in groups of three. I was joining forces with Lucas and Bruno; two of my friends with whom I have undertaken countless fun adventures and whom I have known for years now. We took it a bit easier than the other groups, and crossed the steepest section with a stunning view on the early morning sun.

Nice views on the steepest section of the tour

The glacier was in outstanding condition. A thin cover of soft powder-snow on top of a layer of compacted snow. Not a single crevasse was visible. We crossed the large glacier-plateau and summited the main-summit of the Wildstrubel together.

The whole group gathered on the summit

We crossed over to the Mittelgipfel (3243m/10639ft), the second summit of the Wildstrubel, before engaging in a long and nice downhill back to the hut. Originally, we were planning to also cross over to the third summit of the Wildstrubel chain, the Grossstrubel (3242m/10637ft), which we abandoned due to the strong winds on the ridge. Interestingly enough, the three summits of the Wildstrubel chain have almost the exact same height, despite being more than a kilometer apart from each other.

Lämmerengletscher

Having not had enough action yet, we set out with Otto, Camille, Nathalie, and Leo in the afternoon for a bonus tour. The goal was the summit of the Schwarzhorn (3104m/10183ft). In the process, we forked off towards the north-side of the Rothorn. The snow conditions looked perfect there. We reached a small pass and saw a summit with an antenna on it to our left. Already a bit in a hurry due to the fast approaching night, we quickly started crossing over towards the said summit; maybe a bit too quickly, because half-way in, we found ourselves in the middle of a steep, exposed, and icy slope, which would be too risky to cross. Hence, we slowly and carefully turned around and started the descent back to the hut, right after having enjoyed the beautiful evening colors one last time.

The Mischabel mountain chain illuminated by the last sunrays

Return Gemmipass

On the last day, we planned to do one more small tour in the morning and then enjoy a relaxing afternoon in the thermal baths of Leukerbad. A fresh layer of snow fell during the night. We headed out as early as usual with all our baggage, and started skiing down the first few meters below the hut to get down to the Lämmerenboden plateau with the help of our headlamps. In the process, Jozef fell into a hole below a rock, which was just slightly covered in fresh snow; a deadly trap. He injured his knee, and we had to call the helicopter rescue.

The helicopter transporting Jozef to the hospital

Shocked by this incident, we decided to skip the last tour, and directly head down to Leukerbad.

Fortunately, Jozef’s injury was not too serious, so we directly picked him up at the hospital in Visp and drove back towards Lausanne. It was one of the most entertaining car rides I have witnessed, which included a short pit-stop at the thermal baths of Lavey les Bains. A great end to an extraordinary weekend.