Gletscherspitze with Géri and Jan

After a delicious dinner and a good night's sleep, Géri, Jan, and I left Blatten in the dark at about 05:45. We set a nice fast pace on the cross-country ski trail and headed up the valley. At about 06:30 the sun was up and we left the trail to the south and started the climb up to Gletscherspitze. Rather than follow the SAC Guide route which stays on the glacier the entire way, we opted for the route drawn on the official skitour map - the entire area is a nature preserve and we were doing our best to leave no trace. It wasn't too hard as the snow was as hard as concrete. We put on the harscheisen (ski-crampons) at around 2100m, and after a small navigational error we reached the crux at 2300m around 9:30: a small step through a cliff band of about 10m at a good 50 degrees. While taking off the skis to boot up the step, Géri lost a ski! That thing took off like a rocket ship. I went to look for the ski while Géri and Jan enjoyed the view. After skiing back down to 1800m, I gave up and skinned back up with the bad news, only to find Géri happily back on two skiis! The ski had buried itself just out of sight from the step, and I missed in on my way down for some reason. We decied not to continue on the route and instead I got to enjoy the descent one more time! After a few more laps at bit further east in the vally, a comfy drink at the Fafleralp restaurant, I was on my way home at 15:30.