Panorama of the Aletsch Glacier.
Panorama of the Aletsch Glacier.

This was a great final hike of summer 2015 in Switzerland with David, Helen, Louis and Tanja. We hiked alongside the Aletsch glacier which is the largest glacier in continental Europe and climbed two nearby peaks (and both crosses).

We started the hike on the Aletsch Panoramaweg from Bettmerhorn all the way to Märjelensee. The whole route affords great views of the glacier including at the Rote Chumma lookout.

Panorama of the Aletsch Glacier from near the Märjelensee, with Strahlhorn (3027m) to the right.
Panorama of the Aletsch Glacier from near the Märjelensee, with Strahlhorn (3027m) to the right.

From the Märjelen Gletscherstube we climbed up passed the Tällisee to Eggishorn peak.

Taking in the view of the Aletsch glacier and the distant 4000m peaks from near the Tallisee.
Taking in the view of the Aletsch glacier and the distant 4000m peaks from near the Tallisee.
Hanging out at the high point of the day on Eggishorn peak.
Hanging out at the high point of the day on Eggishorn peak.

The final section of the loop was along the UNESCO Höhenweg between Eggishorn (2927m) and Bettmerhorn (2872m). It was a quite tricky 3km of ridge line with wires for safety in a number of places, some very large boulders to climb over and some very deep holes to avoid falling into. Very exciting :) I still managed to find some sections to run though!

Panorama of the Aletsch Glacier near the end of our trip close to Bettmerhorn.
Panorama of the Aletsch Glacier near the end of our trip close to Bettmerhorn.
Climbing the Bettmerhorn cross to get a few metres higher :)
Climbing the Bettmerhorn cross to get a few metres higher :)

By the time we had made it all the way around the loop to Bettmerhorn peak I was ready to do some pullups on the Bettmerhorn cross (why do they always have a cross on the peak?)