Description

A fitting climax of the week to a magnificent viewpoint.

From the hut descend SW beneath the rocky buttress of the Hinter Allalin ridge to get onto the Hohlaub Glacier.

Go SSW across the Hohlaub Glacier passing under point 3150m to gain the Allalin Glacier.

Follow the right side of the glacier SW under the large cliffs to your left, negotiating your way round the crevasses, before the angle eases off, at around 3250m.

The route now heads left slightly, SW, avoiding a crevassed area beneath the Rimpfischhorn and climbs, normally without undue difficulty, to the Adlerpass, 3789m.

From here, now suddenly with amazing views of the Matterhorn, you follow the snowy ridge to the summit.

In optimal conditions you may be able to skin, perhaps with ski crampons, but commonly you need to carry skis up the easy ridge for a short distance, before skinning again up the final slopes to the summit itself, which is reached on foot by a scramble.

The view from the summit cross is totally gobsmacking, as the pictures from March 2018 show.

The view extends all the way from the Matterhorn, to the wild hanging glacier descending from the summit of Nordend, to the Rimpfischhorn to the N. Descent is mainly by the same route, though you can take a slightly more direct, steeper line initially, to the right, avoiding the mixed ridge above the Adlerpass.

You can avoid the reascent to the hut by a long, steeper descent, on a variety of lines, to reach the valley floor below a large dam, then easily down to Saas Almagell.

This is a massive descent of nearly 3000m vertical to the village- unforgettable!