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There was no need to get up too early. As long as we were in time
for breakfast, that would do.
We
left some of our gear at the hut and at 7.45am we started from beside
the hut loos on a rocky scramble. A hundred metres higher we got
to the snow and it was time to put on crampons for the rest of the
climb. It's straightforward to the top, moderately steep and it
was slow 
going, well, for me anyway, as Nigel was going well and Bill always
goes like a ferret up a drainpipe!
The summit (3637m) has the usual cross, but actually getting to
the highest point had to be taken very carefully as it was corniced
- and no, I wasn't going any closer to the edge. The drop
behind went straight down 1000m toward the Finsteraargletscher.
The views locally to the Lauteraarhorn,
Finsteraarhorn and south to the Matterhorn were superb. It was 9.25am
and we lingered until 10am.
Back at the hut by 10.50am, we had a rest, a litre of tea, packed
our sacks and climbed down the ladder to the col. Roped up at 11.30am,
we set of across the Studergletscher and climbed up to the Gemschlicke
3335m. The start of the descent was icy and covered in rubble which
wasn't too stable, but a bit further down we could run the scree,
until we got back to the snow lower down.
Just before we got to the Fieschergletscher, Nigel had to get his
kit off and had a wash in a large stream - the works, electric shaver,
deoderant - what else was he carrying! A gentle walk up the glacier
and red paint and chains marked the steep climb up rocks on the
right, leading us to the Finstreaarhornhutte at 5.15pm.
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