After a hearty breakfast we boarded the Jungfrau Joch railway train that tunnels through the Eiger to over 11,000 ft. There is always a strange mix of tourists and climbers on the train and this was no exception. After an hour and forty minutes of climbing up through the mountain we arrived at the Jungfrau Joch station. Truly a tourists paradise. You can eat in any number of restaurants, check out the terrace, ice cave, go skiing, sledding, do the glacier zip line, take a ride in a charter plane, and much more. The Jungfrau Joch hosts about 3000 people a day and it is always amazing to go from the crowds out onto the glacier and the relative calm of nature. John and I hiked to the Monchjoc Hut and sat down for some lunch. John wasn’t feeling well (altitude and we think some food poisoning) so we ended up going back down the Kleine Shideg and stayed the night at a great hotel (Grindelwaldblik) overlooking the North Face of the Eiger. The next day John started to feel human again and we decided to head up to the Via Ferata on the Eiger. We had a great climb with great views.
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| Looking at the Jungfrau from the window of the Jungrau Joch train. |
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| Looking through the window at the North Face of the Eiger from the train tunnel. |
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| Hiking through the tunnels at the station to get to the glacier. |
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| Mammut was having a 150 year anniversary celebration kickoff event and had this base camp set up on the glacier. |
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| John hiking towards the Monchsjoch hut in the background. |
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| People lining up for plane rides. |
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| John feeling the food poisoning and altitude! |
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| Looking at a new avalanche on the Jungfrau. |
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| Grindelwaldblik at Kleine Schideg. |
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| A view of the West Face of the Eiger with some Swiss National lawn mowing champions in the foreground. |
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| John Standing in front of the Norwand. |
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| Heading up to the Via Ferata. You can see the first sets of ladders. |
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| John enjoying the Iron Road. |
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| About half way up there was a tunnel to the train if you need to escape weather. |
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| John coming up the upper portions of the Via Ferata. |
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| The summit of the Rotstock. |
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| John on the edge of the summit. |
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| Heading back down to the Eiger Glacier station. |
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| Time for a coffee at the station. |
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| Eiger Glacier station with the West Face of the Eiger in the background. |
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| The foot bathing pool on the trail down. The Swiss know what's up. |
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| The North Face of the Eiger in the evening light. |
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