David Nees, from Evanston, Wyoming, spent a couple of days with Kathy, hoping for a chance to try the Eiger's Mittellegi Ridge. Unfortunately, as happened so often this year, he arrived just after a major storm which coated the higher peaks with deep new snow, and put the Eiger out of condition for the foreseeable future. They climbed the Mönch instead, on a beautiful, if windy day.

Catching the first train up to the Jungfraujoch from Grindelwald, we were pleased to exit the tunnel into brilliant sunshine on the glacier.

The thick new snow, so problematic on long, steep rock routes like the Mittellegi, actually made the Mönch a bit easier than usual, and very pretty!

Very moderate cornice formation on the summit ridge suggested that the storm did not come with a lot of wind. The track was as good as it gets, and not at all crowded.

Looking over at the Eiger from the summit of the Mönch, we could see the extent of the new snow cover. Here we are looking down on the South Ridge descent route. From the summit it descents roughly the center of the mountain from this vantage point, traversing horizontally from left to right in the lower half. The Mittellegi ridge forms the right-hand skyline.

Some climbers approach the summit as we descend. In the background, the tallest summit above and behind the climbers is the Finsteraarhorn.

An injury sustained on the Mönch ruled out our hoped-for climb of the Jungfrau the next day. Instead, we enjoyed the sunrise from the Mönchsjoch Hut before descending to town.

On the way back we take in the magnificent view down the Aletsch Glacier southward toward its drainage into the Rhone Valley.