Bruce took a few days out of his Swiss vacation to climb the Mönch and Jungfrau in the Berner Oberland. Luckily, sunny skies arrived just in the nick of time. But so did the hot weather, making for rather soft snow conditions once the day warmed up.

Bruce on the summit of the Mönch, on our first day.

This photo was taken from Kleine Scheidegg and includes the Jungfrau in the background.

The Mönch. This two-day outing started with a ride up the Jungfrau railway. We traversed over to the SE Ridge of the mönch – the right hand skyline in this photo – climbed it and descended to the Mönchsjoch hut, out of view behind the ridge.

Other climbers on the snowed-up rock of the SE Ridge.

Another party starts the descent of the ridge. This photo was taken from the summit.

Evening light on the Gross Fiescherhorn, as seen from the hut.

Climbing on the Jungfrau. The Rottalsattel on the left and the summit on the right.

For better or for worse, however, we did not reach the summit. The previous day's climb had taken it's toll, and with a poor night's sleep at the hut, rapidly warming temperatures and desire to maintain a sensible degree of conservatism all led to the decision to forego the highest point.

Here, we are descending below the Rottalsattel.