Day Three, and it was time to leave the Konkordia and head off to the Oberaarjochhutte.

I took this shot on Day One - although I had no idea of what, as Karl had done all the planning. It is looking almost directly at the Konkordia hut across the Konkordiaplatz. The obvious col just left of centre is the Grunhornelucke at the top of the Gruneggfirn - our first climb of the day.

As ever I was off the pace first thing in the morning...

...and was overhauled by a bunch of snow-shoers. Mind you they didn't all beat me to the col - there's one just behind me if you look closely!

Great view looking away to the Lotschenlucke in the distance and our way home on Day Five.

Karl on the col with the Aletschhorn dominating behind.

8.43 and we still had a ways to go today - especially bearing in mind we would be back this way tomorrow after gaining our highest summit of the trip.

Yet another trundle across a huge glacial area, the Fieschergletscher - as the sun hadn't been on this long it was a real teeth rattler rather than a mushy pole push.

It was then up the Galmiglescher - which bears around to the left of shot. The main peak in shot is the Vasenhorn. Our goal for the day was the Vord-Galmihorn - which is the peak to the left of the Vasenhorn.

Jump forward a couple of hours and we were well into the real climb of the day.

There were some very long switch-backs on this section - they looked really inviting, but as they'd been in a while there was a real step between the skis and got fairly uncomfortable on the long traverses.

Still, there was plenty of stunning scenery to take the mind off the job in hand.

We stopped on the col below the Vord-Galmihorn for a bite to eat before the final climb. As ever, a decent view for lunch. Have to admit to be a bit confused as to what I'm looking at but I believe the main peak is the Finsteraarhorn, at 4,274 metres it is the highest peak in the Bernese Oberland.

A group of Swiss had already arrived at the col before us - although, rather than coming up via the Jungfrau Railway they had skinned up from Munster I think. With this year's thin snow cover, I think they had to walk up quite a ways before hitting snow.

I'm guessing that when we go back we would probably still head up by train - while expensive, its an impressive way to arrive and obviously saves some time and effort.

Looking from the summit more or less west - you can just about make out the Matterhorn in the centre of shot.

Not sure what I'm doing, probably ranting on about something, or telling Karl "Look, I'm nowhere near the edge..." Karl didn't come any closer than this - not that I'm on an edge...

...that's more like it.

Yet another feature of the trip was many of our climbs ending with impressive drops from the other side. This is looking down onto the Minstigergletscher and Bachigletscher just two of many glaciers that feed out of the Oberland and provide alternative skin in/ski outs.

Enough sightseeing. Again, we had a real game trying to pick the best aspects to head down. For some of the way we stayed close to our up-tracks, as some of the route was heavily crevassed.

Regardless of glacial retreat, the Swiss seem to like perching their huts up cliff sides. Fortunately we only had a short scramble and a single ladder to climb rather than a hundred metres or so of steps.

The Oberaarjochhutte is more what you'd expect of a refuge when compared to the size and style of the Konkordia. Although the hut capacity here was over sixty, there were just seventeen of us - strange considering the first time we rang the guardian had said it was full. Must have been our accents - when Karl decided to try again in French we had no problem! We got the impression the guardian was a bit tired and/or mad - given he was on his own and looking in the register he had been more or less full for weeks.

Another day done. Enjoying the compulsory shandy with the Finsteraarrothorn directly behind, and our target for Day Four behind that - the Gross-Wannenhorn, 3,906 metres.