Terra & Tide
All journeys
Mountains
The Glacier Line
Eight nights on the ice road, roped up for two of them, with a guide who grew up under it.
DISTANCE
74 km
TOTAL ASCENT
4,900 m
NIGHTS
8 nights
FROM
$5,400
Demanding · glacier travel, crampons and rope
Day by day
DAY 1
Arrive Randa
Train up the valley, meet at the guesthouse. Crampons fitted tonight so nobody is doing it at dawn.
Transfer 20 min
Guesthouse
DAY 2
Up to the first hut
Straight up through the forest and out of it. The glacier is visible from supper.
1,050 m ascent · 5 h
Mountain hut
DAY 3
Onto the ice
Roped up properly for the first time. Three hours of flat white and one crevasse everybody photographs.
480 m ascent · 6 h
Mountain hut
DAY 4
The icefall traverse
The most technical day. Short, slow, and the one that earns the route its name.
390 m ascent · 5 h
Mountain hut
DAY 5
Rest at Konkordia
A day at the hut. Reading, sleeping, and watching the weather come up the valley.
—
Mountain hut
DAY 6
The long plateau
Seven hours across the top with nothing to aim at but a hut you cannot see until you can.
520 m ascent · 7 h
Mountain hut
DAY 7
Off the ice
Down onto moraine, then grass, then a path with flowers on it. The change happens in about an hour.
1,200 m descent · 6 h
Mountain hut
DAY 8
The last descent
Down to the valley floor and a village with a bakery in it.
1,100 m descent · 5 h
Guesthouse
DAY 9
Out at Fiesch
Breakfast, then the train. Everyone sleeps on it.
Transfer 25 min
—
What the price covers
INCLUDED
Guiding throughout · all accommodation as listed · breakfast and evening meal every day · baggage transfer between stops · group safety kit and first aid · a full kit list and route notes eight weeks before you go
NOT INCLUDED
Flights and travel to the start · lunches · travel insurance, which we require · personal equipment · drinks with meals · tips, which nobody expects
Departures
Eight places on every date. When one is full we do not add a ninth, and we will say honestly which of the remaining dates suits the route best.
Departs mid July
1 left
Few places
Departs early August
0 left
Full
Departs late August
4 left
Open
Ask the guide who runs this route.
Not an inbox and not a chatbot. Tell us the month you are thinking about and roughly how far you want to walk.