Ski Mountaineering Leukerbad, Daubenhorn, Lammeren Hut Trip Log

Black and white photographs are used here to illustrate a 2 day ski mountaineering trip above Leukerbad in the Bernese Oberland. We stayed at the Lammeren Hut for 1 night but the weather was really poor and I fell in bad weather and was injured too badly for me to continue.

This was in the third week of April in 1999 and for the third year running I arranged the ski trip with the same 4 friends. Unfortunately, 2 of them were unable to make any of the available dates – Phil had an operation on his bad back at the end of March and Graham was too busy with work. That left me Dave Butcher, Mark a Pathologist from Cheshire and Lovejoy a GP from Hampshire. Our guide as usual was Jon de Montjoye.

Our meeting point was in Argentiere near Chamonix in France with the plan to ski the 5 day Western Bernese Oberland Traverse from Diablerets to Kandersteg and ski over a few mountains en route. Unfortunately, due to the appalling weather our plans had to change.

Friday 16th April 1999 Fly Manchester to Geneva, Ski bus to Argentiere

Jan drove me to Manchester Airport for my British Airways flight to Geneva Airport. From Geneva I caught the ski bus to Chamonix and on to Argentiere. I was meeting everyone else in our usual Hotel for trips starting from the Chamonix valley, the Hotel Dahu. It was very basic but we were always well looked after and the owners and staff were friendly which helps. By the evening we had all arrived. We were out a day early for a day of skiing using the lifts.

Saturday 17th April 1999 Ski Argentiere and Le Tour

Mark, Lovejoy and I walked a few hundred yards down the road to the Argentiere lift and skied a couple of hours here before catching the ski bus to Le Tour for a bit more off-piste practice before returning late afternoon to the Hotel Dahu for the evening.

Sunday 18th April 1999 Argentiere to Leukerbad, Daubenhorn, Lammeren Hut

Jon de Montjoye, our guide, lives in Vallorcine just up the road from Argentiere so he came to our hotel and checked that we had everything and shared some group gear. We were wearing our ski mountaineering clothes and ski boots and were able to leave our travel clothes in a small bag at the hotel while we were away. We would be staying here again at the end of the trip before travelling home.

The weather was bad so Jon suggested that we change our plans and head to somewhere more sheltered than Diablerets, the access lift would be shut anyway. Leukerbad was suggested so we agreed and loaded up his car with our gear and ourselves.

Jon drove us to Leukerbad where we bought lift tickets and took the lift up to the Gemmi Pass area. From here we put skis on and headed west. It was the last day for the ski area to be open but there were very few skiers using it.

We had to put skins on the base of our skis so that we could ski uphill (skins let the ski slide forward but stop it sliding backwards until you reach very steep slopes or ice). It was bad weather so we didn’t see anything and it was snowing steadily throughout the day.

The ground was pretty steep as we climbed towards the summit, which was a small rocky outcrop, the top part of which needed a bit of a scramble to reach it. I took the first photos of the day on the summit of the Daubenhorn (2942m) although there was no view, just the 4 of us. The snow plastered rocks would have made the descent a bit tricky so Jon threw a rope down for us to steady ourselves on the descent. It was more of an abseil than down-climbing. 

Then it was time to put skis on and go back along our fast disappearing trail and across to the Lammeren Hut, where we would spend the night. We were the only ones in the hut, not surprisingly considering the weather, but we were well looked after by the guardian.

Monday 19th April 1999 Torn knee ligaments, Leukerbad, Argentiere

The weather was dreadful, it was snowing and visibility was very poor. Jon suggested we leave the area as the forecast was for the weather to stay like this for at least 3 more days. We would try again further south, in Northern Italy where the forecast was better.

After breakfast and packing our gear we put skis on and started the descent. It was snowing, there was deep fresh powder snow on top of breakable crusted snow underneath. We could only see about 5 metres at most so we all skied very close together, one behind another, to avoid being left behind or losing the rest of the group. 

We had only been going about 20 minutes when we turned downhill and in the middle of the turn the snow underneath gave way and I did a slow twisting fall. My ski bindings were slow to release which meant my knee was twisted too much. There was a sharp pain and I knew I’d done some real damage to my right knee. Fortunately, Lovejoy was behind me and he shouted to the others and they all gathered round. After a few minutes it was decided to ski back to the hut. We put skins on the skis and started going back. My knee was excruciatingly painful if I put any sideways pressure on it but after what seemed like an age but was probably closer to an hour we reached the hut. 

Back at the hut they were very surprised to see us again so soon but because of the weather were not able to provide much help. Jon asked if a helicopter could make a landing later but the weather wasn’t due to change for several days so that was impossible. The cable lift outside the hut was only suitable for light loads of hut supplies not people and they didn’t have a skidoo that we could borrow either. I was given the choice by Jon, either stay in the hut until the bad weather clears to allow a helicopter rescue (at least 3 days) or ski back to the lift at Leukerbad. I decided on the latter.

I thought having 2 medically trained members in our group might provide some magic solution to reduce the pain and some strapping for my knee to stop it moving around so much. Lovejoy, the GP, took one look at my knee and told me ‘your skiing days are over Dave’. Not what I wanted to hear! Mark, the pathologist, had a far better bedside manner (even though most of his patients are dead!). He sent Lovejoy away and was encouraging about my prospects even though my knee looked really bad with so much sideways movement.

We geared up again, put skis on outside in the blizzard and started off. This time I had skins on even though we were skiing downhill as this slowed me down so that I didn’t have to check my speed by turning the skis. This time we were heading for a steep snow slope near the hut. Jon said it would be better for me if he lowered me down on a rope while I side-slipped the slope. He sent Mark and Lovejoy down first to side-slip, clearing the snow as they went. It helped a lot as I followed on the rope. On the cleared slope it was fine but when I moved the skis slightly forwards or backwards and my skis caught in uncleared snow it was excruciatingly painful. At the bottom we were on an undulating plateau and could head across to the Gemmi Pass and the lift down to Leukerbad. I followed behind Jon and Mark in their ski tracks, the skins stopped me speeding up and as long as I kept in a straight line my knee wasn’t too painful.

After an hour or so we could see a bit further and a piste basher from the ski area was lumbering ever closer to us. The guardian at the hut had obviously managed to get through to them after we left and he was heading towards the hut to meet us. It was a big relief to take the skis off and climb into the cab of the piste machine. The other 3 jumped up on the back, still in the snow storm, and hung on. At the lift they helped me out of the cab and I gave the driver some money as a thank you for his trouble in coming to my rescue. 

The lift down was in an interesting state, they had started doing maintenance as the ski season had ended the day before. The cabin and cables were much looser than they were the day before. The man in charge said not to worry, jump in and we’d be fine. We expected him to come with us but he just leaned in, pressed the start button to close the doors and left us to it! All was well. We got off the lift at the bottom and I limped over to the car.

Jon drove us all back to Argentiere, dropped off the other 2 and my gear at the hotel and then took me along to see his GP, just a few hundred yards down the road. Jon came in with me and introduced me to his GP and said a few words and then he had to leave as Jon and the others had time to drive to northern Italy that afternoon, ready to get an early start the next day. I thanked him for taking good care of me after the injury happened and said goodbye.

The doctor had a look at my knee, it looked really bad as he moved my leg sideways at the knee in both directions. Normally it wouldn’t move at all in that direction. He told me that I had torn some knee ligaments but he wouldn’t know how badly and which ones until he did an x-ray. I thought that meant a trip to the hospital but he just told me to walk into the next room where he had his own x-ray machine. He did the x-ray, processed it in a few minutes, had a look and told me I had damaged my medial ligament (MCL) and there was also some damage to my anterior ligament (ACL) as well. He said it needed to be put in plaster for a month. I asked if there was an alternative and he said I could have a removable leg brace but I had to promise to keep it on 24 hours a day for 3 weeks. I duly promised and then had to decide on the colour – Pink or Blue – I went for blue! He had leg braces stacked up to the ceiling in both colours in several sizes and he told me that knee injuries similar to mine were very common with skiers in the winter months. I paid him (later reclaimed from my insurance), thanked him very much and limped slowly back to the hotel up the road clutching the x-ray.

At the hotel I telephoned my wife Jan to tell her what had happened and my insurance company, Snowcard, back in the UK. I gave them the hotel telephone number to contact me (pre-mobile phones!) when they had organised some travel arrangements. I waited in my room for a couple of hours and then the phone rang, they had booked me on a British Airways flight back the following day from Geneva Airport. They had also booked a taxi to take me to the airport.

Tuesday 20th April 1999 Taxi Argentiere to Geneva. Fly Geneva, Manchester

The minibus taxi (lots of legroom) came on time and drove me to Geneva Airport, it’s a bit over an hour from Argentiere. At the airport check-in I explained that I had a knee injury and they immediately called for assistance and whisked me off in a wheelchair to the medical area to wait for my flight. I waited in what seemed to be the tea room for the medical staff! After a couple of hours they wheeled me out to a mobile lift that took me up to the back door of the plane where I left the wheelchair and limped down to my seats. Because of the knee brace I had to keep my leg straight, which is difficult in a normal airline seat so the insurance company had booked me 3 seats together so that I could put my leg across them. Then it was a routine flight back to Manchester Airport to be collected by Jan and taken home to the Peak District.

Wednesday 21st April 1999 Devonshire Royal Hospital Physiotherapy

Fortunately, I was able to book an appointment to see a physiotherapist at the Buxton Devonshire Royal Hospital with the same physio who had previously treated my bad back. I went by taxi as there was no way I could drive or use public transport. She took the brace off and gave my knee the once over and started pulling it about and had me doing a few simple exercises which were very painful. I had to repeat them twice a day and come back to see her twice a week for 4 weeks. All the hard work paid off as I was doing easy walks over the hills 5 weeks after the injury, although I couldn’t do steep slopes downhill for a few more weeks. Thankfully I was skiing again in 2000, including successfully completing the Western Bernese Oberland Traverse.

Cameras

Mamiya 6 MF camera, 50mm lens + Ilford FP4+ 220 film, carried in CCS Kobra Head case on neck strap and waist belt

Equipment

Ski Mountaineering Skis: Salomon X-Mountain 185cm skis + Fritschi Diamir bindings + Fritschi Diamir Harscheisen

Ski Mountaineering Boots: Scarpa Denali

Crampons: Camp Arctic 10 lightweight 10 point step-in lightweight crampons

Ice Axe: Mountain Technology 50cm

Rucksack: Outside Rock 40 litre