Chrachenhorn (2891 m) - snow shoe hike from Monstein

Great snow shoe hike to the summit of Chrachenhorn, with start and end in Monstein.

Start of the hike at 8:30 AM. The temperature was around -4°C. In Monstein there was approx. 5 cm of fresh snow from yesterday. I followed a brand new ski track in the direction of Oberalp. Further up I saw two groups of skiers ahead of me. But they did not go in the direction of Chrachenhorn, so I had to make my own track above elevation 2300 m. In many places the snow was quite deep, so it was hard work. Further up the terrain gets steeper (around 30° in a couple of places), but on the NW ridge there was less snow, and it was mostly harder.

Shortly before the summit, there was a short stretch where I had to climb over some rocks. So I needed to briefly take off the snow shoes. The view from the summit was great, please check out the pictures! But there was a cold wind at the top, so I descended a bit before taking my lunch break. Nice to see the first skiers create their lines in the Älplihorn SW flank.

Afterwards descent on the same route.

Equipment:
- Alpine snowshoes
- Hiking sticks
- Ice axe (not used)

Remarks:
The avalanche risk was "2 - moderate".
Please see the attached GPS track for more details on the route.
I did not meet anyone on the entire tour, but from a distance I saw a couple of skiers on the way.
The time given for this hike includes approx. one hour breaks in total.