After only five days of cold weather most routes in Kandersteg have some ice.
In spite of a dry start of the ice season, some of the worlds best ice climbs were in condition late December 2009.

Take a look at these two photos of the same ice, the first pitch of Armonium in Oeschinenwald, taken with two days in between.  

Ice builds up fast, so fast that you will notice while climbing. But a warm Föhn winds will change the temperature from -20 to +5 degrees Celsius in a day, wrecking what builds up in a week.

But what looks solid from below might turn out to be a stack of straw rather than a solid block of ice. And soaking wet, even with -20 degrees Celsius.

On December 20, 2009, after a warm November and December,

The cattle cable car previously used to access Breitwangflue is permanently closed.

Instead, a trail have been improved to a new steep tractor road, going up all the way to the huts of Alp Giesenen (1668 m) below the Breitwangflue wall (starting at 1844 m).

The road is too steep/loose/dangerous for a car, even with 4WD (worse than the road to Ueschinen). It is sometimes used by a tractor, making it much easier to walk.

The path starts (at 980 m) from a "Halt" signpost nearby the construction road on top of the tunnel between Kandersteg and Mitholz.

Walk or drive 2 km down the s-turns from Kandersteg (1180 m, losing 200 m of altitude),
take left just before the tunnel.

Park after 300 meters on the open space
or take the train or the bus to Mitholz and start from there, walking back in the Kandersteg direction.

It is ok to sleep in the cable car station, but most climbers walk up without bivy gear in a few hours in the early morning. Late December you won't need your headlight between07:30 and 17:30. The routes are possible to spot from the approach trail with a minimum of moonlight in clear weather.

With a 60 m double rope, you can rapell from a bolted anchor on climber's left 120 meters above ground, making a last rapell from solid ice 60 meters above ground over vertical rock. This will be ok even in the dark and early in the season with little ice.

There is supposed to be bolted belays all the way down except for the topmost abseil. Still, you might want to bring a cam, a piton and a nut or two. Most of our 16 cm ice screw placements hit rock.

The avalanche danger is not very big. The hills above are not feeding down snow. A little snow on the route will come down within minutes as spin drift.

Markus Zurbrugg at the Alpince Center, phone +41 33 675 01 01, is happy to collect and share updates on climbs, conditions and weather. Thank you Markus for your help!
You can also rent and buy ski poles, snow shoes, skis, tool etc from him.